Robert Lawrence “Monty” Montgomery

1920 - 2014

Robert Lawrence "Monty" Montgomery -- a 36-year employee of the Land-Air Division of DynCorp at Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range -- passed away on Nov. 4, 2014, in Alamogordo.

Mr. Montgomery was born on March 2, 1920, in Dallas, Texas, to Musidore (Rowntree) and Lawrence Lewis Montgomery. He was a graduate of Highland Park High School and attended Dallas College and Southern Methodist University. While in high school, he earned an amateur radio operator's license, call letters W5FGB, and retained the license until his death.
During WWII he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific area. He served first as a radio instructor to communication officers in Hawaii and, later, as radio and radar technician on a communications control ship engaged in amphibious landings. He participated in the liberation of the Philippines and in the battle at Okinawa and was awarded three battle stars. He was then assigned as an engineer to Armed Forces radio broadcast stations on the Pacific island of Saipan until returning to the U.S.
Before joining Land-Air at Alamogordo, Mr. Montgomery was employed as a radio technician in the Dallas area by a radio manufacturing company. He also work at an aircraft radio supply company, followed by North American Aviation as a quality assurance supervisor for radio, electronic, and instruments on military aircraft.
He earned a private pilot's license and a commercial radio operator's license in Dallas in 1946. In 1947 he joined the North American Aviation missile testing program at Inglewood, Calif. He was sent to HAFB Land-Air in 1949, where he served in various engineering, supervisory and administrative positions in New Mexico programs. He retired in 1985.
Mr. Montgomery met and married Rosemary Ann Woodworth in Dallas in 1947. The marriage lasted 52 years and they had one son, Keith. Rosemary passed away in 1997.
For many years Mr. Montgomery was a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Amateur Radio Relay League. While at HAFB he was appointed to a Telecommunications Working Group whose members met periodically at U.S. missile ranges, where thy were charged with the development and standardization of microsecond instrumentation timing systems for missile tracking instruments. He also served on the Test Directors' Council at HAFB and was a charter member of the WSMR Pioneer Group.
Over the years he enjoyed many hobbies, including amateur radio, hunting, boating, fishing, flying, motorcycling and restoring antique British sport cars. After retiring, he participated in the Senior Olympics, playing table tennis in tournaments at the local, state and national levels and received numerous awards.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Rosemary, and sister, Mary Elizabeth Huey.

He is survived by his only son, Keith R. Montgomery of Albany, Calif.

Direct Cremation will take place under the care of PCS Direct Cremation Services.