Duane L. Ferdinand

1938 - 2025

Rodeo. Smoke jumping. World travel. A very full life of daring courage and adventure; now hidden behind a quiet demeanor, slapstick humor, and a wry grin. You might never guess the path Duane Ferdinand's life took only because he rarely talked about it, and if asked, few details were given.

Rockford, IL had a high of 95? on August 3rd, 1938, when Harry and Bessy Ferdinand welcomed Duane into the big world and became a family of six.

His two older half-brothers, Gerald and Adelbert, were adopted by Harry. Their own father had passed away in an auto accident, which then led to Harry and Bessy marrying. Vada, his older sister, had been born to Harry and Bessy in 1935.

When he was still very young, they moved to California for a short time but then moved to Lewistown, MT when Harry got a job with the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Even at five years old, Duane clearly remembers the road from Harlowton to Lewistown being all gravel. Was it the dusty, bumpy road filled with a carload of road weary siblings that made it so memorable? Well, we'll never know...few details were given.

Before there was the Town Pump building on the edge of town, just outside the city limits, there was a big white house. And that's where his family settled as they made their new home Lewistown. They had chickens, turkeys, and even a couple pigs that Duane showed in FFA. Later the house, family and all the animals were grandfathered into the city limits. It was called the Ferdinand addition.

His school years consisted of Kindergarten in the Lincoln Building by the Lewistown Library, his elementary years spent at Garfield School, Jr. High in the big school on Main Street and High School in what is now the Esplanade Building. He graduated in 1956.

The fall after graduating found him at his first job working for Vic Kolar on his ranch just outside of Lewistown. Soon after, he was working for the BLM Cadastral Survey in the Judith Mountains.

That year flew by and the summer of '57 took him to New Mexico. There, he was also working for the BLM doing more survey work. At the conclusion of the summer, he attended the University of Montana in Missoula.

Each summer he found something new and exciting to occupy his time. And during the summer of '58, he was put on the William's Mountain Lookout for the Forest Service watching for fires.

Back at school in the fall, he was elected President of the rodeo team. He was a calf roper on a horse named Piccolo who was given to him by his brother Gerald's wife Deloris.

That next summer of 1959, he worked as a smoke jumper, having only seven training jumps to jump on six fires. He trained at the training base in Missoula. It was an exciting summer of jumping on multiple fires and he found himself back in California when a big fire broke out down there; but then it was back to school in the fall.

The summer of '60 rolled around and he was doing range work for the BLM. The range work consisted of utilizing cattle to manage the land. The summer breaks always marched on much too quickly and he went back to school. He wouldn't graduate though. Not yet, anyway.

Not much was said about how Duane enjoyed most of his years spent in school. A question not asked, and an answer not willingly given. The next summer was employment with the Forest Service in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Area. The office was in Hamilton. This was more range work, monitoring the rangeland conditions.

A neighboring ranch's horse was his range partner during this time. One hot morning, he tethered the horse to a stump. The horse thought it was quite terrifying when the stump moved. It scared that horse enough to bolt back 30 miles to the safety of its pasture and friends; which left Duane quite alone and stranded on a mountain. He said he walked all night to get to the horse. We all wonder what that walk was like. Was this quiet guy just a little fuming mad do you think?

In December of '61 he was drafted into the military. His army years had begun. His basic training was in Fort Ord, CA. At Fort Sam Houston he was given specialized training to be a medic. He left Texas in April of 1962 to attend the funeral of his father.

In June of 1962, he was back to jumping out of airplanes, this time for the Army. His Air Borne training was in Fort Benning, GA where he had five training jumps. After that he was assigned to Okinawa, Japan where he spent the remainder of this time in the military. In Okinawa he jumped six times. A picture above his desk shows hundreds of parachutes covering the sky and one of those men is Duane.

While in Okinawa, he decided he wanted to finish his college education and graduate. He was given an early out from the army to begin his last year in the fall of 1963. That next spring, he graduated with a degree in range management in the school of forestry.

His first permanent job after graduation was in Susanville, CA for the BLM where he worked for five years. While there, he joined Toastmasters. He also continued to rope in rodeos on Big Buck and Zipper. Duane competed in a rodeo with Dean Oliver and recalls that he caught the calf but couldn't get it down so Dean beat him. Dean would end up winning eight world championships for tie-down roping in his career surrounding the years Duane was rodeoing.

After five years in California, Duane applied for a job in Fairbanks, Alaska where he worked on the preliminary construction of the Alaskan Pipeline locating gravel pits. The first winter he was there got down to -70? and they received 150 inches of snow. Despite Alaska trying to freeze him in his tracks, he was able to join the Toastmasters in the area and continue his passion for public speaking.

While in Alaska, he was certified to fly a twin engine airplane. There, he also met and married Norma in North Pole, Alaska. After a time, he felt it was time to head to Lewistown. He quit his job and was back living in Lewistown in 1972. The next year Wade was born.

He was baptized in the First Christian Church on 5th Ave in 1971 and served as an elder for many years.

During the next several years, he was self-employed selling Girl Nightingale motivational tapes.

He was also quite the carpenter. He completely gutted and remodeled a blue house on 4th Ave. That house has since burned to the ground. When the blue house was complete, he turned the corner on Spring Street and completely gutted and remodeled "the big white house." With the remodeling done, he applied for a BLM position as a range conservationist.

In the early 80s Duane and Norma divorced and in 1982, Duane and Donna got married. One year later, in 1983, Delci was born. She grew up in the big white house.

He continued with Toastmasters in Lewistown and received a President's Distinguished District honor for the years 1983-1984.

They bought "the ranch" in the early 80's. The nine acres at the edge of town, however small, yes, was called "the ranch" by the family and was in great disrepair. It needed multiple years to conquer the weeds, tear down the handful of dilapidated barns and remove the dumping ground of old equipment, metal and nails.

In 1983, Donna's horses, the remnants of what her dad had raised, were delivered to Ed Lamb's in a cattle truck in three layers. In the mix were three studs: Shubird, Shujet and TNTeen and all the mares and foals. With such a sudden development, and little time to prepare, the horses were dispersed to various places around Lewistown; but all the horses ended up at "the ranch" eventually.

After the racehorses arrived home, Duane had many dreams of them flying down the track. Duane and Donna raced several horses and their prodigies throughout the next ten years. Lightning Struckya did well on the track and raised a handful of foals. They bred and raised Boom Bang Lightning, who also did well on the track and was later sold to a lady to become her barrel horse.

After retiring from the BLM in 1995, Duane, Donna and Delci moved from the white house in town to "the ranch" house. The house was completely gutted and redone.

In 1998 he started working for the city as the Planning Director in the Historic Preservation Office. He worked there until 2017.

July 3, 1998 was proclaimed Duane Ferdinand Day by the Lewistown City Commission.

The historic streetlights on Main Street were completed in 1998 and were one of Duane's proud accomplishments during his years as City Planner. He was named Volunteer of the Year by the Lewistown Area Chamber of Commerce in 1999.

He received the Lifetime Meeting Award by the Lewistown City Commission in 2001. His title: City Planning Director, Lewistown resident and Sole resident of the City of Ferdinand. Crazy enough, in a phone book during these years, you could look up City of...Ferdinand and find his number.

In 2011, he received the Montana Historic Preservation Award from the Montana Historical Society for the rehabilitation of the Ouellette Place. In 2018, he received the Lewistown Historic Resources Commission Preservation Excellence Award.

And during all these years of going to meeting after meeting, he still found time for music. When he was a teen he learned to play the guitar but during the early 2000's he really picked it back up and loved to play at the open mic nights.

At 80 years old he was riding his bike into town every day and still helping buck bales. If anything, he was strong, determined and a tad bit stubborn. And we'll miss the sound of his shuffle as he trots around town. Duane was welcomed into heaven on Monday, May 5, 2025.

He is survived by Wade Ferdinand (Jennifer), Delci Plouffe (Bill), Ginger LaTour (Thad), Leigh Ann Johnson (Greg), Kelly Watne (Brandon); grandkids, Brandon, Caden, Sydney, Kyle, Kelsey, Addison, Alan, Josiah, and Hadassah; and four great-grandkids.

A Memorial Service will be held at First Christian Church, Sunday, May 18th, 1:30 p.m. Following a reception, interment will be held at Central Montana Memorial Gardens.

Arrangements are under the care of Creel Funeral Home. Duane's family and friends can share memories and condolences at www.creelfuneralhome.com