Eugene Montgomery

1923 - 2020

Montgomery, Eugene
Eugene Stevens Montgomery, of Columbus, Ohio, died on April 18, 2020, at a family home in Madison, Wisconsin, at the age of 96 years, 5 months, 17 days. Gene was born on October 31, 1923, in Miami, Florida, and had fun through the years celebrating his Halloween birthday. He was the son of Wallace McVeigh Montgomery and Margaret Maude Stevens Montgomery and had ancestry in Virginia throughout the generations dating from the Colonial era on both his father and mother's sides. In his teens Gene moved with his parents to Atlanta, Georgia, where he attended Boys' High and to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he graduated from C. E. Byrd High School. His father was a 1910 electrical engineering graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI), and during World War II his employment at Badger Ordnance Works took the family to Wisconsin. Gene enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and received an Honorable Discharge. Gene graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin—Madison in 1948. Gene met Cathryn Sayda Pettersen of Madison while they were students at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and they were married on May 21, 1949, at the then First Methodist Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin. He began his career in sales with General Electric Company in Columbus, Ohio. Over the years he was in sales for Hotpoint and Philco and for many years until his retirement was a District Sales Manager for Sylvania – Home Entertainment Products Division. Gene was an avid golfer and walked thousands of miles around golf courses for 65 years. He enjoyed extensive foreign and domestic traveling with his wife. Gene is survived by his daughter, Cathryn Suzanne Montgomery (John) Leslie of Falls Church, Virginia; his son, Ronald Pettersen (Sharon) Montgomery of Farmers Branch, Texas; his granddaughters, Veronica Ann Montgomery and Megan Marie Montgomery of Atlanta, Georgia; and his nephew, Wallace McVeigh (Phyllis) Montgomery, III of Hoschton, Georgia. Gene was predeceased by his wife Cathryn, on February 10, 2017, his older brother Wallace McVeigh Montgomery, Jr., in 2000 and his nephew John Prescott Montgomery, in 2000. A private family service will be held. Gene will be entombed in Forest Hill Mausoleum in Madison, Wisconsin.