Ivan R. Montgomery, 73, of Sabetha, KS, died Thursday, July 6, 2000, of an apparent heart attack at a Phoenix, AZ hospital. He and his wife, Mary, were visiting their daughter, Marie Haywood, when he suddenly became ill.

He was born January 22, 1927, in Sabetha, the son of Robert and Ione Trees Montgomery. He graduated from Sabetha High School in 1945 and attended Baker University in Baldwin, KS for a year. He served in the U.S. Army in post-World War II Germany. Besides farming, he was employed at the Bern Meat Plant, Meyer Lumber in Seneca, the Case dealership in Centralia, and at CR Industries in Seneca, as a mold hiker for 19 years. He retired from CR in 1998 and continued to do some farming.

He was married to Mary Meyer on August 8, 1948 in Sabetha. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1998. She survives of the home. After their marriage, they went to college at Baker for a year before returning to farm south of Oneida for two years. They moved to a farm south of Bern where they lived and farmed for 48 years. They moved to Sabetha in February 2000.

He was a member of the United Methodist Church in Bern. He was a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 100A, Unit 800. In the late 1960s he worked several years to help establish and maintain the Bern Rural Water District #1.

Survivors beside his wife Mary of the home are a son, Paul Montgomery of Topeka; a daughter, Marie Haywood of Glendale, AZ; two brothers, Aurel Montgomery of Sabetha and Carol Montgomery of Loveland, CO; a sister, Ruth Hankins of Raytown, MO; and two grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a stillborn granddaughter, Emily Montgomery on August 22, 1985.

A private funeral service will be held at 10:30 AM Monday at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca, Kansas. He will lie in state at the funeral home after 2 P.M. on Sunday. Burial will be in the Albany Cemetery in Sabetha.

Memorial contributions may be given for the Seneca Public Library, and sent in care of the family.