MALTA-Duane W.
Compton 91, a WWII Army Air Corps Veteran and retired rancher and
business man, died Thursday, April 30, at a
Billings
Hospital
of natural causes.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held in the Chapel at the
Kirkwood Funeral Home in
Malta
on Monday, May 4, 2009 at 2 pm. Burial
will be in the
Malta
Cemetery
. A reception will be held
at the Fellowship Hall of his church, the Little White Church, in
Malta
following the service. If
desired, the family requests contributions maybe made to the
Malta Shrine Club-Travel Fund, P.O. Box 697, Malta, MT 59538
. Condolences may be left at www.kirkwoodfuneralhome.com. Kirkwood
Funeral Home of Malta is in charge of arrangements.
Survivors include: his wife, LaVonne of Malta; daughters and
sons-in-law, Marie (Douglas) LaDuke of Richmond, Virginia and Kerry
(Gordon) Faaborg of Malta; grandchildren are Daniel LaDuke and wife,
Sarah of Midlothian, Virginia, David LaDuke and Michelle McClintick of
Iowa City, Iowa, Dr. Sarah Faaborg of Portland, Oregon and Erik Faaborg
of Missoula; children of LaVonne include Lana (Ken) Ulrich of Malta,
Dale (Melanie) Fortin of Hayes, Loy (Ed) Pekovitch of Malta and Doyle
(Sue) Grant of Malta; his nieces and nephews include Lorraine (Mike)
Hughes of Glasgow, Myrna Doney of Essex, Vermont and Ed (Patti) Mangis
of Helena, Clark Compton (Kay) of Eugene, Oregon,
Darrell “Jupe” (Lara) Compton of Havre, Grant (Diane) Compton
of Big Fork and Fern Puls of Eugene, Oregon.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Leafy
Compton, his brother, Ward Compton, and sister, Fern Mangis.
Duane William Compton, born April 1, 1918 in Malta, the son of
Harry S. and Leafy A. (Emerson) Compton.
Throughout his life, he had many accomplishments including
teaching school in country schools in the Dodson area, serving in the
Army Air Corps stationed in England during World War II, farming and
ranching north of Loring Duane married Joyce Casbeard from High Wycombe,
England in 1947; she preceded him in death in 1990.
They had two daughters, Marie, and Kerry. He owned and operated
the GN Hotel and later rebuilding the GN Motor Hotel in
Malta
. He served as Phillips County Commissioner for many years and later as
State Representative. During his 91 years, he was a lifelong resident of
Phillips
County
. He married LaVonne Grant
in 1991. In recent months, his determination, strength and love of his
family helped him through health problems many times. He was active in
his community and state in the Rotary, Masons, Bucket, the Council on
Aging, on the Phillips County Fair Board for many years and was a proud
member of the AlBeDoo Shrine Club. He
organized sending many children to the
Shrine
Hospital
in
Spokane
for treatment.
