This is the end of the story of a life lived well. John
W. Sackett Jr. died Tuesday, May 24, 2011, while bottle-feeding his lambs in his
barn down on Louse Creek near Moccasin.
His story began on Oct. 1, 1945,
when John was born to his parents, John Wallace Sackett and Lucy Rose Skaggs
Sackett. His mother remarked that the reason Johnny was so mature even as an
infant was because his first playmates were his Uncle Oscar Sackett, who was in
his 60s, and his father, who was in his 50s. Old values, ideas and ideals were
instilled in John from the beginning. John’s role as Big Brother, for which he
was particularly well suited, began Sept. 18, 1947, when James Arthur Sackett
arrived, and continued when Nancy Jane Sackett tagged along in 1957. John was a
leader and he lead by example. His Big Brother role extended not just to his
siblings, but to neighbor kids and college friends as well. His advice was well
thought out and freely given, but always with your best interest at heart.
John graduated from Moccasin High School in 1963 in the top third of his
class. There may be two kids in his class smarter than he was but they had to
give speeches at graduation and John didn’t. John began his college education at
Eastern Montana College in Billings, studying civil engineering, but didn’t
enjoy it like he thought he would. He continued his education by attending and
graduating from Billings Business College, along with his brother Jim, after
receiving advice from their father that it wouldn’t hurt anyone to know
something about business. Then he decided to volunteer for the draft. Just his
luck, while others from the area that went through Army basic training with him
were sent to Germany, John’s tour was to scenic tropical Vietnam. He finished
his military service at Fort Bragg, N.C., at the rank of Sp. 4.
John then
attended Montana Tech in Butte, graduating cum laude with a degree in geology in
1972. He began his career with the Forest Service working in Lolo, Mont. John
transferred with the Forest Service to Stanford after the death of his mother in
1972 and the death of his brother in 1973 in order to assume the duties of
raising a teenage sister and to care for his father until the time of his
father’s death in 1975. He once again attended Montana Tech and received a
degree in Mining Engineering. John continued his career at the mines around
Silver City, N.M. Then he moved to El Paso, Texas, where he owned a bar. After
selling the bar he moved in 1983 to Saratoga, Wyo., and worked for the BLM as a
mine inspector out of the Rawlins, Wyo., office. After the mines all closed he
continued to work for the BLM but as a civil engineer so he could get out of the
office. As the computer age advanced and, as he put it, they expected the
engineers to be secretaries, he took an early retirement in 1998 and moved back
to the farm at Moccasin where he was raised. That first year of retirement was a
rough one as the area had changed so much from when he last lived here. Dick’s
Service Station was no longer there and people no longer stopped in at the local
grain elevator for confabs. Soon he found his favorite places to stop in
Lewistown, Eddies Corner, Hobson, Stanford, Geyser and Belt to visit with old
friends and to make new ones. John brought chickens and sheep back to the farm
and also continued his tree-planting project that he started in 1973. If every
tree he ever planted had grown, then the farm would look like a national forest
by now, but alas it’s just his luck that trees don’t grow in the Moccasin
area.
Survivors include two sons that he was very proud
of, George and Mike Ramirez of El Paso, Texas; his sister, Nancy Sackett of
Lewistown; Aunt Helen Boettger of Lewistown; cousins, kin and friends too
numerous to mention.
Graveside services with military honors will be held
at the Moccasin Cemetery on Saturday, June 4 at 10:30 a.m. A reception will
follow at the Judith River Senior Center at Hobson.