Duane Jackson, 88, after a brief hospital stay, returned to his home on Hauser Lake March 16, 2022 where he died of bladder cancer. His wife, Sue, with assistance from neighbors, David Aageson, Rod Demontigny and Greg Synness as well as St Peter's Hospice, cared for him the last ten days of his life.

Duane's mother Margaret Miller Jackson was born in Jackson, Wyoming on September 26, 1895. At the age of five she moved with her family to Idaho Falls. Margaret's mother died in 1911 and it fell to her to be the housekeeper of the family. When she completed her education she became a teacher and taught in Mud Lake, Idaho where she met and married Earle Jackson in 1916. Earle was born, July 21, 1895 in Glendale, Beaverhead County Montana to Alice Maude Van Wort Jackson. Margaret and Earle had seven children, Mildred, Hazel, Donald, Ralph, Alan, Duane and Gary. The family farmed for a while in Mud Lake then moved to Butte, Montana where Earle worked in the mines until the fall of 1926 when they moved back to Mud Lake to farm until Margaret died of a "lingering illness. After Margaret's death, Mildred stayed in Idaho to marry Roy Stahly while the other six children moved with their dad to Butte to live with their widowed grandmother, at 677 S. Alabama.

Hazel soon married Noel Edwards so Grandmother Jackson had only the five boys and their dad to feed, which she did well, making her own bread and maintaining a large vegetable garden. The boys all worked at odd jobs such as selling the Saturday Evening Post and delivering the paper, working at the stockyard. They enjoyed tobogganing, skating, going to Columbia Gardens and picnics with family and friends. They had six first cousins, aunts and uncles living in Butte (nineteen cousins altogether.) Duane was especially fond of their cousins and remained in contact with them throughout the years.

Dad, Earle, worked at a service station during World War II. When he married Gertrude Hiller Jackson (the widow if a cousin) in 1945, the family moved to an apartment on Dakota Street and shortly after moved to a house just up the street. Earle and the boys remodeled the garage to make it into a bunkhouse, heated by a wood-burning stove.

Duane played football for Butte High, Class of 1952, maintained good grades, belonging to the National Honor Society while working at the Orphan Girl mine. His closest friends, who are still alive, were Joe Kilminster and Walt Jones. After high school Duane went to the School of Mines until he was drafted into the U. S. Army toward the end of the Korean conflict serving as an ordinance instructor at Fort Ord, California. He attended eight weeks of Leadership School and was discharged in 1955.

He went to Montana State University assisted by the G.I. Bill and working at a service station and other businesses in Missoula. Duane was awarded a Rotary Foundation Fellowship for study abroad during the 1960-61 academic year. He was one of 21 outstanding graduate students from 27 countries to receive the honor. In Wurzburg, Germany he continued his study of languages, living with a family several miles outside of the town.

In the following years he studied, German and Russian and the Humanities, at the University of Texas, Austin, Reed College in Oregon and the University of Michigan, eventually returning to Montana where he taught high school in Kalispell, taking the opportunity to spend time with some of his favorite cousins, and West High in Billings, where he made more life-long friends, Bill Ferguson and Alan Nicholson. He took a job in Helena with the State's Aeronautics Division and then with the Office of Public Instruction serving as Foreign Language Consultant as well as other responsibilities under several Superintendents until his retirement, thereafter, running a small farm on the Spokane Bench near Helena.

Along with being a diligent student, Duane learned to fly small airplanes becoming a flight instructor, and enjoyed boating at lakes near Helena. Well known for his collection of Corvairs, he collected not only vehicles but other valuable things. Duane knew world history, paid attention to politics and was a follower of late night comedians.

Susan Castles Billings (Sue) and Thomas Duane Jackson were married in the Supreme Court at Montana's State Capital in 1975. Duane gained three step-children, Julie, Garth and Ria Billings all of whom he loved. He was Ria's hero.

Duane was an athlete, a scholar, fun-loving and hard-working, a loyal, devoted husband and friend. He is survived by his wife, Sue, step-children Julie Aageson (David) and their kids Roald Aageson (Mykal) and their sons Everett and Cade; Maia LaSalle (Beau) and their sons Kruz and Ketch; Garth Billings (Janet) and sons Parker and Carson; sister in-law Judy and brother-in-law Dick Golberg their son Peder Golberg (Cathy) and their sons Toreson and Oscar; many nieces and nephews and a multitude of friends. Duane was preceded in death by his parents, all six of his siblings, cousins of his generation and a few of the next, his step-daughter, Ria, and other highly regarded relatives and friends.

Failing to understand that family and friends would want to spend time together to honor his memory, Duane insisted that he did not want a service or ceremony of any kind. His wishes will be honored.