Gary Ted Montague

A friend noted that Gary was always by his wife’s side, inspiring her to do her best, while quietly going about his work, even during declining health. His engaging smile invited others to persevere, and they loved his sonorous voice.

Gary Ted Montague broke the constraints of earthly bonds on Friday, November 6, 2020. He loved his God, his wife, and his country. He overcame blindness, cancer, and other challenges to become the winner of six national, regional, state, and local awards for his book “Victory from the Shadows, Growing Up in a New Mexico School for the Blind and Beyond,” GEM Publications at authormontague505@gmail.com . He also published in the Albuquerque National Federation of the Blind’s newsletter “Que Pasa?” and the 2019 SouthWest Writers SAGE Anthology. He gave presentations and told his story to show why there is no giving up and to promote the understanding that individuals with very poor or no vision are able to participate fully in life. His tale is also one man’s account of mid-20th century New Mexico history.

Gary was born in 1936 in Alamosa, Colorado, while his parents homesteaded in the Tres Piedras, NM, area. Because of harsh winters and living conditions, the family moved to a farm near San Jon. When he was eight, his mother enrolled him at the Alamogordo residential school which knew how to teach children who could not see print well because she told him he must be a good reader. He graduated from the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the University of New Mexico and married his college sweetheart, Elaine. Gary’s career spanned more than thirty years at Sandia National Laboratories in the areas of Education and Training and Safety Engineering. Born with low vision, he was a trailblazer in the time before disability awareness. He was a person of strength, resilience, and optimism.

Gary is survived by his wife, Elaine. Other family members are Bob and Alma Carson of Silver City and nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, Hazel and Grant Thomas Montague of San Jon/Tucumcari, and his twin sister, Joan Montague of Albuquerque. Gary leaves cousins, his church family, and many special friends, including Erin who called him “Grandpa” and members of Town Club Sorority Alumnae, several of whom read to him as he was earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education as a young man at UNM.

Services for Gary will be on Saturday July 17,2021 at 10:30am at St. Johns United Methodist Church. Those who wish may donate in his honor to the food ministry of St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2626 Arizona St. NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108; or to the Elaine and Gary Montague Victory from the Shadows Endowed Scholarship in Special Education at UNM’s College of Education and Human Sciences, UNM Foundation, Two Woodward Ctr, 700 Lomas NE, Ste 108, Albuquerque, NM 87102 or https://www.unmfund.org/fund/montague/ ; or to a charity of their choice.

To View an interview with Gary (Firsthand Account - Life in a School for the Blind) please click here: https://binged.it/2jzo1yc

http://www.elainemontague.com