George Samuel Montague
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George Samuel Montague was born in Oakland, California July 16, 1914 to Samuel Clay Montague and Annie St. Martin Montague.
George was the fourth of five children, three girls and then the two boys. He attended Catholic elementary schools and then went to Oakland High School. He graduated from Oakland High in the first class to graduate out of the "new" pink school building in 1929. The school was later called the "pink prison." George attended St. Mary's College for a time. He wanted to study art, but his father wanted him to study something more professional. George became angry and left home to join the Navy, giving up both St. Mary's College and the Catholic Church. The family believes he was stationed in southern California when he met and married Annjean Elizabeth Thomson on July 16, 1936 in Long Beach. |
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George and Elizabeth lived in Oakland, California for a time where their daughter Margariete Ann was born on Dec. 10, 1938. Their son, George Robert, called "Robert" was also born in Oakland on April 21, 1941. |
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On May 11, 1943 their youngest son, William Lee, called "Skip" was born in Ross, California. George and Elizabeth lived in Sebastopol, Petaluma and Santa Rosa. Their children graduated from schools in Santa Rosa where they had designed and built their own home. |
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 George at about age 4 in Oakland, California |
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George as a drummer in the Oakland High School Band, c. 1927 |
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One afternoon in September of 1953 Elizabeth bent over in her garden and had a searing pain. She scheduled a doctor appointment for the next morning.
The next day George left for work and the children left for school. When George came home to pick up Elizabeth for her doctor appointment he found her in bed. She had passed away from complications of a dissecting aortic aneurysm, pneumonia and shock. She was 39 years old. Her children were 14, 12 and 10. About a year later, George married Katherine Pierce Buckland. The marriage proved to be unhappy, and George took the children and moved into a mobile home park. There he met Evelyn Marie Cherrington Thompson. She had two children from a previous marriage, Tommy and Linda Thompson. George and Evelyn were married on November 4, 1961 in Mountain View, California. It was Evelyn who became a wonderful "Grandma" to all the grandchildren. |
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George and Evelyn lived in Mountain View when George worked for Lockheed as a quality control specialist. They lived in Capitola, CA where they owned a hobby store. George was a great sailor. His sons were his crew for many races. He and Evelyn joined the Santa Cruz Yacht Club where he became Commodore in 1969-70. |
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| When Evelyn could no longer crew the boat, they sold it and moved to Stockton, starting an engraving company. There they sailed motor-controlled sailboats in races around the state. They also joined lawn bowling groups and played all over the Bay Area. | |
| They were both also accomplished knitters. They had knitting classes at their store, and Evelyn knit sweaters for George and helped the knitters in the family. If it wasn't perfect it had to be ripped out and re-knit, the yarn steamed before being reused. | |
| After George was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1993, he and Evelyn took a cruise to Alaska. He had also wanted to fly in a glider which he did with his son-in-law Bob Wheeler. George accepted chemo treatments until he thought the discomfort just wasn't worth it. At that point he told his doctor he didn't want any more. He died on September 7, 1993 in Napa, California and is buried at Calvary Cemetery, Santa Rosa. He and Evelyn had been married 32 years. | |
| Photos of George's parents: Samuel Clay and Anna Louise St. Martin Montague and their family | |
| Photos of George's and Elizabeth's children and some of their cousins | |
George's graduation from Oakland High School, 1928