Jan Delmont Carter, 84

Three weeks shy of his 60th wedding anniversary, Jan Delmont Carter passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on Dec. 7, 2023.

Jan was born on Feb. 22, 1939, in Great Falls, to Helen and Del Carter. He attended Roosevelt Elementary School, Paris Gibson Junior High, and graduated from Great Falls High School in 1957. 

Jan played football and basketball and was an all-stater in both sports. As a senior, he played on the winning football state championship team and runner-up state basketball team. However, his most talked about memory was of dropping the winning touchdown pass in the East-West Shriner's football game. 

He attended Michigan State University for one year and transferred to the University of Montana where he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity and graduated with a business administration degree in 1961. 

\He met Lisette Bennett who was also a student at the university and they were married on Dec. 28, 1963. They settled in Great Falls where they raised their two children, Ben and Lisette. 

In 1961, Jan and his father bought Smith Equipment Company which through the years became MDS Construction Supply. "The Shop" was his happy place where he loved working and never retired. 

Jan was an active volunteer having served as Founding Director of Mountain West Bank, President of the Great Falls Children's Receiving Home, Chair of the Deaconess Hospital Board and Foundation during the merger with the Columbus Hospital, President of the Montana State Golf Association, Member of the University of Montana Foundation Board, President of the University of Great Falls Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Restoration Committee of St. Ann's Cathedral, Vice-Chair of St. Ann's Pastoral Council, and President of Meadowlark Country Club Board of Directors. 

Jan was also inducted into the Montana State Golf Association Hall of Fame. Jan loved playing with his weekday golf group and while he described himself as a lousy player, he had 6 holes in one and shot his age at 79. An avid sportsperson, Jan picked up a 7-10 split in his weekly bowling league the night his daughter was born. Soon thereafter, he saw a UFO while spending time with friends at the Roseth cabin in Monarch.

Jan always had a project and one of his largest was restoring his wife's childhood home and property in St. Regis, Montana where he taught his grandchildren to ski, play golf, drive, and burn an annual towering slash pile which garnered the attention of the local fire department. 

Jan was a very nurturing and caring person, bringing his widowed mother to work and lunch every day for many years. Jan jokingly said they went through a lot of White-Out. In the past few years, Jan enjoyed Taco Tuesday and attending Mass at the University of Providence with his ladies. 

Jan was always a hard worker, yet he hated shoveling snow, doing yard work, and putting up Christmas Decorations, often taking the tree down before noon on Christmas Day. Jan was a man of deep faith, and the Catholic Church was his foundation. He had an uplifting sense of humor which he never lost. One of his favorite expressions that he said often was, "If you are going to New York, don't get off at Chicago." 

Jan is survived by his wife , Lisette (Bennett); son, Bennett (Caroline); daughter, Lisette (Tim Durkin); grandchildren, Matthew, Carter and Lisette Durkin; and three nieces. He was preceded in death by his parents, Del and Helen Carter; and his sister, Corinne Knight. 

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, at 2 p.m.at the Trinitas Chapel at the University of Providence. 

Condolences for the family may be shared online at www.SchniderFuneralHome.com.