Nick Ungar

NICHOLAS JOSEPH UNGAR, 90, a lifetime resident of Cut Bank, Montana, passed away peacefully on July 20, 2014 due to natural causes at Glacier Care Center in Cut Bank, Montana.

Viewing will be Friday, August 15, 2014 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Whitted Funeral Chapel in Cut Bank, who is in charge of arrangements. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 16, 2014 at Mountain View Baptist Church, with a luncheon reception at the church following graveside service.  Interment will be in the Veteran’s Section at Crown Hill Cemetery, Cut Bank, Montana.  Condolences may be sent to the family at www.whittedfuneralchapel.com.

Nick was born October 11, 1923, in Cut Bank, Montana to Joseph (Guiseppe) and Angela (DeVivio) Ungar who immigrated to the United States from Valenzano, Bari, Italy.  He was raised in Cut Bank along with his siblings, Rocca, Ralph, Stella, Mike, Rose, Frank, John, Francis and Tony.  As a teenager, he worked at Crown Hill Cemetery where his father was the caretaker at the time; for the janitor at the Cut Bank High School cleaning desks and sweeping floors; and in the summertime while out of school, for the Great Northern Railroad.  He graduated from Cut Bank High School in 1942 and joined the United States Navy in April of 1943.  He attended Naval Boot Camp at Farragut, Idaho at Lake Pend Oreille.  This training facility was comprised of 5 camps called wards and Nick was assigned to Camp Ward.  He became a Pharmacist Mate 3rd Class assigned to the Marine Corp. and was stationed at the Russell Islands and Guadalcanal during World War II.  He received his Honorable Discharge on February 16, 1946.

Upon his return to Cut Bank from the war, he married Hazel LaVonne Sisson at Kalispell, Montana on March 30, 1946 and they made their home in Cut Bank.  After getting married, he worked at the Cut Bank Greenhouse which his father owned and operated at the time.  In 1948, he went to work at Glacier Motors and worked there until he retired in 1983.  Nick and LaVonne had 5 daughters that they raised in Cut Bank; Christine, Betty (deceased), Charlotte, Nikki and Patti.  Nick was an avid fisherman and hunter, he was a member of the Moose Club and after retirement he traveled visiting his daughters, his 6 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren; enjoyed planting and gardening; working at the local greenhouse with his daughters Christine and Charlotte; repairing clocks, especially cuckoo clocks, and was part of a volunteer team that reconstructed and restored the duplex open-wheel windmill that sits out at the Glacier County Historical Museum.

Survivors include his wife of 68 years, LaVonne; his daughters, Christine (Dennis) Howell of Cut Bank, Montana; Charlotte (Robert) Hamilton of Sheridan, Wyoming; Nikki Ratliff of Scottsbluff, Nebraska; and Patti (Buck) Shelden of Phoenix, Arizona; brothers, John Ungar of  Victorville, California and Tony Ungar of Missoula, Montana; grandchildren Brian Howell; David Howell; Erin Camp; Brittany Camp-Taylor; Sara Gomendi; and Cody Shelden; great-grandchildren Landon Howell; Taylor Howell; Mary Howell; Nick Howell; Austin Howell; Caden Howell; Andraya Howell; Bryant Camp; and Tavion Camp.

Nick was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Angela Ungar; daughter Betty; sisters Rocca, Rose, Stella and Francis; brothers Frank, Mike and Ralph.