Hugh S. Herbert

Hugh Sidney Herbert, 97, passed away at his home on Thursday, Dec. 29 of natural causes. He was born in Spokane, Washington, on March 12, 1919, to Donald and Hazel Herbert. He was the first boy born after five sisters, (two died young) and two brothers followed. They all grew up in Spokane. Hugh and his brothers were active in sports (baseball, football).

They were a church-going family, and they all loved to sing, especially hymns. Hugh’s love of singing stayed with him his whole life.

Hugh came to Missoula in 1936 with his parents and brothers (the girls were working in Spokane). He worked as a carpenter with his dad and brother Bob for the H. Earl Clack Co. of Havre. They built service stations and tourist cabins in Montana, Idaho, and Washington. They came to Missoula to remodel a building on Pattee and Broadway into what became the Margaret Apartments (and later the Russell Smith Courthouse).

They discovered the Methodist Church around the corner on the very first Sunday, and Hugh and Bob were invited to join the choir. Hugh became active in the Wesley Foundation and was inspired to try for a college education, the first in his family to do so. He enrolled at the University of Montana as a Physics major in 1937. The Wesley president was a Kalispell girl named Helen Riffo who encouraged him in his education and decision to enter the ministry. He switched majors to Sociology in his sophomore year. Helen graduated in 1937, in Zoology, came back to get a teaching certificate, and taught for two years in Pony, Montana. Hugh continued at the U.M. and Wesley, singing with a famous “12-legged Quartet”, composed of the brothers Dahlstrom, Barrett, and Herbert. They traveled all around the valleys singing in churches. He started a job as student pastor for churches in Deer Lodge and Avon, and also at the prison, Galen Hospital, and Warm Springs Hospital. He graduated from the U.M. with a B.A. in Sociology in 1941.

Hugh and Helen were married on June 16, 1940 in the Missoula Methodist Church. Years later they celebrated their 25th and 50th anniversaries there as well. At first they lived in a little trailer behind his parents’ house in Spokane, but soon moved to Deer Lodge, where Hugh was serving as student pastor.

Hugh and Helen left Montana for Boston University School of Theology in Sept. 1942. While there, Hugh served at the Lakeside church in Lynn, Massachusetts, and traveled and sang with the B.U. Seminary Singers. He graduated with a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (S.T.B.) in 1946, and came back to Montana with the singers in June to give concerts in Helena, Great Falls, and Miles City, as well as at the Methodist Conference when his appointment to Fort Benton was announced. He subsequently served churches in Bozeman, Missoula (twice), and Great Falls, as well as administrative positions on the Yellowstone and Jurisdictional Conferences of the Methodist Church. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by Rocky Mountain College in Billings. During his more than 60 years of ministry, he presided over many hundreds of marriages, baptisms, and funeral services. People would meet him at a concert or in a restaurant and say “you married us”, or “you baptized me when I was a baby”. He treasured these encounters. His retirement years were busy with carpentry projects (mostly for his children), travel to family reunions or special church occasions (although he preferred to stay home after all those years of moving around), and working on the Plymouth Street house that was the first and only home they ever owned. Hugh and Helen lived there until her death in 1995.

Hugh and Helen raised four children, Susan Joyce, Margaret (Peggy) Louise, David Hugh, and Robert Glenn. Susan was born in Boston, Peggy in Spokane, David in Fort Benton, and Rob in Bozeman.

There was one more move. In 2000, Hugh traveled to Vancouver, Washington, with Susan to get ready for his granddaughter Jennifer’s wedding. He called an old friend, Dorothy Northcutt, whom he had met at a church conference many years before, and whose husband had passed away. Dorothy was a Methodist pastor also, and served the church in Salmon Creek near Vancouver. They were married in Sept. 2000, and enjoyed nine happy years together before Dorothy passed away in 2009. Hugh came back to the little house on Plymouth Street and lived there with Susan (who joined him in 2010) until his death on Dec. 29, 2016. His last years were blessed by visits with family, his many friends, and happy memories of the two wonderful “uppity women” he loved so much.

In addition to music, Hugh liked woodworking and building things, fly fishing, and just about all sports (Once he even rated a Missoulian column by John T. Campbell). He was a lifelong Griz fan, although while he lived in Bozeman he was one of the few (if any) UM alums ever to serve on the Bobcat Booster Club!

Hugh loved to sing more than anything else (except maybe preach!), and he was very good at both. During his many years in Missoula, he sang with the First United Methodist Church, Mendelssohn Club, Symphony Chorale, and anyone else who asked him. In fact, the whole family sang at home, or camp, or on road trips, or wherever they happened to be. On one occasion they were offered a gig in the saloon at Chico Hot Springs when the bartender heard them singing out on the porch.
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Hugh Herbert was preceded in death by his parents, brothers and sisters, and wives Helen and Dorothy.

He is survived by his four children, Susan Goss of Missoula, Peggy Herbert of Spokane, David (Shirley) Herbert of Houston, Texas, and Robert (Jean) Herbert of Brimfield, Massachusetts. He is also survived by four grandchildren, Jennifer (Christopher), Healey (Susan), Tanya and Brian Herbert (David) and Luke (Kerry) Mayer (Rob and Jean); and three great-grandchildren, Roan and Ivan Healey (Jennifer), and Blake Mayer (Luke).

Cremation has taken place, and a private family graveside service will be held at a later date. A memorial service will be held in March at the Missoula First United Methodist Church. Arrangements are being made and will be announced by Garden City Funeral Home.

Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Renovation Fund at the First United Methodist Church, PO Box 7646, Missoula, MT, 59807; Flathead Lake United Methodist Camp, 21339 Methodist Camp Rd, Rollins, MT, 59931; or Luccock Park United Methodist Camp, P.O. Box 1262, Livingston, MT, 59047.