Keith L. Colbo

Keith L. Colbo was born Monday, Feb. 10, 1941, in Deer Lodge to Ken and Mary Colbo. He died in the early morning Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, in Missoula.

He completed grade school and high school in Deer Lodge, attending St. Mary's Academy and Powell County High School. He spent his youth climbing the mountains and fishing the waters around Deer Lodge and working for his parents at the family bowling alley. He left for Bozeman to earn his degree in business at Montana State University in 1963.

He began his career in Helena in the Montana State Budget Office when there were only two employees. He worked up to assistant budget director appointed by Gov. Tim Babcock, and shortly thereafter was appointed to budget director for Montana by Gov. Forrest Anderson. Under the Executive Reorganization Act of 1971, a new Department of Revenue was organized and Keith was appointed as the first director of the Department of Revenue. In 1974, the budget function for Montana was transferred to the new Department of Budget and Program Planning, at which time Keith was again appointed as the first director of this department by Gov. Thomas Judge. His next position was chief of staff to Gov. Judge. After many years in this position, he was appointed as director of Social and Rehabilitation Services and director of Fish, Wildlife and Parks simultaneously. In 1980, when Ted Schwinden was elected governor, Keith headed his transition team and then again was appointed as chief of staff to the governor. Keith was then appointed to the new Northwest Power Planning Council, ending his time with the council as the chairman. Keith ended his 26 years of service with Montana state government as director of the Department of Commerce.

In 1989, he started his own consulting business, where he worked on a variety of issues for numerous clients, first with his daughter Leslie then his wife Carole.

Keith was preceded in death by his parents, Ken and Mary Colbo. He is survived by his wife, Carole; children, James R. Thomson, Leslie K. Thomson (Tim), Brooke Colbo and Kel Colbo (Suzie); brother, Ken Colbo (Judy); numerous grandchildren, including Jamie Smith, who will present him with his first great-granddaughter, and Abbey Keith, his buddy and golf partner; numerous nieces and nephews; and his good friends and in-laws Vickie Hoyt and Patrick Noble.

Keith was a quiet, gentle man with a sure sense of himself. He lived a dignified life, a life that mattered, and was a source of intelligent wit and uncommon wisdom. He had an avid need to read, a love of possibilities and was driven to play the game of golf.

Keith wanted to leave in a quiet fashion and decided there should not be a memorial service. Thank you to all who entered his life in the past few years and made it better than it would have been without you. Keith loved animals and found them eternally fascinating. He would have been grateful to any donation to support the welfare of animals.

"You will begin to touch heaven in the moment you touch perfect speed, and that is not flying a thousand miles an hour or a million or flying the speed of light. Because any number is a limit and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed is being there." – Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Read Keith Colbo's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.