Robert Bruce Montgomery

Bob was born in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on January 26, 1935, to Bruce and Helen Montgomery. He grew up in Fairchance, Pennsylvania, and on the family farm in Punxsutawney. He attended Benjamin Franklin High, where he met the delightful and beautiful Nancy Newell. He subsequently attended Uniontown Senior High in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1951. Bob was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, graduating in 1955 and attended medical school at George Washington University School of Medicine. He and Nancy were married on August 17, 1957. He then graduated from medical school in 1959 and completed his residency in general surgery at George Washington. Bob entered Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and took the family (including Nancy, Bruce and Todd) to Orleans, France, a high point in their lives. They then moved to Nurnberg, Germany, where their son Judd was born. They moved to Boise in 1967, and Bob began a 25-year practice in general surgery at Pittenger Medical Center, and then as a founding member of Boise Surgical Group, retiring in 1994. He served as a member of the Ada County Medical Society, the Idaho Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons. He served as an officer in most of these organizations during his time in practice. He was the Idaho representative for admissions to the University of Washington Medical School for many years. After his “retirement,” Bob was vice president for medical affairs at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and then a faculty member for the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho for many years. In recognition of his teaching, he received the Hope Award in 2011.

Bob loved his family, fly-fishing, telling stories, surgery and teaching, not necessarily in that order. He was a man of passion, commitment and lover of the outdoors. He was preceded in death by his parents, Bruce and Helen Montgomery, his wife, Nancy, and his son, Todd. He is survived by his sons, Bruce and Judd, and grandchildren, Grace, Abby, Addison and Landon.

The two quotes that he felt exemplified his life were: “I am the luckiest man alive;” and “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” - Henry David Thoreau.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 15, 2019, at the Cathedral of the Rockies, 717 N. 11th St., Boise, Idaho 83702. Reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Saint Alphonsus Foundation, 1055 N. Curtis Rd., Boise, Idaho 83706.