Archives West Finding Aid

Rutherford George Montgomery (April 12, 1894-July 3, 1985) was born in Straubville, North Dakota to George Y. and Matilda (Proctor) Montgomery. He married Eunice Opal Kirks on February 14, 1930. They had three children: Earl, Polly Montgomery Hecathorn and Marylin Montgomery Fitch. Montgomery attended school at Colorado Agricultural College, at the Western State College of Colorado and the University of Nebraska. He loved flying and the outdoor life. During his life he was a member of the Society of authors, Western Writers of America and Writers Guild of America West.

During his career, Montgomery was a teacher at Hot Springs Elementary School in Hot Springs, Wyoming from 1915 to 1917. From 1917 to 1919 he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. When he left the service he went back into education as a teacher and principal at Delta County High Schools in Cedar Ridge, Colorado from 1921 to 1924. He then served as principal at Montrose County Junior High School in Montrose, Colorado from 1924 to 1928. Later, for the state of Colorado Montgomery served as Gunnison county judge from 1931 to 1936 and as budget commissioner from 1932 to 1938. Following ths Montgomery spent several years in the literary world, as a freelance writer of children's books from 1939 on. He was a ghost writer for the Dick Tracy series from 1941 to 1946 then became a teacher of creative writing at Los Gatos, California from 1955 to 1957 before going to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California as a writer from 1958 to 1962.