Elias Martin Hunt
1931 - 2018
Early Life: Elias was born June 27, 1931, in Spanish Fork, Utah, to Milton Zera and Ruth Larson Martin Hunt, the oldest of their eight children. He became an excellent woodsman, a great hunter for the family meat, a good cook, a caretaker of the younger children, including many homemaking skills and adapted to a gypsy-like lifestyle, as well. He was raised in several places in southern Utah where his father pursued mining and agriculture. He excelled in general studies in high school and was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Utah.
Life’s Work | Service | Interests: In 1950, Elias married Ida Jean Snow with whom he raised three boys and nine grandchildren. After a debilitating accident, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951. He was trained as a helicopter mechanic which also included paramedic school and became a search and rescue pilot after so many pilots were killed in southeast Asia. He served in the military for 18½ years. On January 1, 1963, as he was airlifting a downed pilot out of North Vietnam, Elias’ helicopter was destroyed. Without vital signs in the wreckage, he and his crew were life-flighted to a medical unit where Elias was declared the only possible survivor spending 2½ years in hospitals being put back together. When he went back on duty, he was requested to fly the President of the United States helicopter serving for four years in Washington D.C. He again underwent almost fatal health concerns with two heart attacks, thus again changing his career by excelling in college to teach elementary education. Upon graduating, he taught for 10 years in the Jordan School District near Salt Lake City, Utah. When his middle son was killed in an industrial accident, Elias assumed care of his grandson, Ben, and moved to Winchester, Idaho, where he married LuAnn Carter Hunt. A baby daughter, Lisa, was born to them and he is survived by four of her children. After several bouts of cancer, Elias went to Mexico for treatment and came back to Utah cancer-free where he met and married Noel M. Whittaker. They have happily resided in Montana for 29 years. Elias was an expert hunter and fisherman in the Treasure State. He interacted with Noel’s three children as his own and engaged with the nine grandchildren as his own also. They bought a small log cabin in Stevensville, Montana, on 4.96 acers and revamped the property to include a guesthouse where family and friends stay on a regular basis. Elias served for several years on the high council in the Stevensville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a good friend and mentor to many. Elias passed away peacefully on February 14, 2018, after a lengthy history of poor health; his long, active life finally caught up with him. He will be greatly missed by many who knew him.
Services: LDS Stake Center | Stevensville, MT
Family Ceremony: On his birthday, June 27, 2018, at the Smuggler Mine in Sheridan, Montana, to scatter his ashes.
Original Obituary Published By:
© Whitesitt Funeral Home | February 2018
Bio compiled by: Annie Duckett Hundley
1931 - 2018
Early Life: Elias was born June 27, 1931, in Spanish Fork, Utah, to Milton Zera and Ruth Larson Martin Hunt, the oldest of their eight children. He became an excellent woodsman, a great hunter for the family meat, a good cook, a caretaker of the younger children, including many homemaking skills and adapted to a gypsy-like lifestyle, as well. He was raised in several places in southern Utah where his father pursued mining and agriculture. He excelled in general studies in high school and was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Utah.
Life’s Work | Service | Interests: In 1950, Elias married Ida Jean Snow with whom he raised three boys and nine grandchildren. After a debilitating accident, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951. He was trained as a helicopter mechanic which also included paramedic school and became a search and rescue pilot after so many pilots were killed in southeast Asia. He served in the military for 18½ years. On January 1, 1963, as he was airlifting a downed pilot out of North Vietnam, Elias’ helicopter was destroyed. Without vital signs in the wreckage, he and his crew were life-flighted to a medical unit where Elias was declared the only possible survivor spending 2½ years in hospitals being put back together. When he went back on duty, he was requested to fly the President of the United States helicopter serving for four years in Washington D.C. He again underwent almost fatal health concerns with two heart attacks, thus again changing his career by excelling in college to teach elementary education. Upon graduating, he taught for 10 years in the Jordan School District near Salt Lake City, Utah. When his middle son was killed in an industrial accident, Elias assumed care of his grandson, Ben, and moved to Winchester, Idaho, where he married LuAnn Carter Hunt. A baby daughter, Lisa, was born to them and he is survived by four of her children. After several bouts of cancer, Elias went to Mexico for treatment and came back to Utah cancer-free where he met and married Noel M. Whittaker. They have happily resided in Montana for 29 years. Elias was an expert hunter and fisherman in the Treasure State. He interacted with Noel’s three children as his own and engaged with the nine grandchildren as his own also. They bought a small log cabin in Stevensville, Montana, on 4.96 acers and revamped the property to include a guesthouse where family and friends stay on a regular basis. Elias served for several years on the high council in the Stevensville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a good friend and mentor to many. Elias passed away peacefully on February 14, 2018, after a lengthy history of poor health; his long, active life finally caught up with him. He will be greatly missed by many who knew him.
Services: LDS Stake Center | Stevensville, MT
Family Ceremony: On his birthday, June 27, 2018, at the Smuggler Mine in Sheridan, Montana, to scatter his ashes.
Original Obituary Published By:
© Whitesitt Funeral Home | February 2018
Bio compiled by: Annie Duckett Hundley
Elias Martin Hunt
1931 - 2018
Early Life: Elias was born June 27, 1931, in Spanish Fork, Utah, to Milton Zera and Ruth Larson Martin Hunt, the oldest of their eight children. He became an excellent woodsman, a great hunter for the family meat, a good cook, a caretaker of the younger children, including many homemaking skills and adapted to a gypsy-like lifestyle, as well. He was raised in several places in southern Utah where his father pursued mining and agriculture. He excelled in general studies in high school and was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Utah.
Life’s Work | Service | Interests: In 1950, Elias married Ida Jean Snow with whom he raised three boys and nine grandchildren. After a debilitating accident, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951. He was trained as a helicopter mechanic which also included paramedic school and became a search and rescue pilot after so many pilots were killed in southeast Asia. He served in the military for 18½ years. On January 1, 1963, as he was airlifting a downed pilot out of North Vietnam, Elias’ helicopter was destroyed. Without vital signs in the wreckage, he and his crew were life-flighted to a medical unit where Elias was declared the only possible survivor spending 2½ years in hospitals being put back together. When he went back on duty, he was requested to fly the President of the United States helicopter serving for four years in Washington D.C. He again underwent almost fatal health concerns with two heart attacks, thus again changing his career by excelling in college to teach elementary education. Upon graduating, he taught for 10 years in the Jordan School District near Salt Lake City, Utah. When his middle son was killed in an industrial accident, Elias assumed care of his grandson, Ben, and moved to Winchester, Idaho, where he married LuAnn Carter Hunt. A baby daughter, Lisa, was born to them and he is survived by four of her children. After several bouts of cancer, Elias went to Mexico for treatment and came back to Utah cancer-free where he met and married Noel M. Whittaker. They have happily resided in Montana for 29 years. Elias was an expert hunter and fisherman in the Treasure State. He interacted with Noel’s three children as his own and engaged with the nine grandchildren as his own also. They bought a small log cabin in Stevensville, Montana, on 4.96 acers and revamped the property to include a guesthouse where family and friends stay on a regular basis. Elias served for several years on the high council in the Stevensville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a good friend and mentor to many. Elias passed away peacefully on February 14, 2018, after a lengthy history of poor health; his long, active life finally caught up with him. He will be greatly missed by many who knew him.
Services: LDS Stake Center | Stevensville, MT
Family Ceremony: On his birthday, June 27, 2018, at the Smuggler Mine in Sheridan, Montana, to scatter his ashes.
Original Obituary Published By:
© Whitesitt Funeral Home | February 2018
Bio compiled by: Annie Duckett Hundley
1931 - 2018
Early Life: Elias was born June 27, 1931, in Spanish Fork, Utah, to Milton Zera and Ruth Larson Martin Hunt, the oldest of their eight children. He became an excellent woodsman, a great hunter for the family meat, a good cook, a caretaker of the younger children, including many homemaking skills and adapted to a gypsy-like lifestyle, as well. He was raised in several places in southern Utah where his father pursued mining and agriculture. He excelled in general studies in high school and was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Utah.
Life’s Work | Service | Interests: In 1950, Elias married Ida Jean Snow with whom he raised three boys and nine grandchildren. After a debilitating accident, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951. He was trained as a helicopter mechanic which also included paramedic school and became a search and rescue pilot after so many pilots were killed in southeast Asia. He served in the military for 18½ years. On January 1, 1963, as he was airlifting a downed pilot out of North Vietnam, Elias’ helicopter was destroyed. Without vital signs in the wreckage, he and his crew were life-flighted to a medical unit where Elias was declared the only possible survivor spending 2½ years in hospitals being put back together. When he went back on duty, he was requested to fly the President of the United States helicopter serving for four years in Washington D.C. He again underwent almost fatal health concerns with two heart attacks, thus again changing his career by excelling in college to teach elementary education. Upon graduating, he taught for 10 years in the Jordan School District near Salt Lake City, Utah. When his middle son was killed in an industrial accident, Elias assumed care of his grandson, Ben, and moved to Winchester, Idaho, where he married LuAnn Carter Hunt. A baby daughter, Lisa, was born to them and he is survived by four of her children. After several bouts of cancer, Elias went to Mexico for treatment and came back to Utah cancer-free where he met and married Noel M. Whittaker. They have happily resided in Montana for 29 years. Elias was an expert hunter and fisherman in the Treasure State. He interacted with Noel’s three children as his own and engaged with the nine grandchildren as his own also. They bought a small log cabin in Stevensville, Montana, on 4.96 acers and revamped the property to include a guesthouse where family and friends stay on a regular basis. Elias served for several years on the high council in the Stevensville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a good friend and mentor to many. Elias passed away peacefully on February 14, 2018, after a lengthy history of poor health; his long, active life finally caught up with him. He will be greatly missed by many who knew him.
Services: LDS Stake Center | Stevensville, MT
Family Ceremony: On his birthday, June 27, 2018, at the Smuggler Mine in Sheridan, Montana, to scatter his ashes.
Original Obituary Published By:
© Whitesitt Funeral Home | February 2018
Bio compiled by: Annie Duckett Hundley
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
