Merton Gilbert Malek

MERTON GILBERT MALEK

October 27, 1929 ~ October 1, 2020

How lucky we six siblings were to have Mert as our dad. He was an artistic, musical, never-say-never, joyful person who continued to learn and change to the end of his life on October 1, 2020 under the full moon.

Dad was born as the Great Depression began to descend on the U.S. As a kid, he delivered the Minot North Dakota Daily News. At 15 he was delivering telegrams before and after school on his bike, oftentimes through heavy snow while also working at JC Penney's where he began designing and building window displays. His artistic talents would continue to inspire us throughout his life. He painted battling stallions on the basement walls, designed a paper mache Spartan head to lead the homecoming parade for Baker, Montana, decorated our Conrad yard turning our yard globe light into Frosty the Snowman and decorating our windows with Santa Claus in his sled and reindeer.

Our home was filled with music and singing. It’s impossible to think of dad without thinking of him singing.

Dad was a fireman working for his fire chief dad, Gilbert Malek, when a violent “atomic bomb like” explosion rocked Minot on July 21, 1947. The explosion at the Westland Oil Company service station and bulk plant sent burning gasoline hurling into the air. People were thrown to the ground as far as two blocks away. Fire consumed four city blocks and killed five people including dad’s best friend and fellow firefighter Orton Nelson.

Married at 19, he worked as a draftsman for an architect, for a funeral home, and for JC Penneys before moving to Baker, Montana where he was an independent insurance agent until 1966 when he forayed across the state to start working as an insurance agent for Farmers State Bank in Conrad, Montana. Three years of hail had destroyed crops in Baker. This father of six had to start again. Dad became a loan officer and then vice president of the bank. He was well-loved in Conrad, was offered presidency of the bank but instead decided to retire.

Our family home in Conrad remained a gathering place. We are grateful to Conrad for all it did for us. For years, we kids and grandkids would gather at Mom and Dad’s Conrad home every August until they moved in 2002 to Post Falls, Idaho, to be near their son Dr. Steven Malek, after mom, Elaine Malek, suffered a debilitating stroke. We are so grateful that dad took care of mom until her death in 2016.

Dad would have grieved the passing of his oldest son, Gregory John Malek, in 2022 and did grieve the passing of grandson Garrett Gaskins in 2018. Dad is survived by Jeanie Malek (son Aaron and daughter Kim), Sue Malek, (husband Bill Turner and son Cory Turner), Steven Malek (wife Leanne, and sons Luke, John, Matthew and Marc), Paul Malek (wife Jeannie and sons Justin and Alan) Jim Malek (wife Belinda and sons Tyler and Kellen) and Joan Gaskins (husband Tom and sons Leland and Brandon), and his amazing 24 great grandchildren.