William E. Hunt
| William Edward Hunt, Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Associate Justice of the Montana Supreme Court | |
|
In office January 2, 1985 – December 31, 2000 |
|
| Preceded by | Daniel J. Shea |
| Succeeded by | Patricia O'Brien Cotter |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 28, 1923 Tacoma, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | February 16, 2016 (aged 92) Helena, Montana, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Mary (m. 1952) |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | BA, JD |
| Alma mater |
University of Montana University of Montana School of Law |
William Edward Hunt, Sr. (February 28, 1923 — February 16, 2016) was an American soldier, lawyer, and jurist. He served as the County Attorney for Liberty County, Montana, and later as the mayor of Chester, Montana. During his tenure as mayor, he founded the Montana Consumers Council. From 1970 to 1975, he served as the Director of the Montana Aeronautics Commission (which later became the Aeronautics Division of the Montana Department of Transportation). He was appointed the first Montana Workers' Compensation Court judge in July 1975, organizing the court and serving until August 1981. He won a nonpartisan election as an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court in 1984, and served from January 2, 1985, until his retirement on December 31, 2000.
William E. Hunt was born on February 28, 1923, in Tacoma, Washington, to William C. and Ann (née Nolan) Hunt, the second of eight children. His father was a dentist and his mother was a registered nurse, and the family was prosperous. During the Great Depression, William C. Hunt could no longer earn enough money as a dentist to provide for his family, so the Hunts moved to a farm owned by the Nolan family near Burlington, Iowa, where they were able to survive by growing their own food.
William E. Hunt dropped out of high school at the age of 16. Declaring he was born February 29, 1920, he enlisted in the Iowa Army National Guard in April 1939. He was assigned to the somewhat newly-organized 113th Cavalry, which at that time still exclusively used horses. The 113th Cavalry began conversion into a combined horse-armored unit in September 1940 and was mobilized into federal service on January 13, 1941. Hunt trained as a radio operator, and participated in the United States Army's landing in Algeria and Sicily before being among the first wave of soldiers going ashore at Utah Beach as part of the Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944. He later said about the war, "If it taught me anything, it taught me how lucky I was. The war taught me we're all the same. We all do our best, and we can't worry about our differences." Another formative experience for Hunt was exposure to the racial segregation faced by African American soldiers during the war, which deeply troubled him. Hunt mustered out of the army in 1945, but reenlisted in 1946. He served in the United States Army Reserve and the Montana Army National Guard until 1950. He graduated from the Army Officer Candidate School, and rose to the rank of captain.
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