Deland L. Robertson Jr.

Deland L. Robertson Jr., 41, passed away on Thursday, July 31, 2014, at Benefis Medical Center in Great Falls, Montana, of natural causes.

Wake services will begin with a rosary at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014, and will continue until his traditional funeral service, which will be at 1 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, all at the Red Whip Center in Fort Belknap, Montana. Interment will be in the Shortman Family Cemetery in Hays, Montana.

Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements. Please visit Deland’s online memorial page and leave a message of condolence for his family at http://www.hollandbonine.com.

  Deland was born on July 30, 1973, in Lander, Wyoming, to Deland L. Robertson Sr. and Helen Stiffarm. He was raised in Lander until he was 2, when the family moved to Hays, eventually settling in Fort Belknap. Deland attended Headstart in Hays, and completed his elementary and high school education in Harlem. Following high school, he attended Job Corps in Anaconda, and then relocated to Great Falls in 1995 to attend college. He attended Montana State University Tech in Great Falls for two years, and in May 1998 in Great Falls, he married his high school sweetheart, Lea Falcon. The couple moved to Havre for a year in 2000, and then relocated to Lander in 2001, where they spent their time raising their four children, focusing on teaching them love, respect, the value of family and good sportsmanship. Deland worked as a flagger and with a security firm over the years, and he enjoyed anything related to his children, especially coaching his kids in sports.

Deland was a happy, outgoing man, who was outspoken and very protective of his family. He was a very respectful individual who took a great deal of pride in taking care of himself and his family, and in teaching his children respect for themselves and others.

Deland was preceded in death by his brothers Garrett “Herm” Snell and Derek Dillon; his sister Abbot Calls Him; his adopted brother Steve Cochran; his uncles, Dudley Stiffarm, Emerson Stiffarm Sr, Sonnyman Flying and Doug Johnson; his aunt, Helen Shortman; and his grandparents, Bill and Tommy Shortman, Joe Ironman, Cecelia Gardipee, Ted and Ivy Robertson, Paul and Mae Stiffarm, and Max (Frances) White.

He is survived by his beloved wife and soul-mate, Lea Robertson of Lander; his four children, Jarisa, Deland III, Garreth and Deshaland, all of Lander; his parents, Helen “Dollie” (Will) Morey of Wolf Point, and Deland (Penny) Robertson Sr. of Arapahoe, Wyoming; his siblings, Jon Paul and Nikki Snell of Fort Belknap, and Cheryl, David and Ivy Robertson, all of Ft. Washakie, Wyoming; and numerous beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and other extended family.