Rutherford George Montgomery (April 12, 1894 – July 3, 1985) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
writer of
children's books
A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
. In addition to his given name, he used the pseudonyms A.A. Avery, Al Avery, Art Elder, E.P. Marshall, and Everitt Proctor.
[
]
Life
Montgomery was born in Straubville, Sargent County, North Dakota
Sargent County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. Its county seat is Forman, North Dakota, Forman, and its most populous city is Gwinner, North Dakota, Gwinner. The county is named in honor of Homer E. Sargen ...
, "a true ghost town" as of 2005. to George Y. and Matilda Proctor Montgomery. He studied at Colorado Agricultural College, Western State College of Colorado
Western Colorado University (WCU or Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state.
Western offers more than 100 undergradua ...
, and University of Nebraska; taught elementary school in Hot Springs, Wyoming; and from 1917 to 1919 served in the United States Air Corps. During the 1920s, he worked as a teacher and principal at junior and senior high schools in Montrose County, Colorado
Montrose County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 42,679. The county seat is Montrose, Colorado, Montrose, for which the county is named.
Montrose County com ...
.[
Montgomery married Eunice Opal Kirks in 1930; they had three children. He served Gunnison County, Colorado, as a judge from 1931 to 1936 and as county commissioner from 1932 to 1938, then became a freelance writer.][
While still at school, Montgomery began writing stories about the wild animals that lived around his family's farm. He went on to write books about aviation and the people, landscapes and animals of the American West, particularly horses. In all, he wrote more than 100 books.
From 1941 to 1946, Montgomery was a writer for Dick Tracy. He worked as a creative writing teacher 1955–57 and as a ]scriptwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
for Walt Disney Studios 1958–1962.[
]
Literary awards
* Kildee House: Newbery Award Honor Book, 1950.
*''Wapiti the Elk'': Commonwealth Club of California
The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to ...
Juvenile Silver Medal, 1952
*''Beaver Water'': New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...
Children's Spring Book Festival Award, 1956; Boy's Clubs of America Junior Book Award, 1957
*''The Stubborn One'': Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in th ...
Golden Spur Award
Spur Awards are literary prizes given annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur Awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA was ...
, 1965
Works
;As Everitt Proctor
* ''The last cruise of the ''Jeannette (1944)
* ''Men against the ice'' (1946)
;As Rutherford Montgomery
* ''Warhawk Patrol'' (1944)
;As Al Avery, ''A Yankee Flier''
Pulse-quickening stories of the fearless young airman, Stan Wilson. According to the Library of Congress catalog, all nine books were 204 to 216-page, published by Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group.
In recent years, through the P ...
from 1941 to 1946. The first six were illustrated by Paul Laune, the last three by Clayton Knight
Clayton Knight OBE (March 30, 1891 – July 17, 1969) was an American aviator during World War I. He was also an aviation artist and illustrator, and is known for being one of the founders of the Clayton Knight Committee and the illustrator of t ...
.
*''A Yankee Flier with the R.A.F.'' (1941)
*''A Yankee Flier in the Far East'' (1942)
*''A Yankee Flier in the South Pacific'' (1943)
*''A Yankee Flier in North Africa'' (1943)
*''A Yankee Flier in Italy'' (1944)
*''A Yankee Flier Over Berlin'' (1944)
*''A Yankee Flier in Normandy'' (1945)
*''A Yankee Flier on a Rescue Mission'' (1945)
*''A Yankee Flier Under Secret Orders'' (1946)
;''The Golden Stallion''
*''The Golden Stallion'' (1951); also published as ''The Capture of the Golden Stallion''
*''The Golden Stallion'' (abridged)
*''The Golden Stallion's Revenge'' (1953)
*''The Golden Stallion to the Rescue'' (1954)
*''The Golden Stallion's Victory'' (1956)
*''The Golden Stallion and the Wolf Dog'' (1958)
*''The Golden Stallion's Adventure at Redstone'' (1959)
*''The Golden Stallion and the Mysterious Feud'' (1967)
;Other
*''A Kinkajou on the Town''
*''Amikuk''
*''Beaver Water''
*''Big Brownie''
*''Big Red: A Wild Stallion'' (1971)
*''Black Powder Empire''
*''Broken Fang''
*''Carcajou''
*''Claim jumpers of Marble Canyon''
*''Corey's Sea Monster''
*''Crazy Kill Range'' (1963)
*''Dolphins As They Are'' (1966)
*''El Blanco: The Legend of the White Stallion'' (1961)
*''Ghost Town Adventure''
*''Gray Wolf''
*''High Country''
*''Hill Ranch''
*''Husky''
*''Iceblink'' (1941), as by George R. Montgomery
*''In Happy Hollow''
*''Jet Navigator, Strategic Air Command''
*''Kent Barstow Aboard the Dyna Soar''
*''Kent Barstow and the Commando Flight''
*''Kent Barstow on a B-70 Mission''
*''Kent Barstow: Space Man''
*'' Kildee House''
*''King of the Castle: The Story of a Kangaroo Rat''
*''McGonnigle's lake''
*''McNulty's Holiday''
*''Midnight: Wild Stallion of the West'' (1940)
*''Mister Jim'' (1953)
*''Pekan the Shadow''
*''Rufus''
*''Snowman'' (1962)
*''The Capture of West Wind'' (1962)
*''The Living Wilderness''
*''The Silver Hills''
*''The Stubborn One'' (1965)
*''Timberline Tales''
*''Troopers Three''
*''Walt Disney's Cougar: A Fact-Fiction Nature Story''
*'' Walt Disney's The Odyssey of an Otter''
*''Wapiti the Elk''
*''War Wings''
*''Weecha The Racoon''
*''Whitetail: The Story of a Prairie Dog''
*''Yellow Eyes''
See also
References
*Natlee Kenoyer, "Rutherford Montgomery: A Remembrance", ''The Roundup'', Nov–Dec 1985, p. 28
External links
*
*
*
Straubville, North Dakota: A true ghost town
at Ghosts of North Dakota
Rutherford George Montgomery
at Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
Authorities — with 103 catalog records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Rutherford George
American children's writers
Disney people
Newbery Honor winners
People from North Dakota
1894 births
1985 deaths
Place of death missing