[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 50 (Friday, April 6, 2001)] [Senate] [Pages S3699-S3700] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS ______ DEATH OF JOHN C. HOYT OF MONTANAMr. BURNS. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to make note of the recent death of a great man and fellow Montanan. Montana lost one of its proudest native sons on Monday, March 26, 2001. John Hoyt died at the Benefis Hospital in Great Falls, during a heart attack catheterization procedure. He was 78. In Shelby, June 28, 1922, a fascinating and adventurous and truly incredible life began. John's parents had come to Shelby from Iowa. The family's background was in farming and ranching. John's father, a lawyer, raised his family in Shelby during the Great Depression. John spent summers back in Iowa, during the hard times, without modern equipment, without air-conditioning and using a real pitchfork to gather hay in the field and pitch it into the hay mow for the winter. All who knew John, knew those thick hands and fingers of his proved he was no stranger to hard physical work. John began his college career, on scholarship, at Drake University in Iowa. But, by his own admission, ``too much fun'' brought that educational experience to an end. Perhaps that was meant to be, because leaving Drake brought John home to Montana, and the University in Missoula, a place where his heart and his loyalty and his support never again left. A true Grizzly is now at rest. But his presence will be forever felt on that campus and in the stadium in Box 102B down on the north end. John will still be cheering on his beloved Grizzlies. He might even give Coach Glenn ``a great play'' from wherever John is watching! World War II broke out while John was in undergraduate school at the U of M. The day after Pearl Harbor he joined the Air Force. His eyesight was not good enough to allow him to be the fighter pilot he aspired to be. He proudly became a navigator on a B-24 as a Second Lieutenant. In August of 1944, on a mission between Italy and Vienna, in a fierce air battle involving hundreds of airplanes, John's was shot down by German fighters. The bomber, named the Jolly Roger, spiraled to the ground and only John and one other were able to escape. The spiral carried the other crew to their deaths, and John was captured and was in a P.O.W. camp for most of a year before the army of General George Patton liberated him and many of his comrades. John finished his education after the war. He graduated from the University of Montana Law School in 1948. For the past fifty-three years John Hoyt stamped Montana legal history, beginning in Shelby, typing his own oil field title reports with five sheets of carbon paper, and then centering his practice out of Great Falls and becoming one of the most creative and innovative and persuasive trial lawyers in Montana's history. John was so proud of the many talented lawyers he practiced with. It was recently stated by legal pundits that while it was not required to have practiced with John Hoyt to sit on the Montana Supreme Court, it did not hurt. John's current firm, Hoyt and Blewett, is one of the most prominent in Montana. He and his partner, Zander Blewett, have represented Montanans with pride and dignity, and his clashes with the Burlington Northern led to a memento in his office portraying the Burlington Northern logo and inscribed, for John, with the words, ``Any Time is Train Time''! John had a lifelong passion for agriculture, and established one of the most noted Black Angus ranches in America, the Jolly Roger. He named it after his former comrades in World War II. In the 1990's two bulls that he developed and raised, Juice and Uncle Jim, became important leaders in carcass quality traits throughout the beef industry. Ironically, John's last yearling bull sale was just last Wednesday, March 21. His bull sold to all areas of Montana, several states, and into Canada. John Hoyt was a gentleman. He had acquaintances that ranged from the most humble to the most powerful of his fellow citizens. All were equally valued by John as friends. He was an outdoorsman who trained hunting dogs and loved bird hunting. His fishing trips that he led friends on in Alaska were, at the very least, memorable. His wit and enthusiasm and his energy [[Page S3700]] made him the center of any gathering he was ever part of. John belonged to the Cascade County Bar Association, the Montana Bar Association, the Montana and the American Trial Lawyers Association. John was also an active member of the Montana and American Angus Associations. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Citation by the Montana Trial Lawyers, in recognition of his fifty years of distinguished trial practice in Montana. John is survived by his wife, Vickie, of the Jolly Roger Ranch in Belt; his son, John Richard (Rosemary) of Washington state; his daughter, Mary Lou (Dennis) Sandretto, and his grandchildren, Rachel, Ariel and David Sandretto, all of Georgia; and his sister, Lois Matsler, of Bloomington, Illinois. He is also survived by countless friends and colleagues and acquaintances throughout his beloved Montana. Montana may never know the likes of John Hoyt again. He left Montana for a better place. His generous financial gifts to the University of Montana, both the Athletic Department and the Law School will sustain his legacy for generations that come afterwards. As John would say: Up with Montana--Go Griz! ____________________