Biography

Finis "Monte" Firman Montgomery was born in Oklahoma in 1924. He studied engineering and design at the University of Oklahoma. After graduating, he worked for the Douglas Aircraft Company. In 1943, he and Lois Roberts were married; they later had three children. The year after their marriage, the couple moved to Oregon, and Montgomery worked as an insurance salesman in Eugene. He became involved in numerous civic organizations, as well as the Republican Party. He represented Lane County in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1959 to 1968. He was House minority leader from 1961 to 1963 and speaker from 1965 to 1968. He ran unsuccessfully for Oregon secretary of state in 1968, losing to Clay Myers. After leaving the Legislature, he worked in land development, insurance, and international trade. In 1977, he became executive vice president of the Association of Oregon Loggers. In 1979, he was appointed to the governing board of the State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation by Governor Vic Atiyeh. He resigned from the board in 1983 to create a workers’ insurance plan for the Association of Oregon Loggers. In 1986, he was charged with eleven felonies and two misdemeanors, including fraud relate to the insurance plan, and he was found guilty on six counts. Later, Montgomery and his wife moved to Keaau, Hawaii, where he opened a travel business. Montgomery died in 2016.

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