Born in Salt Lake City, Utah to Keith Edgar and Emma Elizabeth Snow Montague. Son, brother, husband, father, renaissance man.
From an early age Chris blazed his own creative path with eclectic passions for art, music, and the natural world. Chris loved music and skillfully played the banjo and guitar in many bluegrass bands in Utah and across the West Coast. He graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon with a major in calligraphy, receiving mentorship from the world- renowned professor Lloyd Reynolds. His penmanship has been featured throughout the years on album covers and in art publications.
Chris married the love of his life Elizabeth Welti in 1979 and fathered his two children Tyler and Annie with a steady lifelong presence and unwavering love. He infused each small moment with unique beauty and wonder for family and friends alike: rehabilitating birds of prey in the backyard, meticulously crafting annual playlists of favorite songs, and hunting for arrowheads in the Southern Utah desert. In all his relationships, Chris was authentically himself, which was a gift to all.
After working in the arts, Chris helped to create a foundational legacy of Utah environmentalism, working as one of the two original employees of the Utah chapter of The Nature Conservancy. As Director of Conservation Projects, Chris leveraged his natural diplomatic demeanor to negotiate with ranchers, government o[icials, community members and private landowners to steward thousands of acres of land and many endangered species into permanent protection. Some of his greatest achievements were helping to secure the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, The Dugout Ranch, and the Matheson Preserve.
Shortly after his retirement, Chris was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which he faced for many years with the same selfless steadfastness with which he approached all things in life. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Elizabeth by two days.
Chris lives on through his son Tyler and daughter Annie (husband Dan), his sister Leslie (husband Kim), his brother Doug (wife Latecia), his niece Rachel (husband Austin) and close companions who shared his passions for beauty, music, and nature. Chris was the rock of our family and an irreplaceable human being. He will be missed beyond measure.
A memorial will be held in Chris’ honor on May 31st at The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Nature Preserve at 11:00am, followed by an open-house Celebration of Life at The Grand Victorian in Layton, Utah at 1:00pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family is grateful for contributions made to the Nature Conservancy of Utah or to a scholarship fund at Salt Lake Community College in honor of his wife Liz Montague: https://tinyurl.com/LizScholarshipFund.
