Obituaries

Delbert (Del) Lamont Delbert Elwood Lamont, age 92, passed away peacefully at Greenway Manor on August 13   2024, after a lengthy illness. He was born in Esmond, Illinois (Winnebago County) to Ina (Lindquist) and Robert E. Lamont on February 2, 1932. The third of eight children, his mother recalled he was born on the kitchen table. Much of his childhood was spent helping his family farm in northern Illinois. His father was not a competent farmer and they moved frequently. Del began high school at Hononegah. Halfway through his junior year he had to drop out to work on the farm due to sickness in the family; and he and younger brother Boyd had to handle all the chores. He finished his junior year in Freeport in March and graduated from there in January of 1951. He took great pride in the fact that no matter the school, he always played football on the varsity squad. He loved football. After graduation and an argument with his dad he left the farm, walked to Freeport with $5 in his pocket, no job and no place to live, and eventually caught a bus for Rockford where he joined the Marine Corps which he often said was one of the best things he’d done in his life. It allowed him to go to college on the GI Bill. As a Marine, he was encouraged to attend electronics school at San Francisco, California, then radar school in San Diego, California. Eventually he was persuaded to become an enlisted officer and went to Quantico for basic training. In a short time, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant and oversaw all electronic repair at Twenty-Nine Palms. He was in the Marine Corps for four years and the Marine Corps Reserve for four more. During his time in the service, he married Joanne Cagle in November, 1954. Del attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana on the GI bill where, in 1961, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He and Joanne had four children: Nancy, Mark, Patti and John. He was employed by several engineering firms in Illinois and Wisconsin and finally became president of Standex Precision Engineering where he oversaw five separate companies involved with production of equipment for aviation, defense, energy, medical and space systems. This required extensive travel throughout England, Europe and the US. Joanne Lamont passed away in 1990 after a short illness and 36 years of marriage.  In January, 1991, Del and Sara Lindsay Rath met on a Midwest Express flight from Milwaukee to Boston. They were married a year later. They lived in Elm Grove for 10 years and eventually made their home in Spring Green, where they enjoyed the landscape and amenities of the Driftless region with their Labrador Retrievers. Del accompanied Sara on book tours. enjoyed visits to their respectful ancestral castles in Scotland (Lamont, Lindsay), lobster diving in the Florida Keys with friends and relatives, visits to Bermuda, Cancun, The Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, and the mountains of Vermont. He especially enjoyed visits to Lindsay Lodge, Sara’s family’s rustic cabin near Mercer, where he volunteered for repairs and upkeep, enjoyed fishing, hearing the wolves howl and watching their dogs swim in Catherine Lake. Survivors include Del’s wife, Sara; two sisters Edith Wheeler, and Judy Zoelick; four children: Nancy McMahon (Tom), Mark Lamont (Lauren, Patti DeWane (Mark) and John Lamont; step-children Jay Rath and Laura Rath Beausire (Robert); 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. A private memorial service will be held at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Machesney Park, Illinois, later  this autumn.