Willis Heron

Retired Dept. of State Lands, Div. of Forestry Nursery Supervisor and military veteran, Willis James Heron, 86, of Choteau, MT died on December 7th, 2025.

Willis was born on January 17th,1939 in Carrington, ND to Gladys and Donald Heron. He grew up in Cathay, ND and graduated High School in 1957. He went on to the North Dakota School of Forestry in Bottineau and earned his Associate of Sciences degree in 1959. He joined the Army and was trained as a nuclear weapons maintenance specialist, serving in the 525th Ordinance Co. in Siegelsbach, Germany (MOS 436.10) and worked on components for the "Honest John" surface to surface, nuclear capable, artillery rocket during the Berlin Wall crisis. He rose to the rank of SP4 and was given early release in late 1961 to attend the U of M in Missoula, MT where he earned a degree in Wildlife Tech in 1963.

He was a member of the Silvertip Skydivers and made 391 jumps from 17 various aircraft and spent time as a Club Safety Officer and later as Area Safety Officer.

While skydiving he met Charlotte Sheehan who became his wife on August 24th, 1968.

Willis enjoyed birdwatching, fishing, hunting, Sudoku puzzles, and creating with his radial arm saw. After 30 years with the Division of Forestry he retired to Choteau in 1993 where he joined TASGA in 1995 to help with the annual Threshing Bee and American Legion Post 6 in 2011, along with Teton County SAR several years ago. He was a member of the Audubon Society and MT Native Plants.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Charlotte of Choteau, daughter, Ursula (David) Floren of New Braunfels, TX and cousin Jim (Terri) Heron of Cathay, ND.

He was proceeded in death by his younger brother, Norman and sister-in-law JoEllyn Heron.

Funeral and services will be announced in the Spring.

Condolences to the family may be shared at www.frontierfuneralhome.com