A Final Tribute to Cowboy Icon

They arrived in sports cars and pickup trucks, many wearing big shiny belt buckles and cowboy hats.

In what resembled a festive country reunion, more than 400 family members, friends and fans of Montie Montana, who died last week at 87, gathered Tuesday at Oakwood Cemetery’s Pioneer Church to pay tribute to the cowboy star known for his constant smile, charm and roping skills.

They greeted one another with a hug or a handshake and then told Montie Montana stories, which mostly ended in laughs.

A trio called Riders of the Purple Sage played cowboy songs. Montana’s grandson, Jess, 36, performed a roping demonstration while his father, Montie Montana Jr., 63, spoke about his father’s escapades.

Montana, who was buried in a wood coffin branded with his initials, wouldn’t have had it any other way, friends and family said.

“He would want his funeral to be uplifting,” Marilee Montana, his second wife, said in an interview. “He was western through and through. He was a cowboy.”

Montana died Wednesday at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Santa Clarita. Family members attributed Montana’s death to complications after a series of strokes.

Known for his fancy roping skills, Montana was a cowboy icon in Southern California, appearing in 60 consecutive Tournament of Roses Parades before declining to ride in 1995.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Montana was among the real-life cowboys who came to Hollywood to demonstrate and teach their riding and roping skills in the movies. He had roles in more than 20 films, including, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “The Cowboy,” appearing with such greats as Tom Mix and John Wayne.