2013 LEGACY INDUCTEE DISTRICT 2

Obert Kartevold (1919-2010)

Obert Kartevold was born July 28, 1919, on the Kartevold family ranch outside of Hodges, Montana, to John and Hannah Kartevold. Of the five Kartevold children, he was the third and the one who would later purchase the ranch from his parents. His elementary years of education were spent at Hodges School, Dawson County High School of Glendive and Montana State College of Bozeman.

Obert spent his entire lifetime as a rancher in eastern Montana. Times were hard in the early 1900s and everyone had to help make ends meet. As a teenager he often broke horses for his neighbors. While little or no money was ever exchanged, and in lieu of payment, he often received a horse. Obert also had the opportunity to help gather wild horses in the badlands which later became known as the Makoshika State Park. He was a skilled rider who rode many race horses and would later own one.

Obert entered the United States Army on February 19, 1941, in Missoula, Montana. Serving in World War II, he was involved in the invasion of Africa, Sicily, and Italy. During his time in Messina, Sicily, Obert was wounded and transferred to Denver, Colorado, where he was hospitalized for six months. Soon thereafter, he received the Purple Heart for his remarkable gallantry. After his release from the hospital, Obert received new orders to report to Fort Riley located at Geary, Kansas. Parts of his new orders were to help select horses that were to be broke, trained, and sold to the Swiss Government. During a showing of several horses to the Swiss Council, one of the horses spooked and ran off, tipping a cultivator over on top of Obert, resulting in a shattered leg. He was sent back to the same military hospital in Denver, spending the next three months only two beds away from where he had just left.

In 1947, Obert went to work for the State of Montana as a Brand Inspector covering the areas of Billings, Glasgow, Glendive, Miles City, and Sidney. His duties also included working cattle in Sioux City, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois. After 32 years, he retired in 1982 from a job that he valued to the utmost. Obert always said, “I might not remember a rancher's name but I never forgot his brand.”

In 1951 he married the love of his life, Lucille Caldwell. Two children were born to this union, a son Gary and a daughter Karen. Living on the family ranch, the family bred and raised quarter horses and cattle. The Kartevold family was well known in both the show and rodeo arenas.

Obert was a member of the American Quarter Horse Association for more than 50 years.

Over the years Obert announced numerous rodeos including Little Britches, High School, National Rodeo Association, and Rodeo Cowboys Association . He served as board director of the Glendive Spring Exposition Cattle and Horse Show and was the District 2 High School Rodeo director in the 1970s.

Obert was a cowboy in the true sense of the word. He was passionate about the ranching life, taking pride in his quarter horses and herds of Hereford and Black Angus cattle that grazed those eastern Montana pastures of the Kartevold Ranch.

Having lived life to the fullest, Obert Kartevold passed peacefully on November 14, 2010, at the family ranch where he lived, worked, and raised his family.