An Obituary

Pershing A. "Pike" Sutherland - October 19, 1918 - June 14, 2013

Pershing “Pike” Sutherland passed quietly to be with his Lord June 14, 2013.

 Pike was born October 19, 1918 in Garden City, Utah, one of 13 children born to John G. and Bessie (Adams) Sutherland.

At an early age he came to Conrad with his family where they farmed land adjacent to the Jack Price farm East of Conrad.  Pike attended a country school for eight years before graduating from Conrad High School.

Pike served with the Army Field Artillery and Coastal Artillery in the Aleutian Islands during the Second World War, attaining the rank of Technical Sergeant.  At the close of the war he was assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas where he was honorably discharged.

While serving at Fort Riley, Pike met Doris Gurwell and they were married in March, 1946, in Humbolt, Kansas.  Pike and Doris have two sons, Jeff (Connie) Sutherland, of Conrad, and Terry (Denise) Sutherland of Bozeman.

After the war Pike went to work for Ed Colby and Colby’s Texaco.  For many years Pike was employed by Arnot’s Furniture in Conrad, working as a salesman, furniture repairman and flooring installer.  Later he was an independent flooring contractor.  Doris and Pike purchased the Tastee Freeze Drive In and operated it until 1990 when he and Doris retired.

Pike is survived by his wife Doris, sons Terry and Jeff, five grandchildren and  nine great grandchildren.

Pike was the last remaining member of this family and would have been 95 in October.  He was preceded in death by his parents, John G. and Bessie, sisters Eliza, Melba, Nettie, and Della, and brothers Edward, Theodore, John, George, Oscar, Ralph, William and Ross, and two half- brothers, James and Henry.