On Sunday, August 15, 2010, George Daniel Tarrant passed away quietly at the Hospice of Rutherford County, Forest City, North Carolina.

George was born in Sheridan, Wyoming, on July 16, 1924. He was raised near Sheridan in rural Banner, Wyoming, where he attended a country school and helped provide for his mother and younger siblings during harsh Wyoming winters. His parents were George J. Tarrant and Katherine (Mills) Tarrant. George's sister was Darlene Dudley, formerly of Columbus and Laurel, Montana, and his brother is Robert Tarrant of Kodiak, Alaska. George graduated from Sheridan High School in 1942 and entered the Marine Corps in 1943.

He graduated from the radio communications school at Camp Lejeune, NC, and served in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Okinawa, until 1946. After the war, he returned to Wyoming. He worked at the VA Hospital in Sheridan and drove freight trucks across Montana.

On May 28, 1948, he married Lila May Alberts in Douglas, Wyoming. Over the next several years, George and Lila lived in Afton, Cody, Casper, and Douglas, Wyoming, during which time their daughter, Mary Christine, and son George Steven, were born. During the next few years, they lived in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Kansas, and South Dakota as jobs took them to various locations. George did electronics and electrical work during all these years for the telephone company, oil companies, and for government contractors on Air Force bases.

In 1967, while living in Douglas, Wyoming, he began working for Pacific Power and Light in Casper and Glenrock . Shortly thereafter, George moved his family to Casper, where he remained until retiring as a communications technician for PP&L in 1988.

After the death of his wife, Lila, in 1972, he married Barbara Miller. In 1988 they were divorced, and then, following his retirement, he lived briefly in Sheridan.

In 1988, he married Jean Greub, and they eventually settled in Tucson, Arizona. Shortly after her death in 1993, he moved to Slidell, Louisiana, where he lived until 1999, when he returned to Tucson. Following the death in Tucson in 2009 of his lifelong friend, D'Aun McCormick, he moved to Rutherfordton, North Carolina to be near his daughter.

George always had a love for traveling by motor vehicle. His love for driving and his gypsy blood took him all around the United States several times, visiting friends in various places, as well as his daughter and son. He especially loved and looked forward to the times when he and his son and daughter could be together. George was an inquisitive and analytical person who understood far more than most people about cars, radios, anything electronic, and all types of tools and machines. During one period of several months, he completely overhauled and rebuilt the engine in an older Mercedes Benz automobile . George was also very inventive. Once he built a popup camper from scratch and later refurbished a school bus to turn it into an RV.

George was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Darlene, and wives Lila and Jean, as well as close friends Jewell Barr and D'Aun McCormick.

George is survived by his daughter Mary Christine (Dean) Olsen of Rutherfordton, North Carolina; son, George Steven (Lynn) Tarrant of Butte, Montana; several nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

The family would like to extend their deep gratitude to the staff of the Hospice of Rutherford County for their loving and sincere care for George during his stay there.

A memorial service will be held on Thursday, August 19, at 2:00 pm at the McMahan Funeral Home in Rutherfordton, NC.

In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations be made to the Hospice of Rutherford County, P.O. Box 336, Forest City, NC 28043.

The Sheridan Press - August 18, 2010.