Clayton Fortune

What would a man be without his community?

And what would the community look like without this man? 

Clayton Thomas Fortune, the man many would call in their hours of need, was called to help in the home of our Lord this 10th day of March, 2024. Born on the 22nd day of May, 1963 to Tom and Carol (Flowers) Fortune in Casper Wyoming, he could have hardly imagined the adventure this life would bring, just as we can hardly imagine this life without him. 

From chasing snowmobile tracks through the mountains and missing his first day of school to helping friends build their home in Panama. He lived his life the way he knew how. Maintaining his persistent, often astoundingly modest way of self sufficiency and dignity. Never compromising his integrity, and never leaving his pursuit of aiding his fellow man. He was born into the adventures of his parents, and leaving their home in Wyoming, made their way to the bank of the Little Horn where he would spend the rest of his years. Working early in his life alongside some of the great family farmers and tradesmen of Hardin, he learned early that hard work, dedication to family, and God were the backbone of a man. Outside of work you could find him going to concerts with friends, backpacking the Beartooth Mountains, working on cars, or down in the church basement playing ping pong with his life long friend Father Fabian Fehring. He excelled in mathematics and left home with his brother Waylon to apply themselves at Carroll College, where they would go from living in a mansion with their friends to roughing it up in the mountains. He never balked at the challenges they would face, but appreciated the stories they’d be able to tell.  Eventually he would leave school to maintain the road construction company he operated with his maternal grandfather Vernon Flowers, and transferred to MSU Billings in pursuit of finishing his mathematics degree.  Coming home, he soon realized that he had a passion for working as a handyman and went from road construction to Fortune Construction, which he would operate for the next 30 years, doing whatever was needed to take care of his community. During this time he met the mother of his sons (Isaiah and Matthew) and became the greatest father a man could ask for. He went from a trailer he’d pulled into the middle of a field with no electricity or running water, to building the house they would live in, right down the road from his parents whom he loved and would look after until their passing. All the while his home would be seen as a beacon for his friends and family. Knowing that in there was always a hot meal, a kind heart, good jokes, and their own private concerts from a talented musician that knew all their favorite songs. Throughout this time he never forgot where he came from, never stopped pursuing knowledge, and never failed to lend a helping hand where it was needed. He was man of God, and kept his faith through it all. 

He traveled the world, but more so, he made the world around us and showed his people what was possible with enough grit, determination, and a smile. 

He is preceded in death by many of his closest friends, his grandfathers, Vernon Flowers and Uncle Floyd, his parents, Tom and Carol (Flowers) Fortune, the mother of his sons, Christina Zuniga, and his beloved dogs, who have all gone to prepare his place in Heaven. 

He leaves behind a great legacy.

Survivors are his siblings, Ronnie Fortune, Twila (Rene) Desmarais, Waylon (Amy) Fortune, and Jessie (Katie) Fortune, his sons, Isaiah Scott & Matthew (Chelcie) Fortune, his grandchildren, Abrianna Fortune & Odysseus Courage, his nieces and nephews whom he cared for as his own, and an innumerable amount of friends he had made along the way. 

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