Monte Doeren

Monte Frederick Doeren, 71, of Questa passed away on December 25, 2017. Monte Doeren -- writer, husband, peace activist, and friend of animals, died at home in Questa on Christmas morning after having a heart attack. He was 71 years old. Monte was the president of Taos Chapter 98 of Veterans for Peace and wrote his column “The Grunt’s View” and other pieces for “The Horsefly” from 2002 through 2009. More recently, he shared poignant stories of his combat experiences for “Veteran’s Speak” events at Metta Theatre.

Monte was born in Los Angeles, California on April 12, 1946 to mother Ina Claire and father Ed Doeren, a World War II Veteran. He sadly lost his brother Eric at a young age. Monte grew up in East LA, and spent years in and out of the foster care system, and with his adoptive family. He graduated from Whittier High School in 1964.

When Monte joined the Army to serve his country, he did so to honor his male relatives who served. He broke his leg in jump school, and was assigned to the Infantry in the First Cavalry, where he was a rifleman and machine-gunner. Private First Class Doeren was awarded a Silver Star for “Gallantry in Action” and recognized for his exceptionally valorous action taken during a search and destroy mission near Tuy An, Republic of Vietnam. As his company sustained several casualties in the initial engagement, PFC Doeren exposed himself to intense hostile fire to place accurate fire on the enemy positions. Running out of ammunition, he charged the enemy bunker, neutralizing it with hand grenades. He was also awarded a Purple Heart medal for wounds he received in the incident. He’d only been in Vietnam for four weeks. On his second tour Monte was assigned as a door-gunner on Huey gunships and flew on many missions to extract American forces in danger.

Monte was a carpenter by trade and worked in construction, where he built furniture, sheds, and garden beds, and did finish work on houses. He enjoyed reading and living a pioneer lifestyle in North Dakota, Alaska, and New Mexico, riding horses and growing food for his family in his greenhouse and garden.

Monte returned to college in 1993, and met his beloved wife Carrie in a journalism class at New Mexico State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Photojournalism 1998. Carrie and Monte got married in Taos on June 21, 1997, and made their home in Questa, where Carrie works for the Carson National Forest as an archaeologist.

Monte Frederick Doeren is survived by his loving wife of 20 years, Carrie Leven of Questa, his sister June Langdon of Green Bay, Wisconsin, his stepchildren Catherine Clark and Robert Gillespie of Eugene, Oregon, and other family. He will be remembered and missed by many.

Interment with military honors will be at Santa Fe National Cemetery on Thursday, January 4, 2017, at 3pm. Before travelling to Santa Fe, friends are invited to a coffee hour reception from 10am to 12pm hosted by Not Forgotten Outreach at their Respite Center located at 461 Valverde Commons Drive in Taos.

Funeral services have been arranged by Rivera Funeral Home. For those wishing to serve Veterans and their families with a charitable donation in Monte’s memory, his family suggests Not Forgotten Outreach at “notforgottenoutreach.org” and Veterans Yoga Project at “veteransyogaproject.org”