George Robert Casteel Jr.

George "Sonny" Robert Casteel Jr

Sonny Casteel was born on February 21, 1946 in the back seat of a Packard at a campground in Ogallala, Nebraska. His younger years were spent traveling around with his family looking for work. Later settling in Missouri. Sonny worked hard from the time he could stand picking strawberries or helping grand dad with his mules. At the age of seventeen, Sonny joined the US Navy. He was trained to be a high pressure welder and did very well before his honorable discharge. For sometime he lived in Pennsylvania with his first wife. He decided that the four walls of the Scott mill paper company wouldn't be enough. So he set out on the road. Long haul trucking, coast to coast and back again. Seeing the US and visiting all the towns with funny names. In the early 80s after the murder of his brother Rusty, Sonny decided to go to Alaska. He would make it as a mountain man, or a memory. Three years of ruffing it in the backcountry, running his own dog teams and learning to be a bush pilot. He pulled into the Tok lodge where he met Sharon. It was love at first sight and within two years he had two beautiful daughters Sara and Georgeanne. Life in Alaska was wonderful, but he found his truest passion after that in Montana with horses. In 1996 Sonny came to Whitehall with a dream. His dream was to be a horseman. Before he'd even secured a home for the family he'd purchased his first horse and had begun learning the ropes. For thirty years, countless horses, many friends and him rode the mountains in the Jefferson Valley and beyond. He loved these mountains and these skies, but most importantly his girls. He loved more than anything in the world. He left this earth June 23, 2024 at home after a long illness.

He is preceded in death by his father George Robert Casteel Sr, his mother, his brother, six sisters and wife. He is survived by his daughters, Sara Milohnick and Georgeanne Casteel, his granddaughter Sharon, nephews Wade and Heath Robbins, plus many more cousins, nieces and nephews. George Castel, 78, of Whitehall, died on Sunday, June 23, 2024, at his residence in Whitehall.

Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. with one hour of visitation prior to the services at the K & L Mortuary in Whitehall.