Esme Marais tried to find comfort in her own words as she
planned for a funeral in her husband's adopted
hometown of Fort Benton, Mont., today.
"He loved to fly. It's all he ever wanted to do, and he
loved the dangerous stuff — crop-dusting,
fighting fires," she said of Gert Marais, the
contract slurry pilot who died Tuesday fighting
a massive brush fire when his single-engine
airtanker crashed near Fort Carson.
Marais, 42, a native of South Africa, had lived all over
the world before settling in Montana in 2001,
his wife said.
He had moved to Colorado last fall to work at Aero Seat in
Sterling, which contracts firefighting aid to
government agencies.
Esme and the couple's four children planned to move to
Sterling when school was out for the summer, she
said. Instead, she will make the trip alone to
retrieve her husband's things after the funeral,
she said.
"He was a big family man," his wife said through tears.
The two were married 10 years ago this month. He was
already caring for three of his own children,
ages 19, 17 and 12, and, together, he and Esme
had a 5-year-old.
His wife said he always dreamed of flying, making all
manner of paper airplanes as a child.
His parents and a sister also settled in Fort Benton, a
close-knit community of 1,600 northeast of Great
Falls.
He was known as Jerry to his friends, and he was a talented
aircraft mechanic.
"I found him to be very detailed. I would call him a
perfectionist," said Bob Anderson, a Marais
family friend and superintendent of Fort Benton
Public Schools.
Marais had lived in Europe, the Middle East, Florida and
Utah before landing in Montana, Anderson said.
He was an avid bow hunter and a wonderful person to be
around, his friend said.
"He is fun to sit and listen to," Anderson said. "He had
all this background on things that are
happening" around the world.
Marais and his extended family embraced the Fort Benton
community, and news of his death has shaken
local residents.
"People are just shaking their heads and are kind of down,"
Anderson said. "How horrible it is for the
family. A lot of people care about the Maraises."
Esme Marais said of Montana, "This is our home in America."
