Gene Fenderson (1942-2020) left his mark on this world by representing the concerns and rights of blue-collar and professional workers and their families. Gene's journey began in South Dakota, where his truck driver father abandoned him at the age of two. Raised as an only child (having a much older sister), and struggling through school due to dyslexia, Gene started working on his uncle's farm to help support his mother after finishing the eighth grade. His union career began in Omaha, Nebraska, while working in a smelter at the American Smelting and Refining Company. There he joined the International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, serving in his first leadership role as a Shop Steward at age twenty. Encouraged by a union friend, Gene moved his family to Montana in 1971, became a journeyman carpenter, and dedicated himself to union activism. His life's work, deeply political, consisted of being a mouthpiece for Montana workers on state committees, in board room negotiation meetings, and in public forums. He championed better pay, safety, equity, and benefits for labor, trade, and professional workers' organizations. Gene was known among union members as a kind and caring man who listened well and fought for their good. Among his peers and family, he was known as a man worthy of much respect and honor for his passionate dedication to the welfare of Montanans.