Support for Felix Montano's Family

Jeff Frost is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Claire Wells.

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With a heavy heart we share the news that Felix Montano passed away from COVID19 on Tuesday, May 12th. His sister, Shirley was also infected and has been on a ventilator for the last five days. His brother Andy also got the disease but has recovered. Their sister Veronica passed just this last October from cancer.

Felix and his brother Andy quarantined in a hotel room where they were living in Flagstaff, AZ. He passed away alone in that hotel room without ever going to the hospital after his initial diagnosis.

Felix was always smiling and positive. He never said a bad word about anyone. He volunteered at local food banks and played the drums in numerous community bands. He comes from a proud Diné (or Navaho) family. This fundraiser is to cover the costs of multiple funerals and help the surviving members of this family get back on their feet.

There were 14 Montano children at one point and now just three remain. Despite this unimaginable amount of tragedy, Claire is determined to continue forward helping her family. She works as a medical coder at a temp agency. Her last day is this Friday, May 22nd.

Felix was my friend. I grew up in a tiny 1500 person town in a remote corner of Utah. We both worked at the local grocery store. We were both awkward outsiders. We were both musicians, and we were both queer (although I didn't know I was at the time) in a place where that was a very difficult thing to be. Felix was Diné (or Navaho). Back then Felix never spoke about being gay, he would come out much later in life, but I knew. We acted as support for each other. We would drive around in Felix's car and listen to ZZ Top. But not classic ZZ Top. We'd listen to whatever their newest record was where they were experimenting with electronic drums! haha Although we were not super close later in life we still checked in with each other every so often over the years to offer messages of support and love.

The funds will be deposited directly in Claire's account from here.

Thank you and please share this.