He was noodling around on his guitar one day when another soldier heard him. He told him, “That sounds good. What key are you in?” Gregorio replied that he didn’t know—for while he had played guitar since he was seven, he never had any formal training. He didn’t know notes, keys, or chord names. The soldier offered to teach Gregorio basic musical terms and names, and mentioned they needed a guitar player in the unofficial orchestra. “If you learn what I teach you, you could apply and play with us,” he said.

Gregorio learned quickly. He was invited to hear the orchestra play. He was mesmerized by the sound of Big Band classics. When he was asked what he thought of the band, he told his friend they were great, but he didn’t think he could keep up with them. “Nonsense!” was the reply. “You are ready. Come to a rehearsal.”

Gregorio loved playing with the orchestra. It opened a whole new world of music to him. Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman…they played it all. He jumped from airplanes during exercises, and played with the orchestra in his spare time. He was busy and he loved it.

One day a scout came to listen to the orchestra. He was recruiting for the official Division Orchestra. He chose several musicians, including Gregorio. This was a wonderful experience—He absorbed knowledge like a sponge, playing with musicians who had studied formally for years. And no more jumping from planes. His days were filled with music.

It didn’t take long for Gregorio and Armida to notice each other. There were a few obstacles at first, but before long they were an item. Six months after meeting, on March 4, 1951, Gregorio and Armida were joined together in holy matrimony in the Delano Apostolic Church. It was an all-day event. They married right after Sunday School, then stayed for the evening service, still dressed in their wedding finery. 

The first years were wonderful, yet filled with challenges. Armida contracted tuberculosis and had to reside in a sanitarium shortly after the birth of their first child, Gregorio Montano, Jr., in 1952. While she was being treated, Gregorio went to Los Angeles to study at the National Automotive School. He didn’t plan it, he happened to be in Los Angeles and found himself in the vicinity of the school. The school had a large picture window, and Gregorio could see the students gathered around automotive parts in a hands-on learning environment. He was intrigued, and didn’t even notice when the instructor stepped away from the class to go outside. He heard someone ask, “Does that look interesting to you?” Gregorio nodded and answered, “Yes sir, it does.” Before he knew it, he was enrolled at the school, the expenses paid by the G.I. Bill. He was even given extra money to pay for his basic expenses. In later years he would marvel at how perfect God’s timing was.

A Trip of  a Lifetime

Once again, Gregorio’s adventurous spirit took control. He decided instead of flying to Washington, he and the family would drive up the Pan-American Highway through all of Central America, Mexico, and the United States in the family’s 1967 Ford Galaxy 500. It was the road trip of a lifetime. The stories He would tell in later years! 

It took twenty-three days to reach the border of the United States, and during those days the family had many adventures. From a transmission replacement in the middle of nowhere in Costa Rica, to traveling through war-ravished El Salvador and Honduras. The family saw Gregorio resist demands for bribes at borders, taking a stand as a proud soldier of the US Army. He told Armida twice, “You take the kids and fly to the States, and I’ll meet you there with the car later. Armida replied, “No way. We started this trip together, and we’re going to end it together.” And that was that.

By the time they reached the Arizona border, the whole family was sick with flu symptoms except for Gregorio. He drove the final stretch of the journey as quickly as he could to get to Delano, California where Armida’s mother, Alice Laguna, lived. Upon arrival, Gregorio gave in to flu symptoms. God in His mercy kept him healthy until he brought the family to a safe place. He slept for three days, knowing nothing of what was going on around him. After a brief visit with family in Delano and Earlimart, the family continued north to Washington. 

Once they were settled in Nisqually again, God intervened and Gregorio received orders to immediately report to the nearest Army base in his vicinity, which would be Fort Lewis! He told Armida, “Burn the orders to Vietnam right away!” as he sailed out the door to report for duty.

Gregorio had a vision for his family. He and Armida had saved the money from the sale of their beloved mobile home. In 1970 they began building a permanent home on their acreage in Nisqually. It was a beautiful house, with three bedrooms and a brick fireplace. While the house was under construction, he received orders once again to report to Vietnam. This time there was no reprieve. He asked for, and received, a custom van with air conditioning as his living quarters. He flew out to Long Binh, Vietnam for his second tour, where he led his men in retrieving malfunctioning jeeps and tanks, often behind enemy lines. He always went with his men. When asked why, he said, “I can’t send my men out to do something I am not willing to do myself. And what if something happened to them while I was here at camp? I would never forgive myself.” And so he went, time after time.

God spared his life many times during that tour. He was able to come home for extended leave at Christmastime that year. It was a bittersweet time for Gregorio. He loved being with his family, but knew he would have to return to the jungles of Vietnam very shortly. When he returned, the company clerk asked him why he didn’t stay longer. “I put you on administrative leave. You could have stayed a lot longer!” Gregorio said in later years, “I wish he had told me—I wasn’t aware I had leave to stay with my family longer.”

Finally, Gregorio returned to the newly built house in Nisqually. Only there for a few months, he received orders to report to Fort Hood, Texas. He quickly found renters for the new house and packed his ’58 Chevy Apache truck and the trusty Ford Galaxy 500. The family was off to Texas! He was glad to be stationed in the United States. He had the option to return to Germany, but thought it would be better for his children to stay in the USA. 

He was in the First Cavalry Division, and worked as the shop foreman. By this time, he was over many men, and was expected to delegate tasks, rather than do them himself. He was still a hands-on man who preferred to be busy with his hands. He was given a lot of time off at this point in his career. He needed to find a project to keep him occupied. He could only go fishing so much.

Gregorio and Armida decided not to live on base while stationed in Texas. After renting for a short while, they found a 3.5-acre lot in Indian Valley, a rural area of Kempner, Texas, not far from the base. They eventually purchased the adjacent lot, increasing their holdings to seven acres. The family would drive out to the property on weekends, initially sleeping in hammocks in a grove of trees, and clear out sections of land in preparation for a new mobile home. The property gave Gregorio the outlet he needed to keep his hands busy.

Once the single-wide mobile home was delivered, Gregorio moved his family in, though they were without running water or wired electricity. He would fill five-gallon, clean gas tanks with water and bring them home for use. He purchased a generator, which the family used mainly in the mornings and early evenings. The motor of the generator served as an alarm for the neighboring land owners. 

One day Gregorio noticed electrical service trucks driving through Indian Valley, running wire through the electric poles along the gravel roads. He asked them when the residents would be getting electricity, and the foreman told him if he had his electrical box ready, he could have electricity by the end of the day! Gregorio hurried to the hardware store to purchase supplies and by the end of the evening the trailer was fully connected. No more candlelit evenings with limited reading time! 

The next morning the neighbors overslept, as the Montaño Alarm Clock had been retired to posterity. Gregorio was proud of being the first family in Indian Valley to have electricity.

Back to Nisqually

He looked at blueprints, planning to build a permanent home in Indian Valley. But when he contacted the people renting the house in Nisqually, offering them a chance to buy the property, he received no reply. In a life-changing decision, Gregorio decided to sell the mobile home and the seven acres, and return to Washington.

Gregorio, with faithful Armida and the children working as a team, packed up the trusty Chevy Apache truck, and the second family car, and drove to Nisqually. The truck even included a pair of Larry’s Bantam chickens, Bonnie and Clyde. As Gregorio didn’t have the heart to say the chickens couldn’t make the trip once Larry built a cage for their journey. When the family stopped at rest areas or gas stations, people would cock their heads in puzzlement when they heard Clyde crowing to his heart’s content. Gregorio always got a big kick out of their confusion.

Gregorio was still restless. After arriving in Nisqually, he began studying horticulture. Plants and farming had always fascinated Gregorio. He excelled in his studies and needed one more class to obtain an Associate’s Degree in Horticulture from Olympia Technical College. He dropped the class (a Business Law class) because he felt the instructor was only interested in teaching students how to cheat and get around the law, rather than follow the law. A man of scruples, he had no time for that type of class.

The Church Years

Soon, Gregorio was loading Armida, Larry and Nona (Greg Jr. had moved out on his own before the family moved to Texas) into the family car to the Apostolic Church in Tacoma, Washington. It was a half-hour drive to get there, thirty miles each way. But Gregorio was faithful. Before long he took his guitar and began playing for each service. His example rang deep within the hearts of his children and birthed a legacy for several generations, though he didn’t realize it at the time. 

Everything changed for Gregorio. He and Armida tithed immediately. They were faithful, attending each service on Tuesday, Friday, and spending all day in Tacoma on Sunday so the family could attend morning and evening services. He played guitar at every service he attended, with Armida accompanying him on the piano. His chord progressions were beautiful, and made a difference in the song service. But the biggest change in Gregorio was the peace in his heart.

On other evenings and on Saturdays, one could find Gregorio working with his plants, where he primarily grew rhododendrons and fuchsias. He began working for the International Forestry Association, using his education in horticulture to replenish the quickly depleting forests of Washington. He built two large greenhouses in the back of the property, where his plants flourished.

In 1974, Gregorio was set aside for the ministry. He faithfully studied the Word for two years, under the tutelage of Pastor John Puente. Two years later in July of 1976, he was ordained by the elders in the Apostolic Assembly at the District Convention in Yakima, Washington. He was forty-nine.

Foreign lands continued to call out to Gregorio. In 1979 he felt a prompting by the Holy Ghost to visit the churches of Italy. He took extra work building sawhorses in the evenings to finance the trip. Finally, he had enough to make the journey. He rented the house in Nisqually, and the family drove to Delano to store the family car at Armida’s mother’s house. Flying out of LAX to JFK airport in New York City, they were on their way.

He rented a cab to take them from New York City to Dover Air Force Base in New Jersey, where they were to fly overseas on standby. Gregorio flew for free, while the remaining family members’ fare cost $10 per person. It was an experience flying on a cargo plane large enough to transport tanks, jeeps and other large equipment overseas. 

Landing in Frankfurt, Gregorio purchased train tickets to Rome, Italy. He had been told the church was right across from the Vatican. Upon arriving in Rome, he found he had been misinformed, and the church was nearer to Naples, Italy. He purchased train tickets to Naples, where he and the family were met by the local missionary. 

Gregorio remembers this time as one of the best of his life. He studied the Word during the day, discussed the Word with Pastor Carmine Cogliano, the family’s host, and taught the Word regularly in Italian at services. He was well-spoken in the language, and the congregation loved that he spoke correct Italian, rather than the local dialect. They also loved that he didn’t have to use an interpreter. 

He planned to stay in Italy for a year, but in December of 1979 he was called back to the home church in Tacoma. The family flew in another cargo plane to Rota, Spain, where he took them out for an authentic shrimp dinner while waiting for the next plane headed to Dover Air Force Base. 

Moving Back to Earlimart

In 1985, Armida’s mother, Alice, became seriously ill. Armida was driving from Oxnard to Delano on a regular basis. Gregorio felt it was time to move back to Earlimart so Armida could take care of her mother without driving so far. He purchased a serious fixer-upper. The house had been vandalized and burned out from the kitchen. Gregorio’s pioneering spirit once again took over. They moved into the undamaged master bedroom, and Armida set up a makeshift kitchen in the garage. Gregorio painstakingly repaired the house, repairing walls, installing new windows, building custom cabinets, and bringing the house back to life. During this time, they returned to the Earlimart Apostolic Church. He also worked in the Garden Center at K-Mart, and enjoyed keeping busy. He assembled all of the sample furniture, barbecue grills and toys on display, too.

During this time Gregorio and Armida finally became grandparents, Nicole Montano was born in 1985, soon followed by Grace Almada. Sarah Montano came in 1987, and Eduardo Almada was born in 1988. The children brought new life to Gregorio. He adored spending time with his grandchildren and his joy was visible for all to see.

In the summer of 1988 Gregorio felt the urge to travel again. He wanted to visit the churches in Italy one more time before he and Armida were not able to travel any longer. They spent two months in Italy, visiting the churches in Gesualdo, Grotta Minarda, Pisa, Calabria, and Villanova. It was an amazing trip, one he would talk about for years.