Rudolph Bertolino

Rudolph Lyle Bertolino, 86, passed away peacefully in his home at the Aspen View retirement community May 4th, two days shy of his 87th birthday. He was born in Butte Montana to Dominic ”Keeno” and Alice Bertolino. Although the family returned to their hometown of Roberts in Carbon County, he was always proud of being born in Butte. His father Keeno ran hay trucks, and Rudy was involved by the time he was 14, starting a lifelong love for trucks and most things with big engines and the possibility of speed. He liked to drive fast. Rudy attended MSU Bozeman in 1950, but with the onset of the Korean War, he left MSU to join the Navy. While still in the Navy he married local Roberts girl Mary Ann Forster in 1952. Together they had five children, Bryce, Stuart, Mark, Shelley, and Melissa. They divorced in 1984. In 1957 Rudy carried on the trucking tradition his father had started in 1925, by purchasing his first truck for hauling hay and livestock with many more to follow. The family moved from Roberts to Billings in 1960, where Rudy went into business full swing as owner operator of Bertolino Livestock Trucking and expanded with the addition of Bertolino Feed and Equipment. He marketed hay all over the country including Churchhill Downs for the Kentucky Derby. Rudy served as a board member for Montana Motor Transport Association. He was a generous, fun-loving, unpredictable man with a huge heart for the under dog. His family wants to thank the amazing people at the Billings Veterans Administration, Synergy Home Care, and Rocky Mountain Hospice, as well as the kind staff at Aspen View Retirement Community. Graveside memorial service will be 1 p.m. May 11, at Yellowstone National Cemetery in Laurel, with a gathering to follow at the Billings Elks Club on Lewis Ave. at 2 p.m.