Linze Tate Brockmeyer

LINZE TATE BROCKMEYER

February 24, 1944 – April 7, 2017. Loving husband, father and grandfather, died at the age of 73. Choosing an unconventional path from the day he embarked on his own into this world, Linze pursued a varied and adventurous life as an outdoor sportsman, photographer, pioneer, homesteader, horseman, mountain man, craftsman, builder, baseball coach and entrepreneur. Linze’s quest for excellence and perfection in the world motivated those around him to transcend their own expectations.

 Born in Springfield, Miss., son of William Perry Brockmeyer and Mariette Blakley (Gates) Brockmeyer, Linze was raised in Lubbock, Texas with his older brother Perry. He attended the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1962 and used that Rocky Mountain education to pursue an early life of skiing, rock climbing and outdoor adventure. From Aspen, Colo., to the Sierra Nevadas, Linze enjoyed the adventure of outdoor sport in its early heyday. Living in Southern California from the mid-1960s until the early 1970s, Linze pursued photography, studying the art at Orange Coast College. He served in the Army National Guard during his years in California, retiring from service with an honorable discharge as a 2nd Lieutenant. Linze lived briefly in Steamboat Springs, Colo., before bringing his young family to Western Montana’s Mission Valley in 1975, where he established roots and made his considerable mark on this world.

It was in Western Montana where Linze’s identity came to full realization and where he spent more than half of his prolific life. He homesteaded 20 acres overlooking the beautiful southern Mission Mountains, living in a teepee and then a small restored log home for half a decade without the modern conveniences of electricity and indoor plumbing. He continued to build and expand his home – literally and metaphorically – with his wife and sons for the next four decades, imprinting his unique and beautiful vision of the world on his friends and family. In his last decades, Linze further enriched his life by frequent travel to Latin America, balancing the rocks and snow of his Rocky Mountain home with the sand and surf of Belize, Mexico and other locations. Linze’s soul will forever endure within the walls of the family home, envisioned through his creativity and built with his own hands; his spirit will forever ride into the sunset of the unknown, inspiring those who survive him to seek the adventure of the possible.

Linze is survived by his wife DeeAnn; his first wife, Susan; his sons David, Chris, Will and Jesse; six grandchildren, and two nieces. Linze’s second wife, Alice, predeceased him in 1999.

A celebration of Linze’s life will be held in June.