Coach Glenn Flatt laid to rest in Malta

Nearly 500 people, mostly wearing Malta Blue, filed into the Malta High School Gymnasium last Wednesday to pay tribute to long-time educator and coach Glenn F. Flatt as he was laid to rest.

Coach Flatt, 81, passed away on June 1 in Butte, Mont., five days after helping guide the M-ettes to a third-place finish at the State Class B Track and Field Meet in that city. Coach Flatt was born on October 30, 1935, to Francis and Bernice (Brown) Flatt and after graduating from Fort Benton High School (1954) and Montana State University (1958) he started a career at Malta High School as a teacher and coach which would cover parts of seven decades. On August 25, 1956, Coach Flatt and Dodson's Judy Nordland were married. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last August.

Coach Flatt is survived by his wife, Judy, and three children, Tom, Sheryl and Mike; grandchildren Ryan, Riley, Carly, Kelly, Thomas, Kacie, Molly, Misty, and Dustin; great-grandchildren: Braydon, Savanah, Aria, Chet, Fletcher and Kendall.

The funeral services for Coach Flatt started at 2 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon and were led by Pastor Kent Gordon of Malta's Little White Church.

"I am here to celebrate Glenn Flatt's going home," Pastor Gordon said. "Glenn was a Christian man who let his actions speak for his relationship with God and with his fellow man. As we celebrate Glenn's life, we also must celebrate family which is the engine behind the Flatts and the Nordlunds love of family and caring of others."

During the services, music was provided by piano player Kay Hould and Soloist Terry Annalora. The duo performed Take My Hands Precious Lord, Poems, Prayers & Promises and Hymn of Promise.

Coach Flatt's grandson, Ryan Flatt, thanked everyone for attending the services and read from a Facebook post Coach Flatt's nephew, Pat, wrote after hearing Coach Flatt had passed.

"It is with profound sadness that I sit here," he said. "Our family lost a legend when Glenn Flatt passed away. They don't make many men like Glenn Flatt. The lives that he touched in his roughly 60 years as a teacher, coach and athletic director at Malta High School are virtually impossible to put a number on.

"When you get answers from people on who their favorite biology teachers was, their favorite wrestling coach, their favorite football coach or their favorite track coach, a lot of the time you are going to get 'Glenn Flatt.' But the lives that he touched the most were his family.

"Those 60 years that Coach Flatt dedicated to Malta High School were made possible by Judy's 60 years of dedication to him. They don't make many women like that either."

As the services concluded, everyone was asked to stand as Coach Flatt's casket was taken out of the gymnasium. As his family followed behind, the MHS Pep Band -- both past and present members -- played Blue and White, the school's fight song and members of the audience clapped during the appropriate places, Honor Coach Flatt as he left the gym a final time.