Avid pioneer re-enactor Montell Seely was a champion of the underdog, friend of the less fortunate and a simple farmer from Castle Dale who did more than act like a pioneer - he lived like one.
Seely, 74, and 13-year-old Hannah Wagstaff died Tuesday morning when a pickup truck plowed into a group of pioneer re-enactors traveling east on the shoulder of State Road 31. The crash occurred in Fairview Canyon about 7:55 a.m. when the pickup rolled up on the group from behind.
The group of 16 was trekking with a handcart and a wagon drawn by two horses.
According to Seely's son Mark, and daughter, LeAnne, the group had left a friend's farm Tuesday morning and traveled about one mile up the canyon. Seely was walking ahead of a team of horses pulling a wagon when he heard a fast-approaching pickup coming around a slight curve. He tried to get the driver's attention.
"He began waving his arms to get it to stop," his son said.
Mark Seely said he turned around in the wagon he was driving and also yelled at the driver to slow down.
But the sun was rising over the mountains, and the eastbound pickup driver, on his way to work, was blinded and did not see the handcart group until his truck struck them, he told investigators.
LeAnne Seely was driving a pace car several feet in front of the cart and wagon to warn on-coming

traffic the group was coming. She witnessed the crash from her rearview mirror.
She said the truck struck Hannah Wagstaff, and then the handcart, causing it to shatter.
"When the truck hit, the handcart splinters went everywhere," Mark Seely said. "I don't make a habit of swearing but the first thing I said was 'Oh hell.' "
The truck then hit Montell Seely. LeAnne Seely said she believes her father and Hannah Wagstaff died almost instantly.
"I felt for his pulse and tried to talk to him and see if he was alive," LeAnne Seely said. "There was no pulse on his neck or wrist."
Mark's children, Johnny Seely, 7, and Hannah Seely, 9, had been pulling the handcart. They were injured and taken to Sanpete Valley Hospital in Mt. Pleasant. Johnny was later flown to Primary Children's Medical Center with a broken hip. Hannah suffered a broken collarbone and remained in Mt. Pleasant.
Troopers do not believe drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash. The driver, Joe Fiedler, of Old Town, Idaho, was not seriously injured.
The group was planning to climb to the summit of State Road 31 on Tuesday as part of a larger weeklong trek scheduled to end Saturday in Orangeville, a small town named for Montell Seely's grandfather's brother, Orange Seely.
The journey was not an official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints activity. Instead, Seely, Wagstaff and the others were out on their own re-enactment, according to Mark Justice, president of the church-sponsored Castle Valley Pageant, which Seely wrote and founded in 1977.
The pageant, which just wrapped up its 2008 run on Saturday, tells the story of the very event Seely was re-enacting - when LDS Church leader Brigham Young sent pioneers into the Castle Valley area from Sanpete County. Each year, community members come together to cast the presentation.
But it was no act for Montell Seely, who clung to the pioneer lifestyle and lived as though he were in a different time.
"He lived in the 19th century. In his house it's 1880, not 2008," Justice said, adding that Seely wore plain clothes with old Western hats and had teams of wagons along with 20 acres full of farm machinery.
Family and friends said Seely enjoyed being known as a simple farmer who, on numerous occasions, helped stranded motorists and invited hitchhikers to his home for food and a place to sleep.
"His lifestyle was pioneer trekking. It's not a hobby to him, it's not like let's dress up like pioneers. That's how he lived his life," said Justice.
Mark Seely said his ancestors were not just names on a pedigree chart to his family, but real.
"[Dad] would have considered it a privilege to pass away while honoring his forefathers.