Garrett P. Houghton, 30, Bismarck, formerly of Killdeer, died Friday, February 12, 2021, at the Methodist Hospital, Rochester, Minn., with his family at his side. Garrett’s Funeral Service will be at 1 p.m., Sunday, February 21, 2021 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Killdeer with Rev. Dorothy Stein as officiant. There will be a prayer service at 6 p.m. on Saturday at St. John’s Lutheran Church.
This tribute is written by Garrett’s three siblings. Although Garrett was a very humble man, we are some of his biggest fans, and are choosing to sing his praises loudly, and proudly.
Garrett Paul Houghton, amazing “daddy”, devoted husband, loving son, model brother, son-in-law, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend went to be with Jesus on February 12th, 2021, at Mayo-Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Garrett lost an unbelievably courageous battle against leukemia.
Garrett was born on September 13th, 1990 to Glen and Terri (Corbin) Houghton in Dickinson. Garrett grew up on a ranch west of Killdeer with his parents and three younger siblings; Grady, Karly, and Kasey. Here he spent all his time learning and helping his mom and dad on the ranch. Garrett rode a lot of horses, put up a lot of hay (learning how to fix equipment), and many other ranching activities. Garrett loved to hunt and fish, spending most of his spare time sitting in a tree stand, walking the hills, or figuring out where and when to fish. In school, Garrett was involved in football where he was eventually a captain and loved every second of it. He also participated in wrestling and track and field. He was passionate about pole vaulting and even recruited his own mom to coach. He was homecoming king, class president, student council president, and was very active in the St. John’s Luther League. Garrett graduated high school with honors, then went on to attend North Dakota State University, majoring in Geology. While in Fargo, he met many great friends and made countless memories.
He first met his beautiful wife, Ashley Mastel, during college. They later dated and were married on September 10, 2016. This was a match made in heaven. Garrett and Ashley began their life together in Bismarck where they spent many weekends out on their pontoon on the river with friends (#sanpanlife). Garrett was a dedicated employee, and loved his job working for Gravel Products Inc. of Minot, and Ashley, an elementary teacher in Lincoln/Bismarck. Garrett and Ashley were blessed with two of the most beautiful girls, Harper Ann born on July 27, 2017, and Stella Grace born on April 7, 2020. Garrett was so proud and excited to be a father. He spent all his time with his three sweet girls. Camping, playing on the sandbars, going to the zoo, playing on the swingset and picking apples, discovering bugs, making slime and building volcanoes were some of the things they loved doing together. His girls were the most important people in the world to him.
We like to think of Garrett as a connoisseur of life. He learned the “ins and outs” of everything he had an interest in. Garrett was an excellent cook, a great wood worker, enjoyed playing his guitar and singing, enjoyed snowboarding, water sports (especially taking out his hobby catamaran and scuba diving with Ashley), dirt biking, shenanigans in the badlands with his buddies, and loved a good glass of bourbon.
Garrett taught us many things during his time here on earth. He ministered to his family and close friends so much as he battled this cancer. One of the things he made sure we knew was that while cancer can take so much from us, there are so many things that it cannot. It cannot cripple love, shatter hope, corrode faith, destroy peace, kill friendships, silence courage, invade the soul, steal eternal life, conquer your spirit, or take any of the memories that we will forever cherish of Garrett. Just remember, Garrett ALWAYS wanted us to focus on the GOOD.
Garrett is comforted in Heaven by grandparents, Gary and Ian Houghton, and Donald Corbin; great-grandparents, Clifford and Olive Daleness, and Mae Booke; and brother-in-law, Ryan Mastel.
Garrett is survived by his wife, Ashley; daughters, Harper Ann and Stella Grace; parents, Glen and Terri Houghton; siblings Grady (Abby) Houghton, Karly (Trent) Capraro, and Kasey (Wyatt Staal) Houghton; nieces and nephew Corbin and baby Capraro, Lydia and baby Houghton; maternal grandmother LeAnn Corbin; in-laws Joe and Laura Mastel, Alyssa (Ryan) Stupca, baby Stupca; his loving uncles, aunts and cousins; and lastly, many friends including best friends Michael and Kelsey Wagner.
