Fred H. Montank, a special investigator in the Divison of Motor Vehicles office in San Luis Obispo, died shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, in a traffic accident in Ventura. Montank, 33, was en route to Van Nuys on an assignment when his southbound car veered across the centerline of Highway 101 just south of Emma Wood Park, according to patrolmen.

His vehicle sideswiped a northbound car then went into a broadside slide and was struck by another northbound car.

Montank was ejected from his vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:30 p.m. Two passengers in the other vehicles were taken to a Ventura hospital with major injuries.

Montank was a police officer in Anchorage, Alaska, before he took the state job. His first assignment was in the San Luis Obispo office in 1963. He remained there until 1967, when he went to Dallas to study theology.

After six months in that field, he returned to San Luis Obispo in January 1968. Survivors include the widow, Patricia; two sons, Carl and Kevin, and a daughter, Cindy, all of San Luis Obispo.

Funeral services were conducted at the Calvary Baptist Church followed by interment in IOOF Cemetery under direction of the Sutcliffe .