Monte Elwin Kauffman, son of Orson and Betty Jean (Culbertson) Kauffman, was born July 17, 1955, in Manchester, Iowa. He passed away on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at the age of 71, near his home of 38 years in Prosper, Texas.
Monte was raised on a farm in Sumner, Iowa, and graduated from Sumner High School in 1973. He played several sports and participated in FFA, but his truest passion was always baseball. In a letter he wrote in 1981, he referred to baseball as “my fantasy and seems to be all I remember about” grade school. In 1979, at 24, Monte made his home in Dallas, Texas, as a declaration of his love for the Dallas Cowboys. In 1984, he married Barbara Kelly in Garland, Texas. They eventually settled down in Prosper, Texas, in 1988. His marriage to Barbara ended in 2001, but their friendship and love for one another continued through their daughter, Maude Elizabeth Kauffman, who was born in 1990.
He moved to Texas and started his 44-year career as a floor craftsman. Making and leaving his art all over homes and businesses across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, he worked as a contractor for several flooring companies before retiring in 2023. While Monte preferred to work alone on most jobs, he mentored and taught his craft to many nephews, his daughter's friends, and others interested in the flooring business. He showed his generosity by always making room for anyone going through hard times to work alongside him and earn some money.
While his career and work ethic were major parts of who Monte was as a person, they paled in comparison to who he was as a man and a father. To know Monte was to know his love for his daughter Maudie, or his “little one” as he always called her, even into her 30s. In 2004, Monte became her primary parent and raised her in his home in Prosper, Texas, by himself from her eighth-grade year through her high school graduation. He instilled in her his passion and drive for sports, achievement, kindness, and generosity. He shared his love of live music with her, too, and some of their favorite memories were made at concerts. He had one rule for her as a child, and it was to “do whatever you want, just don’t hurt yourself or anyone else doing it.”
Monte lived a life of simple pleasures, but he lived big through the many talents and hobbies he shared with his world. He was an avid outdoorsman who, when not at work, tended his garden, flowers, and fruit trees or watched the many hummingbirds, cardinals, roadrunners, coyotes, and other wildlife who came to visit. He was a poet and writer, which was the most important gift he passed down to Maudie. He was a skilled woodworker, always building a new project, and his handmade decorations made every holiday special and festive. He often gave birdhouses, windchimes, and other creations as gifts to those he cared about most.
When Maudie was 16, she was injured in a car accident that would change their lives and strengthen their bond. For the next 19 years, he was as devoted as any father could be. He attended her high school graduation and three college graduations, but none meant more than the last. In 2017, Maudie gave him a Christmas present: her acceptance letter to the University of Iowa and a promise to become an Iowa Hawkeye. Two years later, she walked the stage in his honor.
He spent the last 18 months of his life being cared for by Odessa Williams and her son Malachi Williams. Over that time, he grew to love Odessa as a daughter and Malachi as a grandson. The end of his life was full and comfortable because of the love and time they gave him.
Monte is preceded in death by his parents, Orson and Betty Kauffman; his brothers, Morrie Kauffman and Michael Kauffman; his sisters, Marlys Kauffman, Mavis Kauffman, and Marlene Dial; and his nephew, Eric Young. Monte is survived by his daughter, Maudie Kauffman, and his soon-to-be granddaughters, Olivia and Jade Waterman of Celina, Texas; Scott Spurgeon, who loved and cared for him as family, of Celina, Texas; five nephews, Chad Kauffman and his wife Judy of Flower Mound, Texas, Jamie Gehrke and his wife Lauren of Austin, Texas, Jake Young of Brumley, Missouri, Richie Smith of Lithia, Florida, and Michael Bouska of New Hampton, Iowa; and four nieces, Katie Swift and her husband Bryan of Johnston, Iowa, Brenda Dennis of Waynesville, Missouri, Becky McClure and her husband Paul of Lynchburg, Missouri, and Brittany Chodes of Marshfield, Missouri; and many great nephews and nieces.
Monte loved the flooring business, and throughout his life, and most importantly at the end of his life, it loved him back through the Floor Covering Industry Foundation. Those wishing to honor Monte’s memory may make a donation in his name to the foundation to help others in their time of need, as FCIF did for Monte.
A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.