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Esther Irene Weimer
Esther Irene Weimer, 80 of Miles City died Thursday April 5, 2012.
She was born Dec. 2, 1931, in Sidney. She was the daughter of Edward and Mary Wiederrich.
In 1953, she and Clifford Herbert, Sr. were married
in Sidney. They had three children, Clifford Jr., Clinton, and LaDonna. They moved around the state many times.
In 1997, while living in Kalispell, she met Lynn Weimer and they married
and moved to the North Fork, where they resided until 2004. Then they moved to Miles City with daughter LaDonna and her family. A few years later Mr. and Mrs. Weimer moved to Broadus.
After Mr. Weimer’s death in 2010, Mrs. Weimer moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, LaDonna and Roger, on the ranch. There she enjoyed helping work cattle and watching her granddaughters ride.
Mrs. Weimer always loved painting, quilting and gardening. She was a part of several quilting groups over the years. She also enjoyed being a part of the Coalwood Ladies Aid. She loved taking part in Bible studies wherever she resided.
Her survivors include her children, Clifford Jr. (Rachel) Herbert of Columbia Falls, and LaDonna (Roger) Donsbach of Miles City; her sister, Peggy (Les) Heid of Bismarck, N.D.; and her seven grandchildren, Breann, Brittany and Chaemous Herbert; Krista, Debbie, Desi Raeand Nichole Donsbach.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Lynn Weimer; her son, Clinton Edward; her brothers, Melvin, Jerry and James; and her parents, Mary and Edward Wiederrich.
Visitation will be Monday, April 9, 2012, from 1 to 6 p.m. at Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home in Broadus. Funeral services will be Tuesday, April 10, 2012, at 2 p.m. at the Assembly of God Church in Broadus. Interment will follow in the Valley View cemetery in Broadus.
Charles "Sam" Samuel Lei
Charles “Sam” Samuel Lei, 88, of Ashland, quietly died at the Powder River Manor on Thursday, March 29, 2012.
Mr. Lei was born on Aug. 21, 1923, in Miles City, to John and Oral Lei. He grew up on the family ranch on Cache Creek in the southeastern Montana community of Sonnette.
When Mr. Lei heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he immediately enlisted in the United States Navy. He served aboard the USS Jason and the USS Blackhawk. Mr. Lei was always proud of his service time.
He married
his beloved Joyce Fletcher of Otter Creek on April 18, 1953. Together they lived and raised their family on Otter Creek.
Mr. Lei was employed with the U.S. Forest Service in the Custer National Forest, where he retired after 30 years of service. He then worked for Powder River County as a blade operator until his final retirement in 1995. Mr. Lei volunteered his time at the Powder River Museum until the fall of 2010.
He was a lifetime member of the Masons receiving his 50-year pin in 2010. He loved to hunt and fish with family and friends and enjoyed many special Sunday dinners with Gladys and Dick Fletcher on Otter Creek. During retirement, Mr. Lei spent many hours reading about the rich history of the local areas and it has been said by some that “There isn’t a rock in Powder River County that Sam hasn’t touched.”
The staff of Heritage Living Center of Ashland provided support and care of Sam during his stay at the facility.
His survivors include his brother, Jim and wife Jeannette Lei of Taylor Creek; a sister, Ann and husband Bill Gamble of Miles City; a son, Charlie Lei of Rosebud Creek; a daughter, Mary Jane and her husband Ernie Robinson of Ashland; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mr. Lei was preceded in death by his wife, Joyce; sister, Clara; and grandson, Percy Robinson.
A visitation time has been set from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday April 1, 2012, at the Stevenson and Sons Funeral Chapel in Miles City. Funeral Services will be Monday, April 2, 2012, at 11 a.m. in the Powder River Congregational Church in Broadus with interment to follow in the Valley View cemetery in Broadus.
Memorials may be made to the Heritage Living Center at 5982 Tongue River Rd., Ashland, MT 59003 or the Powder River Historical Museum in Broadus.
Edward "Ed" Neuhardt
Edward “Ed” Neuhardt died Thursday, March 1, 2012, in Bogota, Colombia, after a short illness.
He was born July 16, 1933, in Circle to Edward J. Neuhardt and Marie Alexander Neuhardt.
Mr. Neuhardt grew up in eastern Montana and attended rural elementary school and high school in Circle. In 1950 the family moved to Miles City where he attended Custer County
High School and graduated in 1952.
He served in the United States Army from 1953 to his honorable discharge in 1955. In that same year he was employed by the United Geophysical Oil Company and continued in the oil exploration field all his adult life. This work took him to many countries in addition to some locations in the United States. He lived in Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Belize, Argentina, Colombia, and other countries in Central and South America.
In 1965 Mr. Neuhardt and Alicia Ordonez of Cali, Colombia, were married
. After living in various locations they made their home in Bogota, Colombia, where their daughter was born. He was a devoted father and grandfather.
He lived outside the United States most of his adult life and very much looked forward to the numerous trips he made to Montana. These times and the reunions he had with friends were very special to him.
Mr. Neuhardt is survived by his wife, Alicia; daughter, Natasha, son-in-law, Jose de Soto, and their two daughters, Valentina and Veronica.
He also leaves four sisters, Tina Vanderveen, Eireen Boespflug, Marilyn (Lyn) Neuhardt and Pat Neuhardt; brothers-in-law, Carlos Ordonez and John Vanderveen; two nephews and four nieces, Keith Vanderveen (Michaela), Scott Spiwak, Elaine Boespflug, Vikki Anderson (Bruce), Whitney Reidy (Jim) and Kimetha Vanderveen; and two great-nephews and three great-nieces, Lorianna, Elizabeth, and Paul Vanderveen and Marc and Sara Anderson.
Mr. Neuhart also will be greatly missed by many cousins and other relatives plus good friends in Montana and Colombia.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
On Saturday, March 3, 2012, after a very nice funeral ceremony, Mr. Neuhardt was cremated In Bogota, Colombia. His ashes will be taken back to Montana to fulfill his wish of returning back where he started his life and where his family lived. At a future date a Memorial Service with burial of ashes will be held in Miles City.
Mollie Adams
Mollie Adams, 101, of Miles City died Sunday, March 25, 2012, at the Holy Rosary Extended Care Facility in Miles City.
Mrs. Adams was born July 10, 1911, in a “Soddy” in Harding County, South Dakota. She was the fourth of five children born to Mathus and Theresa Krebor Smolnikar, immigrants from Yugoslavia. She and her sibling had to learn English when they started school and then taught their parents. School was never a very high priority with her father, so when there was work to be done at home, some or all of the children stayed home. In spite of this, all of the Smolnikar children had excellent hand writing and a thirst for knowledge, and became successful in business and life.
Mrs. Adams started working for neighbor families as a hired girl before she was a teenager, however it didn’t take her long to figure out that carrying wash water in and out and washing diapers by hand for board and room wasn’t going to get her very far in life.
So when she got out of grammar school she got a job as a waitress in Buffalo, S.D., 50 miles from home, for board and room and 50 cents a day. She continued to work around northwest South Dakota and southwest North Dakota for several years.
She always said that no matter where her wanderlust took her, she always ended back at the Fowler Hotel in Buffalo. This is where she met W.H. “Bill” Adams, who was working as a teller at the local bank. For Dakotans, Mr. Adams was a brother to Hattie Wilson and Amy Dingle.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams married
and rented a house in Belle Fourche, S.D. He was driving mail from Belle Fourche to Buffalo when the local banker lost control on a gravel ridge and Mr. Adams was laid up for a while. They heard about the Miles City and Broadus Stage contract, bid on it and moved to Miles City. They bought a small acreage on east Leighton Boulevard where they milked a few cows, raised chickens, sold eggs, raw milk and cream. During the Second World War, everything was rationed, tires, gas and sugar. Now the Stage was considered vital to the war effort so the Adams went to a preferential allotment because they hauled the mail freight and passengers.
After Mr. Adams died in 1952, Mrs. Adams continued to drive the mail. After 26 years, she gave up the route. She received an award for 1 million, 250 thousand accident-free miles. Mrs. Adams wasn’t ready for the rocking chair, so she worked in the geriatric floor of the old hospital, until she hurt her back lifting patients. She lived in the same house on Leighton Boulevard for 67 years, before moving to the Holy Rosary Extended Care Facility for six years.
Mrs. Adams leaves several nephews and nieces and a host of friends behind.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; and all four of her siblings, Matt Smolnikar, Frank Smolnikar, Mare Ward and Anna Robinson.
Visitation was Thursday, March 29, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. Funeral services were be Friday, March 30, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. in Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home. Burial will be Saturday, March 31, 2012, at the Bear Butte cemetery in Sturgis, S.D.
Lillie Martha Dolatta
Lillie Martha Dolatta Thomason died peacefully Tuesday, March 27, 2012, at the Prairie Community Health Center in Terry after a long, exhausting struggle with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
She was born on the morning of June 5, 1928, much to the delight of her parents, R.J. and Elsie Halberslaben Dolatta. Her father announced the birth to the Terry Tribune, which printed his quote “a handsome, winsome daughter was born to him and Mrs. Dolatta.” Mrs. Thomason grew up on the family ranch on Bad Route with three much older brothers. She learned to enjoy her own solitude and the company of many pets. This was her lifelong style. Many of her animals lived well past their natural lifetimes with her attentive care.
The depression and World War II shaped much of her life. She was a passenger on the last horse-drawn schoolbus to school in town. It was a huge adjustment. Weather permitting she rode her bicycle 13 miles each way on gravel roads to and from town. During bad weather she “boarded” until the family purchased a tiny “school house” in town when she was in high school. She maintained that address the rest of her life, except during summers when she had a rural household so her children could enjoy the independence of rural life.
Mrs. Thomason was especially proud of perfect attendance awards at school for several years.
She graduated from high school in Terry and went on to the Presentation School of Nursing at the Holy Rosary Unit Miles City right after high school. The Terry hospital would become her place of work for the next 46-1/2 years of her life, caring for members of her community.
Half of that time was spent in the old two-story building and half in the new facility. She was the surgical nurse for many years and worked some nights. As the facility changed, she worked more and more nights.
In 1950 she married
Eldred “Tommy” Thomason. They were blessed with five children.
After retirement she enjoyed spending time with her family and had the opportunity to see some of the world as she spent time and participated in major events in her families’ lives. The first time she got more than a few hundred miles from Terry, she had to get a passport and travel to Okinawa to meet her first granddaughter. Eventually she had put her foot into two different oceans, but she was always glad to be home and part of her community where she enjoyed meals and activities at the senior center and volunteering at the Prairie County Museum and Evelyn Cameron Gallery.
Mrs. Thomason had a lifelong enjoyment of music and loved to dance. She played the violin, clarinet and piano and was a member of the Silver Bells Chime group and the Eastern Montana Fiddlers. She became involved in 4-H with her children and influenced many young lives in Prairie County for several decades.
Her survivors include her five children, 10 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren: Tom (Jackie) of Indiana, Trulie (Scott Holmes) Abigail Lillian; Rob (Stephanie) Rob, Ethan, Gabriel, Arianna, Alisia, and Audrina; Joel of South Carolina, Rachel, Drew and Elizabeth; Suzanne of Terry, Meris (Tim Greges) Tyler, Sam-Argan Johnson; Dan of Terry, Jessica (Sven Undem) Eivand and Gradie; and Leslie of Terry.
She was preceded in death by her husband: E.C. “Tommy” Thomason; her parents: R.J. and Elsie Dolatta; her brothers: Adrian, Ray H.; Newborn infant: Thomason; granddaughter; daughter –in-law: Laura; and significant friend: Albert Siegle.
Prayer Services will be Friday, March 30, 2012, at 6 p.m. at Stevenson and Sons Funeral Chapel in Terry. Funeral Services will be Saturday, March 31, 2012, at 11 a.m. at Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home in Terry. Interment will be in the Prairie County cemetery at Terry.
Jerome Richard Donnelly
Jerome Richard Donnelly died suddenly on Saturday, March 24, 2012. Mr. Donnelly was born Oct. 13, 1942. He was a real estate broker/owner and an owner of Roseberry Home Care in Roseville, Calif.
Mr. Donnelly was father to Linda, Rebecca and Sarah Donnelly and Robin (Eric) Hogan of Miles City. He adored his grandchildren, Ella, Lucas and Jacob Hogan.
After 14 years together, he married
his beloved, Diane Pixley, on Oct. 23, 2011. He is step-father to Robyn and Benjamin Pixley.
A viewing will be held on Thursday, March 29, 2012, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Lassila Funeral Chapel in Auburn, Calif. A Memorial Service will be from 6:30 to 7 p.m. followed by a reception from 7 to 8 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Auburn Recreation District in the name of Jerome Donnelly and may be mailed to: Roseberry Home Care, 128 Berry St., Roseville, CA 95678.
Elsie Johanna Mae Anderson
Elsie Johanna Mae Anderson, 92, of Miles City died Friday, March 23, 2012, at the Holy Rosary Extended Care Facility.
On April 26, 1919, Elsie Mae Johanna Stromme was born, the daughter of Ole G. and Clara Riste Stromme, in Cooperstown, N.D. There she was raised and educated.
After high school, she worked as a nanny-cook while attending school to receive her Practical Nursing Certificate in 1944, in Minneapolis, Minn.
On Feb. 26, 1947, she married
Merritt R. Anderson. To this union were born two sons, Gregory (Rhea) and Ronald, all of Miles City.
Mrs. Anderson and her husband owned and operated a Variety Store in Finely, N.D., from 1947 to 1973. Upon their retirement, Mrs. Anderson was only one of two women appointed to be a SCORE for the Small Business Administration of North Dakota. After her husband’s death in 1999, she moved to Eagles Manor in Miles City in 2001 until entering the Holy Rosary Extended Care Facility in 2011. She was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Finley, N.D., Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Miles City, Ladies Aide Society, and a 63-year member of the American Legion Auxiliary. Her hobbies included painting, knitting, crochet and being with her sons.
She is survived by her sons; a sister, Corine Swingen of California; several nieces and nephews; and one special cousin, Colleen Holmberg.
Memorial services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 31, 2012, at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. For those wishing, a memorial of their choices or to Trinity Classical School can be made.
Bullis-Graves Memorial Chapel has been entrusted with the arrangements.
Lucille Mae Lee Nielsen
Lucille Mae Lee Nielsen of Miles City died Friday March 23, 2012.
She was born on July 16, 1928, in Dooley to Carl and Milia Anderson. She was adopted at a very young age by Gust and Margit Lee of Antelope who were very loving parents to her. They nicknamed her Dolly and she said, “They were the best parents any girl could possibly have.”
Mrs. Nielsen attended and graduated school in Antelope and went on to one year of college in Havre to work toward her teaching degree.
She married
LeRoy Nielsen of Outlook in 1947. They had seven children and during their marriage lived in Outlook, Plentywood, Culbertson, Glasgow, Cut Bank, Glendive and Miles City. They separated in 1971 and later divorced.
She worked various jobs including Holy Rosary Hospital, Hamel Court Motel, Friendship Villa and the Moose Lodge. She was an active member of the Women of the Moose for many years and enjoyed time with her friends at meetings, conventions as well as serving the community. She enjoyed canning pickles, jams and jellies, freezing fresh corn on the cob and cooking for her family. It was not unusual to have 25 to 30 family members for Thanksgiving.
Her survivors include two sisters, Hildreth VanBurghs and Alvina Popke; one brother, Arnie Akelstad; five children, Kay Baxter, Betty Nielsen, Sandi (Paul) Barnes, Mark Nielsen and Kelly Pierce; eight grandchildren, Brandon (Cynthia) Tennant, Cheryl (Kirk) Ueland, Dion Scott Ehrle, Trish (Russ) Clodfelder, Jenny Borchers, Tara Wellnitz, Ryan (Sundi) Wellnitz and Mike Nielsen; 14 great-grandchildren, Justin Tennant, Josh Tennant, Jordanna Hetler, Josh Hetler, Jaylene Tennant, Jill Nanini, Keirsey Ehrle, Todd Barnes, Mariah Clodfelder, Tyler Borchers, Josh Borchers, Lexi Miller, Alicia Miller and Josh Nielsen; and one great-great-grandchild, Talia Kercheval. She was known as grandma by Kimmy Cooper and Jessie James.
She is also survived by her longtime companion, Alvin Hennen; and very special friends, Susannah Michaelson, Anna Rose Martin, Betty Randall, Joan (Preller) Hunter and Carol and Howard Syring.
She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Gus and Margit Lee; her birth parents, Carl and Milia Anderson; brothers, Kenneth Anderson, Wilford Anderson and Marland “Andy” Anderson; son, Roy Leslie Nielsen; and daughter, Janice Carol “Jann” Ehrle.
A memorial service will be Tuesday, March 27, 2012, at 1 p.m. in Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. Interment will be in Outlook at a later date.
Honorary pallbearers are her grandchildren: Brandon, Cheryl, Scott, Trish, Jenn, Tara, Ryan and Michael.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Holy Rosary Hospice, 2600 Wilson St., Miles City, MT 59301.
Naomi "Ruth" Slater
Naomi “Ruth” Slater, 88, of Buffalo, Wyo., formerly of Miles City, died Wednesday, March 14, at the Johnson County Health Care Center in Buffalo.
She was born in Richmond, Va., to Edna Lindsay. She learned to play bluegrass and country music with her uncles at the young age of six. This tradition was kept up by playing either her bass or rhythm guitars with her family until the time of her death.
At the age of 23 she married
Leroy Slater of Miles City. Together they had five children. Mrs. Slater moved to Buffalo, Wyo., in 1998 due to the untimely death of her oldest daughter. She remained there until the time of her death. For the past 14 years she loved walking on the walking path, feeding the geese and reading her mystery books. Her loyalty was lovingly and faithfully displayed to her family and friends.
She is survived by her children: Lois Percifield Conkey (Ed), of Buffalo, Wyo., Dr. Monte Slater (Gail) of Warren Robbins, Ga., Brian Slater (Nannette) of Miles City and Cindy Lawson (Doug) of Sun City, Calif.; eight grandchildren: Joe Hulet, Chanda Percifield, DeWayne Slater, Breanna and Cameron Slater, Tony Fisher, Nicolette and Dalton Lawson; and three great-grandchildren: Cutter and Paisley Hulet and Aspyn Edwards.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Leroy “Jiggs;” and one daughter, “Shirley Nelson.”
Private family services will be held by her family in Miles City. Donations in Mrs. Slater’s name may be made to the Johnson County Library or the St. Francis Animal Shelter in care of the Adams Funeral Home at 351 N. Adams Ave., Buffalo, WY. 82834.
