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Laura Susan Kuzel
Laura Susan Kuzel was born June 21, 1963, in Chicago.
She grew up in Blue Island, Ill., and graduated from Dwight D. Eisenhower High School.
After graduating from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., she earned her masters degree in geology from the University of Montana in Missoula.
She loved Montana and her work as a geochemist for the State of Montana in the Department of Environmental Quality in Helena.
Laura died on July 18, 2003. She was an extremely beloved daughter, sister, aunt and friend as well as a highly respected co-worker.
She is survived by her parents, Frank and Helen Kuzel; her brothers, John Kuzel, Paul Kuzel (Sharon), Gary Kuzel (Patty); and her nieces, Molly, Caroline and Katy, who will miss the love she showered on each of them.
In Helena, a memorial service will be held at Spring Meadow Lake on Monday, July 28, at 7 p.m.
In Illinois, a memorial service will be held at All Saints Lutheran Church in Orland Park, Ill., in late August 2003.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Lewis and Clark Humane Society, 1712 E. Custer Ave., Helena, MT 59601, or Shodair Childrens Hospital, 2755 Colonial Dr., Helena, MT 59601.
Rubye E. Wallace
Rubye E. Wallace, 92, passed away Friday, July 25, at the Mountain View Care Center in Bozeman.
She was born on Dec. 10, 1910, in Townsend to Fred and Alta (Ridgeway) Olsen.
Rubye graduated from Broadwater County High School. She married
Howard Wallace on Nov. 9, 1931. The couple made their home in Townsend until moving to Bozeman in 1951.
She was a homemaker and worked in the office at Gallatin Laundry and Chambers Fischer Co. She retired from Montana State University after spending 20 years as a seed analyst.
Rubye was a member of Eastern Star Lily of the Valley Chapter #4, Sapphira Temple #79, Daughters of the Nile and the First Presbyterian Church in Bozeman. She loved to crochet and read and loved her flower garden.
She is survived by her daughters, Dona, Shirley (Dean), Laura (Ray), Sallie (Oliver) and Betty (Larry); son, Jerry (Margaret); sister, Pearl, and 15 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson. She was preceded in death by her husband, one son, one daughter, five brothers and two sisters.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday, at 10 a.m., at Dokken-Nelson Sunset Chapel. Interment will follow in Deep Creek cemetery in Townsend. Memorials may be made to the Bozeman Deaconess Foundation-Greatest Need, 931 Highland Blvd., Suite 3200, Bozeman, MT 59715.
Virgil Dewitt Nash
Virgil Dewitt Nash of Townsend passed away April 19, 2003, at St. Peters Hospital. Virgil was born to William and Jesse Nash in Shelby Nov. 21, 1938. He grew up and lived on the family homestead north of Dubon and went to school in Dubon and Lakeside. He had resided in Shelby for years.
Then he moved to the Townsend area and worked for several ranches in the area
Virgil is survived by two brothers Edward (Beverly) Nash of Cut Bank and Paul Nash of Helena; one sister Viola (Lars) Allestead of Plains, Mont., and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by three brothers and three sisters and both parents. Funeral services will be held Friday April 25, 2003, at Townsend Funeral Chapel at 1 p.m. with visitation from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday. Graveside services will follow at Deep Creek cemetery. Memorials can be made to Broadwater Community Foundation C/O Brian Patrick 201 NorthSpruce Townsend, MT 59644. Townsend Funeral Chapel has completed the funeral arrangements.
Tess Young
After 83 years of music, love and life, Tess Young passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 12, 2003, at her home in Greenville, S.C. She was born on Jan. 18, 1920, in Holyoke, Colo., to Ray and Martha Grimes VanDyke. The family moved often, and Tess had lived in seven towns in Colorado before she graduated from Phillips Co. H.S. in 1937. She received her B.A. from Colorado State College of Education in 1941, where she was president of her senior class. Her lifelong love of music included playing the violin, piano, French horn, and singing.
After graduation, she taught high school English and music at schools in Oshkosh, Neb., Wheatland, Wyo., and Bensonville, Ill. Tess also directed church choirs in Chicago, Cincinnati and La Grange, Ill. She especially enjoyed working with children and taught piano lessons in her home for 40 years. She was a member of the Energetic Seniors Band and Senior Chorus in Helena, and the Sunshine Singers in Simpsonville, S.C. She served for a time as pianist for Covenant United Methodist Church in Helena, and played piano often at nursing homes and at the Helena Senior Center.
Tess met J. Olney Young at Chicago Temple Methodist Church, where they were married
on May 29, 1946. They had four children. Olneys job as an engineer for Ford Motor Co. took the family from Chicago to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lived for 37 years. They also lived for a brief time in Pharr, Texas. They shared a love of poetry, music, travel and a deep love and commitment to God.
After Olneys death in 1989, Tess moved to Helena to be close to her daughter, Linda, and grandchildren. After 14 years in Montana, she recently moved to South Carolina to enjoy time with her daughter, Carol, and two grandsons. Tess made wonderful friends everywhere she went and spent her life in love and service to everyone around her. We will miss her cheerful spirit, her kindness and generosity and her warm heart.
In addition to her husband, Tess was preceded in death by her brother, Roy VanDyke, and by one grandson, James Andrew Young. Surviving are her daughters: Linda Kuhn, and husband, Jeff, of Helena, and Carol Williams and husband, Russ, of Simpsonville, S.C.; two sons, Dennis Young and wife, Debi, of Sevierville, Tenn., and Ron Young and wife, Paulamarie, of Simi Valley, Calif.; eight grandchildren, Josh, Kelly, and Kinsey Kuhn of Helena, Desi and Brandt Williams of Simpsonville, S.C., Jennifer St. John and husband, Stephen, of Huntsville, Ala., Andrew Young and Mona McFayden, and husband, Cody, of Moorpark, Calif. She was also blessed with six great-grandchildren: Brienna Hatch, of Moorpark, Calif., and Joshua, Andrew, Jacob, Simon Peter, and Elijah St. John, of Huntsville, Ala.
A memorial service celebrating Tess life was held at Christ Community Church in Simpsonville, S.C. on Thursday, April, 17, 2003, with the Rev. Jerry Lindell officiating. Interment will take place at Valley Memorial Gardens in Pharr Texas. Memorials may be sent to Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 Broadway, Helena, MT 59601.
Franklin "Lindy" Estes
Franklin "Lindy" Estes, 75, of Anaconda, passed away Thursday, Aug. 7, 2003, after an extended illness.
He was born on Dec. 17, 1927, at McAllister, Mont., to Joseph and Lena (Bastin) Estes. He was the youngest of five boys. He spent his young years in the Madison Valley where he attended local schools and graduated from Ennis High School in 1946. He received an athletic scholarship to Western Montana College in Dillon. While at Western, he was active in all major athletics. He earned his bachelor's degree in elementary education and did graduate work at Western. In the summer of 1962-1963, he attended the University of Colorado on a grant issued by the National Science Foundation.
Lindy taught school at Norris and Cardwell. He worked for the Montana Highway Department during the summer months and did carpenter work around Ennis. On June 26, 1955, he married
Honie Rae Romey in Virginia City. They were blessed with three wonderful children.
In 1956, they moved to Anaconda where he started teaching in the Anaconda School System. Frank loved athletics and served as an assistant coach in track and basketball. He taught in Anaconda for 28 years, retiring in 1984.
Frank enjoyed fishing, hunting, camping and woodworking. He loved to play golf and was a member of the Anaconda Country Club. He liked playing cards, especially pan, telling jokes and relating some of his "whoppers." He had this as a defense against his equally boisterous friends. No harm was ever intended because Frank had a very loving and kind heart. He had an obsession about honesty and often said, "the nice thing about telling the truth is that you never have to remember what you said."
He enjoyed visiting with people and respecting them as equals. He often made the comment that he wasn't any better than anybody else, but he was just as good.
Frank was a member of the Anaconda Carpenters Union for 25 years and a longtime member of the Anaconda Elks Lodge. He belonged to St. Mark's Episcopal Church.
He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Forrest "Duke" and Malvin "Mal" Estes; nephew, Wayne Estes and sister-in-law, Helen Estes.
He is survived by his wonderful and caring wife at the family home; daughters, Leni Crebo of Missoula, Patti Theilen (Mike) of Littleton, Colo.; son, Jim (Dawn) Estes of Bullhead City, Ariz.; brothers, Joe Estes of Anaconda and Harold "Mick" (Audelle) Estes of Bozeman; grandchildren, Jason Crebo and Elizabeth and Andrew Estes. Survivors also include sisters-in-law, Betty Morck of Butte, Donna Schulz of Sheridan, and brother-in-law, Bud Romey of East Helena; several nieces, nephews, and many special friends that he cherished.
Lindy had a revelation and wanted to share it with everyone:
"I am like an old painter of Sienna after standing for a long time in silent meditation before his canvas with hands crossed meekly on his breast and head bent reverently low, turned away saying, 'May God forgive me that I did not do it better!' Many people as they come to the close of their life and look back at what they have done with the opportunities and privileges and at what they are leaving as their finished work to be their memorial, can only pray with like sadness. May God forgive me that I did not do better!"
"I regret that I did not spend more time with my family, being with them and encouraging them to their aspirations. Like many fathers, my main purpose in life was to provide the material things for my family - give them a good home and all the amenities that go with it. To say the lack of time did not allow this is a poor excuse. You must take the time before it is too late. Love your family. Do it now."
Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12, at St Mark's Episcopal Church in Anaconda. Interment will be in Mt Olivet cemetery. Memorials, in lieu of flowers, are suggested to: American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Anaconda Pintler Hospice or Camp Make a Dream. Longfellow Finnegan Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
William A. Massey
William A. Massey, age 72, of 517 E. Sixth Ave., beloved husband, father, and grandfather, writer and philosopher, died Aug. 5, 2003, at St. Peters Hospital.
Born in Concord, N.H., to the late Philip J. and Ellen (Chase) Massey, Bill was educated in public and private schools.
He went to work at the age of 10 to help support his family. He joined the Air Force during the Korean War, earning a Silver Star and a Purple Heart in 1953. Among other assignments, Bill served as a chaplains assistant. He graduated from Carroll College, and had taken additional studies at the St. Paul Seminary, in St. Paul, Minn.; the University of Montana Law School in Missoula; and the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. It was at Carroll he met the love of his life, Ruth Ann Harrer. They married
in 1962 at the Cathedral of St. Helena.
Mom and Dad were of one mind when it came to impressing us children with enduring life values: respect for God, country, family; the importance of education, and of not heating or cooling the whole outdoors.
For many years, he worked two jobs a day to support his family. During the course of his life, he held a gamut of jobs that included milk tanker driver for Homer Phillips dairy in Helena, volunteer ambulance driver, police dispatcher and high school English teacher known as "Sarge." He ultimately retired from U.S. West Communications and got a lot out of his volunteer activities for the Telephone Pioneers.
Dad enjoyed the early morning coffee counter philosophy at Country Harvest restaurant, where he and others ably dispatched the worlds social and political ills. He loved word plays and taught his children to be similarly "o-pun-ionated."
Bill is survived by his wife, Ruth Ann; three daughters, Michelle Harrer of Helena, Anne Bauer and her husband Larry of Helena, and Jeanne Brainard and her husband Al of Manhattan; and one son, William Massey of Helena; nine grandchildren: Patrick, James, Beau, Jennifer, Tammerly, Sierrah, Katelyn, Brianna and Olivia; one brother, Richard Massey and his wife, Beverly, of Concord; and several other relatives in New Hampshire and the Province of Quebec, Canada.
Dad breathed his last surrounded in love and prayer by his wife, children, and four grandchildren.
And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.
"Last Fragment" - Raymond Carver
A Vigil service will be held Sunday at 7 p.m. at St. Marys Catholic Church. People are invited at the vigil to talk about Bill and help us celebrate his life. The Mass of Christian burial will be held Monday, Aug. 11 at 10 a.m., also at St. Marys, followed by burial at the Montana State Veterans cemetery at Fort Harrison. A luncheon will be held at St. Marys Social Center following the burial.
Memorials may be made to the Cathedral of St. Helena, Building Fund, 530 N. Ewing St., Helena, MT 59601 or to Mended Hearts Chapter 96, 577 Third St., Helena, MT 59601.
John R. Fusaro
John R. Fusaro, age 72, of Augusta, died peacefully with his family at his side Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003, at Benefis East Hospital in Great Falls.
He was born on June 25, 1931, in Westerly, R.I., to Peter Paul and Frances DeBartolo Fusaro. He joined the United States Air Force in 1950 and served four years in the Korean War. He was honorably discharged in 1954 and married
Elva Marie Rundquist on Oct. 2, 1954. They moved to Westerly, and he opened Fusaros Komfort Barber Shop. John and Elva had five children. In July 1969 they moved to Augusta where John worked for the Montana Department of Transportation until his retirement in 1994.
He was an active member of the Augusta American Legion Post 51, served as a volunteer with the Augusta Fire Department and was well known for his active community service.
John is survived by his wife, Elva Fusaro of Augusta; his children, Diana Fusaro of Boise, Idaho, Karen Brunner of Fairfield, Chrissy Shires of Helena, Paula Foster of Anderson, Calif., and Peter Fusaro of Kalispell; eight grandchildren, Lacey, Cassidy and Bailey Brunner, Randi Lee and Kaycee Shires, Zachary Williamson and Ashley and John "Wiley" Fusaro; four sisters, Josephine Brancato, Katie Clark, Dee Roberts and Maryann Mandes; and two brothers, Peter and Joe Fusaro, all of Westerly.
There will be a vigil at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 10, followed by funeral Mass at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11, at St. Matthias Church in Augusta. Military honors will be held at the Augusta cemetery. Memorials can be sent to the Augusta American Legion Post 51, P.O. Box 103, Augusta, MT 59410.
Alice E. Retz
Alice E. Retz passed away peacefully on Aug. 2, 2003, at her home in The Waterford.
She was born on Sept. 1, 1911, in Toston to Richard M. and Alice Milligan O'Hearn.
She attended schools in Toston and Townsend and graduated from Helena High School. She married
J. Howard Retz on May 5, 1934.
We honor her desire for a very brief obituary - "no picture and just who's gone and who's left."
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and siblings, Julia Rigler, Jack O'Hearn and Dick O'Hearn.
She is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Marie and John Kall of Helena and Judy and Byron McBride of Long Beach, Calif.
Her eight grandchildren are Scott Kall, Tori (Ray) Hunthausen, Jasyn (John) Harrington, all of Helena, and Valerie Kall of Portland, Ore., Rebecca (Nelson) Bustamante, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Amy (Otto) Younger, Tacoma, Wash., Jonathan McBride, New York City, and Mikle McBride of Long Beach.
She was "GG" to Jacque and Alli Hunthausen, Kaity and Kyle Harrington, Isabella and Nicholas Bustamante and Oliver Younger. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews including Dean Retz and John Rigler of Helena.
At her request, cremation has taken place and private graveside services will be held at Resurrection cemetery. Memorials may be sent to Hospice of St. Peter's, 2475 Broadway, Helena, MT 59601, the Helena Scholarship Golf Foundation, P.O. Box 768, Helena, MT 59624, or donor's choice. Retz Funeral Home is in care of arrangements.
Rita McFadden
Rita McFadden died Aug. 1, 2003, in Columbus, Ga.
Rata was born Sept., 19, 1946, in Whitefish. She graduated from Cut Bank High School, where she was raised by Lucy and Leonard Paradis. Rita and Jim McFadden would have celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on Aug. 24, 2003.
She was a loving mother of three children, Shawn, Tonia and Chad, and was also a loving and caring grandmother to Christopher McFadden, Zach McFadden and Christopher Gibbons.
She was a person who lived life to the fullest and never stopped caring about others. Rita also loved to hunt, fish, play cards and spend time with her family at the cabin. She loved to cook for all of her friends and family and the more people to cook for the better.
Rita is survived by her husband, Jim McFadden of Jefferson City; her three children, Shawn McFadden of Butte, Tonia McFadden-Buffa, and husband Joe Buffa and soon to be granddaughter of Columbus Ga., Chad and Terri McFadden of Boulder; and grandchildren Chris McFadden of Kevin, Zach McFadden and Chris Gibbons of Boulder; a sister, Mina Salsbary of Las Vegas; and father Leonard Paradis of Thompson Falls. Rita was preceded in death by her biological father Wilford Paradis and mother Lucy Garber.
A memorial service will be held in Montana at a later date.
Rita will forever be missed by her family and friends.
Louise P. Murdock
Louise P. Murdock, 82, died at her home in East Helena on Friday, Aug. 1, 2003. She was born July 24, 1921, in Helena to Melvin D. Mizner and Minnie Cramar Mizner.
She married
John J. Murdock in Seattle on Jan. 8, 1945, and they were blessed with two sons. Louise and John were wed 59 years until his death in 2002. Louise retired after 30 years from U.S. West and enjoyed being active in the Telephone Pioneers of America. Her interests were in fishing and she enjoyed gambling.
Louise is survived by her son Melvin J, his wife, Barbara, and their children Melvin and Bonita; her son Gary J., his wife, Alice, and two sons, Kelly and Kelsey. Also surviving is her brother, Melvin E. Mizner of Seattle, and Phyllis Kelly, along with four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Cremation has taken place and the family will have a private service. Memorials are suggested to Hospice of St. Peters, 2475 Broadway, Helena, MT 59601 or to the donors choice. Retz Funeral Home is caring for arrangements.
