Aldine Charles Kauffman
Aldine Charles Kauffman died Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004, of cardiac arrest at his home on Lake Blaine Road east of Kalispell.
He was born Oct. 14, 1918, near Creston to Anna (Snyder) and Roy Kauffman. He attended local schools in Creston and Cayuse Prairie.
In his youth, he joined the Mountain View Mennonite Church and was a faithful member all his life. All who knew him could attest to his active faith in Jesus Christ.
On Sept. 16, 1945, he married Mabel Fern Eash in Harrisburg, Ore.
He worked with his father and brothers in a family-owned sawmill and with the timber industry most of his life. For many years, he owned his own logging truck and drove for Plum Creek, covering thousands of miles in Northwest Montana. When he retired in 1980, he and his wife Mabel did a year of volunteer work at the McMinnville Mennonite Home in Oregon, and then cared for his wife until her death from cancer in 1984.
He loved hunting, fishing and reading until macular degeneration took much of his eyesight. After that he listened regularly to radio and audio books or enjoyed having someone read to him. He kept busy visiting his children and grandchildren from Virginia to Alaska to Hong Kong. He especially enjoyed his grandchildren and one great grandson.
His wife, Mabel, his parents, Roy and Anna Kauffman, brothers Rueben and Sanford Kauffman and sisters Mabel Miller and Ruth Stutzman preceded him in death.
He is survived by four sons: Loyal and wife Sharon of Glasgow, Mont.; Loren (Charlie) and wife Carrie of Homer, Alaska; Leonard and wife Patti of Kalispell; and Maynard and wife Becca of Homer, Alaska; and three daughters: Nola and husband Steve Estep of Fulks Run, Va.; Barbara Kauffman, currently of Kalispell, and Edie and husband Paul Landis of Carstairs, Alberta. He also had seven grandsons, seven granddaughters, and one great-grandson. He also is survived by brothers Paul, David, Norman, Jim and Joe Kauffman who all live locally, and sisters Mary Slater of Homedale, Idaho; Berniece Reimer of Newton, Kan.; Lily Weber of Guernsey, Saskatchewan; Rosella Eby of Drake, Saskatchewan; and Gladys Reimer of Whitewater, Kan.
Funeral services were held at Mountain View Mennonite Church, Friday, September 17, and burial followed at Fairview Cemetery. Visitation was held Thursday, September 16, at Johnson Mortuary Chapel.
The family suggest memorials be made to Gospel Echoes Northwest (a prison ministry) P.O. Box 255, Tangent, OR 97389, or Gideons International, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, TN 37214-0800.