Mary Wilson

Mary K. “Katie” Wilson, 80, passed away March 10, 2012, at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls.

Katie was born April 17, 1931, in Denison, Iowa, the daughter of John and Laura Pelley. She moved to Montana in 1955 with her first husband Wally and four children.

She was a member of the Ladies Home Demonstration Club, the Pollyanna Club and the Montana Cowbelles Association, served for many years as a 4-H leader and volunteered at the Klothes Kloset in Columbia Falls.She also was a member of the Big Sky Chapter of the 10th Mountain Division — the World War II “Ski Troopers” — and a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

She married Ross J. Wilson on July 2, 1972. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to the North Fork and made that their year-round home.

She is survived by daughters Linda Hoyt and husband Bill, of Whitefish, Becky Reed and husband Jerry, of Columbia Falls, and Barbara Raze and husband Dennis, of Kalispell; daughter-in-law Betty Reis, of Clark, Mo.; stepsons Larry Wilson, of Columbia Falls, and Joe Wilson, of Green Valley, Ariz.; stepdaughter Wanda LaCroix, of Arlee; six grandchildren; three great grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations may be made in her honor to the Big Sky Chapter of the 10th Mountain Division or to Northwest Humane Society.

A funeral service was held March 15, 2012, at Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish. Burial followed at Glacier Memorial Gardens.