Helen Lucille Hopkins Hansen, 97

Helen Lucille Hopkins Hansen was born to Harold and Abbie (Cooper) Hopkins at home in Swan River on June 29, 1920, and passed away at the age of 97 in Kalispell on Monday, April 2, 2018.

She was preceded in death by her husband William “Bill” Hansen who passed away in 1989, her brother Harold (Evelyn) Hopkins, and her sisters Dorothy Olson, Sandra Hopkins, Louise (Willis) Vance and Darlene (Ralph) Robinson; and grandchildren, Deborah Hansen Knutson (Kevin) and Robert Goocher.

She is survived by her sisters, Pat (Lee) Weigum, Joanne Otto and Verna Rae Hopkins. Her children in Kalispell are Royal (Tressa) Hansen, Larry (Kathy) Hansen, Muriel (Gene) Johnson and Marvin (Kathy) Hansen, and her son William “Bill” (Colleen) Hansen in Wasilla, Alaska. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

Helen was raised in Swan River and Bigfork, attending Bigfork High School and often swimming across Bigfork Bay from her family home to downtown with her sisters.

Helen and Bill raised their family in Woods Bay, and spent summers running logging camps in remote places like Thompson Falls, Rexford and the North Fork. Helen cooked for the whole crew and on more than one occasion had to shoot a bear that was looking for food in camp. In 1964 they moved to Alaska and she lived in North Pole, until she returned to Montana in 2012.

Helen loved quilting and gifted many quilts to all her relatives throughout the years, which are still treasured by her grandchildren. She also loved crafts of all kinds; sewing Barbie doll clothes for her granddaughters and doing ceramics in Alaskan clay. She spent her time making fireweed honey, gardening and going on fishing trips to Swede Lake with her family.

A viewing will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Monday, April 9, a Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home, followed by a graveside service to be held at 1 p.m. at the Lone Pine Cemetery in Bigfork.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Lone Pine Cemetery Association, P.O.Box 14, Bigfork, MT 59911, or the donor’s preferred charity.

Please visit www.jgfuneralhome.com to leave condolences for the family. Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for the family.