Margrye M. (Roeseler) Butchart, 102
By immigrating to Canada in January 2011, Margrye carried on the pioneering spirit of her parents. Her father crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat as a very young lad and her parents moved West to Montana by covered wagon. Margrye’s final journey ended with her passing in Victoria, British Columbia, April 22, 2019, following a stroke. Predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Maro Neelands Butchart; her parents Zelma (Trowbridge) and William F. Roeseler; brothers Harold, Lyle, and Ernest; sisters Vera Roeseler and Liane (Bob) McGuire; and her niece Marie Doyle, her radiant smile will be lovingly remembered by her daughters Bonita Smith of Victoria, British Columbia, and Nadine (Don) Hart of Loomis, California, her cousin Nilmeh Cook of Nashville, Tennessee; her nephews Bob (Calgary, Alberta), Brian (Springdale, Arkansas), and Lynn (Stanford, Montana) McGuire and Fred (Tampa, Florida) and William (Kirkland, Washington) Roeseler, and by all those who knew her.
Born January 22, 1917 in Moore, Montana, she was raised in Windham, Montana, and graduated from high school there in 1934. She remembers melting snow in the outdoor boiler for water in the winter, a first family car in 1929 (though she was loyal to her horse Trix, and the family pony Bob who not only pulled the stone sled, but allowed all of the children to learn to ride on him, and working at Gilkerson’s Cafeteria in West Yellowstone the summer before she went to college.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Commercial Subjects degree from Montana State College (Bozeman) in 1938, she moved to Stanford, Montana, to teach. There she met Maro, a fellow teacher (band, choir, English, French) and they were married in Stanford on May 19, 1940.
The young couple moved to Kalispell in the fall of 1943, where Margrye was active in the Central Christian Church, and in the community, as a member of the American Association of University Women (past president of the local chapter), and serving with the Girl Scouts for 25 years.
In 2009, after a fall on the ice in Kalispell, she moved to an apartment in Port Angeles, Washington, to be nearer to her daughter in Victoria. Here she became re-acquainted with Maro’s cousin Ross Jones and enjoyed frequent visits from Bonnie and Nadine and Don, and short “hikes” with her walker in Olympic National Park and along the waterfront.
Margrye’s life will be celebrated in Kalispell Aug. 28, with a celebration of life at the Central Christian Church in the afternoon, at a time to be determined. The church address is 248 Second Ave. East. In loving memory of Margrye, you are invited to share the beauty of love with a donation to the Central Christian Church in Kalispell or by a random act of kindness to another person. Margrye’s daughters would also like to thank her wonderful “family” of caregivers at the Gorge Road Hospital, Waterview Unit, in Victoria for their outstanding care of Mom.