Marlin R. Brackney, 67

Marlin R. Brackney, 67, of Polson, passed away Monday, March 7, 2005, as the result of an automobile accident. He was born May 28, 1937, in Vermillion, S.D., the son of Lillian and Hoyt Brackney.

Marlin met and married Betty Zandstra in Mobridge, S.D., in 1955. The couple soon moved to Great Falls when he got a job with the Great Northern Railroad. In 1962, he began working with the Montana Highway Department where he was the division office engineer, from which he retired from in 1988.

In 1993, they moved to Polson to be near their three daughters.

In Polson, he was an active member and a trustee of the Mission Valley Elks Lodge No. 1695. He enjoyed woodworking, bowling and golf, but perhaps most of all, enjoyed Friday nights spent with friends playing poker in his "wood shop."

He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Arlys Johnson; and a granddaughter, Courtenay Rae Jean.

His family includes his wife, Betty; three daughters, Pam Jean, and her husband, Ernie, of Missoula, Laura Wiles and her husband, Duane, of Spokane, and Kathy Osweiler and her husband, John, of Kalispell; three brothers, Richard Brackney and wife, Karen, and Pat Brackney and wife, Edna, all of Anchorage, Alaska, and John Brackney and wife, Barbara, of Great Falls; seven grandchildren, Ernie, Erik and Kyle Jean, Roger Cummings and his wife Katie, Nina Negrete, and Tanner and Brock Osweiler; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be scheduled and announced at a later date to be held in Polson.

The family suggests that memorials be made to the Diabetes Association or the Missoula Humane Society.