Mary Elizabeth Ambrogini, 84

Mary Elizabeth Ambrogini, 84, a longtime Essex resident, passed away Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at the Colonial Manor Nursing Home in Whitefish of natural causes.

She was born in Marshall County, S.D., and came to Montana with her parents. She attended schools in Essex, East Glacier, and graduated from Whitefish High School in 1938. She met and married Melvin Virgil Ambrogini in 1939 in Whitefish. Melvin passed away in 1984.

Mary had been a school bus driver in Essex, a substitute teacher in Essex, a cook and waitress at Denny's Underpass Inn in Essex and had worked for Shamrock Gas Co. when they put a gas line through the area.

Mary had been a 4-H leader, Sunday school teacher and superintendent, a staunch supporter of the Middlefork fire department and Quick Response Unit, and a PTA president. She enjoyed hunting, fishing and needlecrafts at her church. She helped missionaries prepare for bible camp and schools.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin, her parents, a brother, and a granddaughter.

She is survived by daughters, Jewel King and her husband Frank in Great Falls, and Thelma Fox in Essex, Montana. She is also survived by a son, James (and his wife, Evelyn) Ambrogini in Sedro Woolley, Washington, 10 grandchildren and two step-grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and seven step-grandchildren, 16 great-great-grandchildren and a niece in Great Falls.

Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Austin Funeral Home in Whitefish. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 4, also at the funeral home chapel. Burial will follow at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Columbia Falls.

The family suggests that memorial contributions can be made to the Middlefork Quick Response Unit.