Clarabel Dyrdahl Bogut, 95
"One of the stars in the sky twinkled for the last time and went out" on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2006.
Clarabel Dyrdahl Bogut, 95, passed away surrounded by family at Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell.
She was the first girl born in Lovejoy north of Malta in 1911. While her two brothers stayed home and worked the family farm, her widowed mother sent her three daughters to college, very rare back then. Clarabel graduated from the Deaconess School of Nursing in Great Falls in 1933 and became a surgical nurse in Wolf Point, where she met and married Frank Bogut. They had two sons and a daughter.
She became a single mother in 1941 and because of her desire to spend more quality time with her children she decided to change her career path. In addition to her nursing degree, Clarabel attended Western Montana Normal College in Dillon each summer for three years to complete her degree in education. Upon receiving her teaching certificate, she taught school in Strater and Whitewater.
In 1950, she was invited by her alma mater to become the college nurse. Clarabel accepted the position as registered nurse in charge of student health services and moved to Dillon to work and raise her family. After many years of service to Western, she became the public health nurse for all of Beaverhead County until her retirement.
Always thinking of others, Clarabel implemented a world mission project by gathering from local motels used soap bars that were boxed and sent to be recycled and shipped to foreign countries.
On May 4, 2005, Clarabel moved from Dillon to Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell to be closer to her family. She loved being able to attend church services, Bible study, and enjoyed frequent visits with the resident (Norwegian) Pastor Peter Ramseth.
Clarabel was always highly respected for her nursing and educational skills, and loved for her hard work and compassion. She was also legendary for her quick wit and sense of humor. At her birthday party in October 2006, her table was adorned with 95 roses commemorating her 95th birthday. Her response, with just a trace of smile was, "Well, siss-boom-bah!" Her family laughed until they cried.
She took great joy in being Norwegian and loved using bits and pieces of the language to both delight and confuse her listeners. She also loved being Lutheran and never wavered in her faith, continuing to sing hymns until the end. Her songs were inspirational for many.
Clarabel Dyrdahl Bogut is survived by her son, Jack, of Pittsburgh; son, Don, of Kalispell; and daughter, Marilyn Frazier, of Polson. Clarabel also felt she had been blessed with three additional children by marriage: daughters-in-law, Joni Bogut in Pittsburgh, and Emily Bogut in Kalispell, and son-in-law Loran Frazier of Polson. Clarabel has seven grandchildren, Loran E. and Laurie Frazier of Missoula, Steve and Caty Frazier, of Spokane, John and Jennifer Bogut of Pittsburgh, Brenda and Kirk Bechtel of Baltimore, Lisa and Adam Merzon of Greenwich, Conn., Scott and Karyn Bogut of Seattle, and Angie Bogut of Vernal, Utah; and 11 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family has established a Clarabel Dyrdahl Bogut Nursing Scholarship Fund at First State Bank, P.O. Box 1257, Dillon, MT 59725.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at the First Lutheran Church in Dillon, with interment afterward in the Mountainview Cemetery at Dillon.
K and L Mortuaries of Twin Bridges in charge of arrangements.