Katherine L. 'Peggy' Redpath, 85
On May 2, 2007, surrounded by her family, and with three of her children holding and comforting her and "one child reaching out to greet her," Katherine L. "Peggy" Redpath "left this world to go to a better one with no pain."
Peggy was born April 11, 1922, to Arthur and Abbie Brash. She started out life at a dude ranch in East Glacier that her father built, but went through many moves during her early years due to her parents' divorce. She lived briefly in Helena, Westwater, Utah, and in Forks, Wash., but spent most of her school years at Summit and high-school days in Kalispell, where she lived with her foster family until her marriage to high-school classmate Howard D. Redpath on Oct. 11, 1941.
Peggy and Howard had four children, Janet, Connie, Dennis and Randee. When their first child was still a baby, they bought land on Flathead Lake and built a small house there. By the time their third child joined the family they had built a larger log home on the same property, which was where they lived the rest of their lives. There were many hours spent around the dining room table with family and friends and anytime you dropped by you could always count on the coffee pot being on.
It was there where Howard and Peggy hosted an annual Labor Day breakfast for their neighbors and friends. Even after Howard's death in 1994, Peggy, along with her children, continued this as a tradition that lasted more than 50 years. Peggy missed only one of these annual breakfasts in 1955, while she was, appropriately, having a baby on "Labor Day."
Peggy worked as a bookkeeper for Lee Craft Boats for several years, at the Bank of Somers, which later became Valley Bank, and she dabbled a bit in real estate, but her most successful job was being the best mother and grandmother anyone could ever hope to have.
She was instrumental in the founding of the Ben Williams Park in Lakeside. She kept in touch with a great many of her classmates from her 1940 graduating class of Flathead High and hardly ever missed a class get-together or reunion.
She had many interests, from woodworking, landscape and portrait painting, writing and performing skits for the Somers School PTO and other groups, to her all-time favorite, golf, excelling at everything she did.
Her biggest joy was her family. She loved her family and was affectionately dubbed "Great" by her great-grandchildren. She instilled upon her children, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren such important values as honesty, integrity and, most of all, a sense of humor.
"Great, 'Do you want to ride or do you want to walk?'"
Peggy was preceded in death by her husband, Howard, in 1994; and her daughter, Connie Stein, in 2004.
She is survived by daughter, Janet Bourne, and her family, Dan, daughter Shannie and John Heston, their children, Jordan and Clay in Kalispell, and daughter Corraun Bourne in Portland; her son, Dennis Redpath, and his wife, Robyn, his children Monica and Matt Bradford of Anchorage, Alaska, their sons, Kyle and Brody, Dennis Jr., and Aileen Redpath of Sacramento, Calif., and baby Liam; and her daughter, Randee, and her husband, John Morrow, their daughter Maren and Aaron King in Ferndale, and their children Sadee and Jonathan. Also surviving are her son-in-law, Frank Stein, of Lakeside, and her sister, Betty Jo Steele, of Monrovia, Calif.; and several nieces and nephews. She is also survived by numerous friends, one of whom was her very close friend, Barbara Smith, with whom she shared many rounds of golf and some wonderful travel experiences.
Cremation has taken place, and memorial services will be held to celebrate her life at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 12, at Lakeside Chapel, with family friend Pastor Dean Carmichael of Thompson Falls officiating.
Memorials may be made in her name to Lakeside QRU, P.O. Box 911, Lakeside, MT 59922; in honor of her daughter Connie, who was such a part of that organization from its beginning.