Florence Elvira Slethaug, 97
Florence Elvira Slethaug, 97, a longtime resident of the Flathead Valley, died Oct. 29, 2007, at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
She was born at home Jan. 4, 1910, to Daniel Gustav and Christine (Absalonson) Dunham, who were homesteading a farm near Minnewaukan, N.D. She would be one of eight children who would live in the prairie home together with parents, a grandmother and an uncle for the first 14 years of her life.
The family moved to Kalispell in 1924 where Florence attended Flathead County High School, graduating in 1929 with a teaching certificate. After teaching in Evergreen and attending Dillon Normal College, she began teaching at the Swan River School near Bigfork, where she met and married Olander Slethaug on April 27, 1934. They lived for 61 years on a farm on Echo Lake Road until moving in 1995 to Buffalo Hill Terrace. She often remarked that she had gone from a life involving labor, organization and action for most daylight hours to one of luxury and leisure at Buffalo Hill Terrace; a bittersweet transition, because she loved her home, the mountains, the garden, the flowers, her family and friendships that were her place for most of her life.
Florence was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, originally located in Swan River and later in Bigfork and served as teacher, choir member, organizer, fundraiser, cook and local, state and national board member of ELCW, the Lutheran women's organization. She was an active Democrat who could explain the reason for her activism quite clearly, and knew most of the time when to discuss her opinions and when not to.
Florence is survived by two children, Sharon Schiltz and husband, Don, of Bigfork, and Gordon Slethaug and wife, Mary, of Hong Kong. She had seven grandchildren, Kris, Gavin and Darin Slethaug, Heather Fern, Mark Schiltz, Heidi Westmoreland and Cori Wellenstein; and 11 great-grandchildren. She would say proudly, as she surveyed the crowd of family gathered for celebrations, "Olander and I started all of this and not a bad apple in the barrel."
She was preceded in death by Olander in 1997, and all of her Dunham family.
Funeral services for Florence will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the Bethany Lutheran Church, 8559 Montana 35, in Bigfork, with the Rev. Joe Strandjord officiating. Burial will be after services at the Bethany Lutheran Cemetery on Swan River Road in Bigfork. Friends are invited to join the family for coffee and cookies in the fellowship hall at Bethany after the service.
The family suggests memorial gifts be given to the Bethany Lutheran Church: P.O. Box 398, Bigfork, MT 59911.