Maxine Evelyn Freeman passed away peacefully in her sleep July 3

2008, while under hospice care in Kalispell. She was born on July 5, 1929, to Max and Evelyn Walters in Havre and lived in Chinook. At age 5 she moved to the Flathead Valley and lived on the family farm while attending her grade school years at Birch Grove School. During her high school years at Flathead she worked at Norm's serving ice cream and popular drinks of the time.

She was the mother of four children, Judee and husband Hal Channell of Sonora Calif., Rance Fish and wife, Peggy, of Columbia Falls, Eddy Fish of Kalispell, and Kenny Fish and wife, Snooks, of Portland. She was a grandmother of six and great-grandmother of four.

Always involved in her kids' activities, she became a great den mother, baseball coach and hunter safety instructor (she made one of her sons take the course twice) as well as a second mom for a number of her nieces and nephews. It was said, 'You never felt more welcome or comfortable in a home as you did in Maxine's.' No one was ever turned away or left hungry.

She left Columbia Falls during the Libby Dam construction and worked at the Mint Bar as a union bartender. She later moved to Sonora Calif., and Rearden, Wash.

In the early '80s, she moved back to the family farm where she remained until her passing. Her love of staying active and working in the dirt transformed her yard into a showplace of flower gardens and a vegetable garden that was enjoyed by all.

She touched many lives and will be missed by all.