Dorothy Monson, 94

Dorothy Monson, 94, passed away on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, at the Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell. She was born Sept. 19, 1916, in Devils Lake, N.D., to Carl and Nettie Nelson. After graduating from Devils Lake High School in l934, she enrolled in Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., where she graduated in 1938 with a major in English and a minor in music. She taught English and music at the high school in Warwick, N.D., for a year, and on Jan. 1, 1940, she married Allwin Monson, a Concordia College classmate from Shelby. They lived in St. Thomas, N.D., for a few months, and then moved to Denver, where Allwin received a master s degree in speech. After a year in Denver they moved to Syracuse, N.Y., where they lived until Allwin joined the faculty at Concordia College in 1948. In 1950 Dorothy went to work in the Office of the Academic Dean at Concordia, where she headed the Placement Office. In that capacity she helped students through the interview and hiring process for their first jobs after graduation. After several years in the Placement Office Dorothy retired, but soon after retirement went back to school at Concordia to update her teaching certificate. She then took a temporary position in the Moorhead Public Schools teaching special-needs students, and discovered her passion was teaching special education. At the age of 53, after teaching special-needs students for a number of years, Dorothy got a sabbatical to attend graduate school at San Francisco State University, where she received her master s degree in special education. She returned to the Moorhead schools and taught special education for several years before retiring. In 1983 Dorothy and Allwin moved to Kalispell. Dorothy did volunteer work in Kalispell, and they enjoyed hiking, camping, fishing and cross-country skiing. Among friends and family Dorothy became famous for her huckleberry pies baked on a camp stove and her skill in driving bears out of camp with a canoe paddle. Dorothy is survived by her husband Allwin, of Kalispell; a daughter, Joyce Tsongas and a son, Arthur Monson, both of Portland; as well as a grandson, Christopher Tsongas of Seattle, and a granddaughter, Mika Tsongas of Sandpoint, Idaho. A memorial service and celebration of Dorothy s life will be held at Northridge Lutheran Church in Kalispell at 11 a.m. Monday, May 3. Memorials may be made in Dorothy s name to the worship and music fund at Northridge Lutheran Church in Kalispell. Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for Dorothy s family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to offer condolences and view Dorothy s tribute wall.