Marjorie Jackson Stevenson, 85

Marjorie Jackson Stevenson, 85, passed away on Monday, April 16, 2012, at Health Center Northwest in Kalispell.

She was born July 30, 1926, in San Diego to Rude Samuel and Dagmar Olund Jackson.

She was a “military brat,” as her father was career U.S. Navy. She spent her childhood in San Diego, graduating from Hoover High School in 1944.

She was first employed as a secretary with the San Diego School District until her marriage, when she became a military wife.

She was an especially dear mother to four children. In her young motherhood days she was an active volunteer in PTA, Scouts and the Military Wife Association in Arizona, California, Alaska and Nebraska. After her children grew older, she worked full time as an elementary school secretary in Agana, Guam, computer department secretary at Central Bank in Great Falls, and finally, elementary school secretary in Las Vegas, retiring in 1981. As a school secretary she was active and held office in the Clark County Educational Office Personnel Association in Las Vegas.

In her retirement years, she and her husband were summer employees with Hamilton Stores, Grant Village, in Yellowstone Park for three years, one of them during the infamous Yellowstone Fire in 1988, thus being evacuated from the park because of nearby dangers. She and her husband also were managers of the Senior Citizen Ksanka Court Development in Eureka for three years, where they made lifetime acquaintances that were sincerely relished.

Her family was always her primary love and she was extremely proud of her children’s accomplishments. She modestly spoke of moving 50 times, living in five different homes they bought and sold, six various government quarters on Air Force bases (including a Quonset hut), numerous apartments and eight recreational vehicles. She loved the challenge of moving and decorating, making each a special home for her family with fresh memories, experiences and friends, thus making it a home, not just the house they enjoyed.

She enjoyed sewing, needlework, crafts, decorating and open road traveling, especially the years with her husband in the motor home journeying cross-country four times, spending winters in the south, summers in the north and into Canada, and caravaning to Nova Scotia.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Dorothy Smith; and brother, Robert Jackson.

She is survived and will be terribly missed by her loving husband, James “Steve” Stevenson, of Columbia Falls; two sons, Steven Williford and his wife, Mary, of Oak Harbor, Wash., and Glen Williford and his wife, Nina, of Zionsville, Ind.; two daughters, Jodi Fayle and her husband, Jeff, of McGill, Nev., and Lori Johnson and her husband, Mike, of Columbia Falls; along with eight dear grandchildren, Jenni King and her husband Josh, J.D. Fayle and his wife Sarah, David and John Williford, Amanda, Nicholas and Shane Johnson, and Karen Robinson and her husband Brett. She also was a loving great-grandmother to Brayden Fayle, and Brett and Addison Robinson. She is survived by sisters-in law, Cassie Jackson of Roseville, Calif., and Helen Lautenbacher of Bensalem, Penn.

As was her wish, immediate cremation was performed and her ashes will be combined with her husband’s and spread in Montana where they met and fell in love. A private memorial will be held.

The family requests memorials be sent in Marjorie’s name to Fellowship Alliance Church, 1025 Seventh Ave. W., Columbia Falls, MT 59912, or your personal choice.

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for Marjorie’s family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to offer condolences and view Marjorie’s tribute wall.