Irene Hafdahl Daley, 105

Irene Hafdahl Daley lived as long as she possibly could without a lot of suffering and passed away Thursday, July 25, 2013, at 105 years of age.  She “went to be with her Lord and savior where everlasting life begins” and was at her bed with her hands held by her son and daughter. She had lived at Buffalo Hill Terrace for the last eight years and was kind, thoughtful and loved by everyone.  

She had spent her early years living on a homestead near Jordan. To escape the isolation and to have a school for Irene, her family moved to Brockway where her father started a successful creamery. After the bad winter of '22, the family moved 12 miles down the road to Circle, where Irene completed her last two years of high school. 

At 17 she completed a nine-week coarse to become a teacher and started her teaching career at Reinemer School north of Circle in 1925. She went to college in Dillon and ended up in the Polson area where she applied for and received a teaching position at Sunny Slope School. She was responsible for teaching every grade, from first to eighth, in a one-room schoolhouse where transportation was with a horse or on foot. The school had a nine-day clock — so called because it lasted nine days from each winding — that kept her and the students on track even without electricity.  

Irene moved on to other schools until she met and married her loving partner for life, Forrest Daley, in 1937. They had three children and lived in Kalispell and at their Flathead Lake cabin near Rollins the remainder of their lives.  

In April of 1941 a daughter was born, Marcia, and in September of 1942 Irene gave birth to twins, Bill and Tom.   

Irene enjoyed playing bridge most of her life and won many tournaments in Canada around the Northwestern states. She earned a Life Membership Award for bridge. She was an avid crossword puzzle enthusiast and it was hard to find a paper where the crossword puzzle was not completed.  

She was a loyal church member, belonging to several Epworth Methodist Church organizations, and to Eastern Star, a women's organization affiliated with the Masons. She loved sewing and crocheting and sewed many pieces of clothing that were given as gifts to family and friends. She made numerous articles for church donations.  

She was preceded in death by her parents, Thurston and Liv Hafdahl; son, Bill, in 1986; and her husband, Forrest, in 1994. (And everyone else her age). 

She is survived by her daughter, Marcia, of Lake Oswego, Ore.; son, Tom, and his wife, Susan, of Ashland, Ore.; and five grandchildren, Kevin Grover of Kalispell, Kelli Grover of Estacada, Ore., Kirsten Zucker and her husband Glen, and Irene's great- grandson Terrance of Portland, Tom and Susan's boys, Tim Daley and his wife Tracie and their family, Cassie and Jorden Jenson, Colby and TarQuin Daley, Chris Daley and Margie Cantrell of Ashland, Ore. Gabriella, daughter of Kevin, gave Irene a great-great-grandson named Truett Grover.   

There was a memorial service July 9 at Buffalo Hill Terrace followed by burial at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery. At the memorial service Paster Steve from Epworth Methodist Church mentioned that to fill a room with 70 people at the age of 105 ... she had to have a lot of character. And she did! She loved socializing, meeting friends and was hard to beat at any card game.

The family asks that in lieu of gifts or flowers, you feed your birds and squirrels, plant pretty flowers, shrubs and trees everywhere, be well and at peace, walk softly and take the train when you can.