Effie Hinrichs, 79

Effie Hinrichs, 79, died at her home in Kalispell on Aug. 16, 2014.

Effie was the eldest of five children born to Earl and Vera Pearson on the family ranch in Winifred, Montana. As a young woman she spent many hours working in the fields helping her father grow and harvest wheat. Effie was pretty and kind, a hard worker and an excellent cook. She graduated from Winifred High School and earned her teaching degree at Eastern Montana College in Billings. She taught at Central School in Roundup where she met and married Marcus Hinrichs in 1958.

They settled into ranch life on his family’s homestead along the Musselshell River near Delphia, and Effie continued to teach in Roundup. They enjoyed dancing, card parties, bowling and were members of the First Congregational Church in Musselshell.

Effie became a full-time mother and ranch wife when their first daughter was born in 1960. Along with raising their three girls, she enjoyed helping Marcus on the ranch. In 1969, they moved to a cattle ranch in Pleasant Valley where she especially loved running the swather during the haying season. Marcus remembers her as the best help he ever had on the ranch.

She was also active as a volunteer in the local school, in her children’s 4-H club and also contributed many hours of hard work and a lot of good food to numerous events in the Pleasant Valley and Marion communities. She and Marcus attended many of the Saturday night dances at Boisverts, and pinochle and holiday parties at Pleasant Valley School.

They sold the ranch in 1981, and moved to Kalispell, where Effie worked as a housekeeper at the Outlaw Inn, and later as a cook at the Lighterside Restaurant.

In March 1994, she survived a brain aneurysm, and spent many long months afterward in rehabilitation. She eventually returned to work, this time in the kitchen at Immanuel Lutheran Home. She retired in 2006.

Effie and Marcus enjoyed traveling, and attended the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, professional basketball games in Salt Lake City, and often visited friends and family in San Diego, Phoenix and Atlanta, and throughout Montana.

Effie is survived by her husband, Marcus; daughters, Jan Hinrichs, Jill Hinrichs and Melissa and Roger Somerville; granddaughters, Teagan, Trenna  and Caitlin Keith, and Gratia Somerville; sisters, Edith Denny, Ruby and George Thomas, and Violie and Dale Kreider; brother, Jim and Rollie Pearson;  and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

The family would like to thank the staff of Home Options Hospice for their wonderful care of Effie and all of their kindness and support.

A memorial for Effie will be held at 1 p.m. on Aug. 29 at Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home in Kalispell. A reception will follow at the Eagles Hall in Kalispell. Inurnment will take place at the Musselshell Cemetery at a later date.

The family requests that any memorials be made to Home Options Hospice Foundation.

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for Effie’s family.