Dorcas M. Louden, 87

Dorcas M. Louden, 87, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015, making her long-awaited passing from the Edgewood Vista community, Kalispell “into the next of eternity with Jesus.”

Dorcas was born in 1927 in Glasgow to Stanley and Lula Potts and lived on Stan’s homestead until the family was bought out during the construction of Fort Peck Dam. The family relocated to the Swan River community east of Bigfork in 1936 where they farmed. On the first day at Swan River School, Dorcas met Alicia Fox (Fagerland) who invited Dorcas to share her desk and became a lifelong friend until Alicia’s death, April 2009.

Dorcas graduated from Bigfork High School in 1945 as valedictorian with Alicia alongside as the salutatorian. Dorcas began cadet nurse training at Great Falls Deaconess in the fall of 1945 but left school after the war ended. She eventually moved to Helena where she met Woodie Cottle. They were married at Kalispell in June 1948 and moved to the Bay Area of California to start their lives together.

The following year they produced son Gary and then the following year Andy. Dorcas eventually went to night school and worked for Crocker Anglo Bank in Oakland. Woodie died in 1960 and Dorcas determined to move with the boys back to Bigfork in 1961. The first year back, she rented a large, old farmhouse (Hilda Lee’s place) near the Swan River community and introduced the boys to life Montana-style. She went to work at Conrad National Bank (First Interstate) in Kalispell and served as assistant comptroller until her retirement in 1982.

When she arrived back in the Bigfork area, she attended the church of her childhood, the Little Brown Church. During the ensuing years, she served as secretary/treasurer, historian, Sunday School teacher and anything else that needed doing. She continued her participation until the fall of 2007 and was a dedicated follower of Jesus who believed in touching lives in His name.

In the spring of 1962, Dorcas married a talented craftsman (Rod Jelleff) who built her home on Wolf Creek where she would live the next 45 years. After that marriage ended and she had the boys off to college, in 1969 she married one of the Lower Valley boys she had known in her youth. Ted Danford was a foreman at the aluminum plant but, as with many of the guys at the plant, wanted an outlet for his days off so they built up a small farm on the Wolf Creek property. When not farming or working, they enjoyed traveling, dancing or visiting friends. Ted passed away in March 1984 after battling cancer for 18 months. Dorcas maintained the farm and livestock with the help of her sons but also took time to help others.

A year after Ted’s death, Dorcas spent several weeks caring for Betty Louden up at Lost Prairie while Betty was dying of cancer. Following Betty’s death in 1985, Betty’s husband Bob tried to return the favor anytime he came to town and often showed up at Wolf Creek near mealtime. In September 1985, Dorcas took in one more stray and married Bob who then split his time between the two farms. They traveled and shared many old friends for the next years until Bob died of a heart attack on a picnic up the Swan with Dorcas and her youngest brother, Harry and wife Marianna, in September 2001.

Dorcas continued to live at Wolf Creek for six more years but her health declined in the early years of Alzheimer’s. In 2007, after episodes that put herself and others at risk, she was hospitalized and with the counsel of her doctor, attorney and the agreement of her sons, she became a resident of Immanuel Lutheran Home that November and then the Edgewood Vista community in the following June. While she missed her home at Wolf Creek, she grew accustomed to community living in Kalispell. In the fall of 2010, she was diagnosed with cancer and was part of the understanding to take a short-course treatment which gave her an extra year while reasonably active. The cancer symptoms returned early in 2012.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her best friend, Alicia Fagerland; brother, Doug Potts; Doug Wise and her sister Judy Wise; and lastly by her younger brother, Harry Potts.

She is survived by Harry’s wife, Marianna; sister-in-law, Dorothy Potts; sister-in-law, Bunny Louden; son, Gary Cottle, and wife, Teri; son, Andy Cottle, and wife Ann, and their sons Clint, wife Katie and daughter Karlee and Sean Jennison, and Matt, wife Jenn and sons Ernie and Austin; seven stepchildren, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, several good friends including Irene Bowker, and church families at the Little Brown Church and the Church of the Nazarene.

In keeping with Dorcas’ wishes, cremation has taken place, and at a later date a private interment will be at Wolf Creek where her heart always was.

The boys express Dorcas’ sincere appreciation to Pastor Ed Koteskey of the Kalispell Church of the Nazarene, Drs. Charles Dixon, David Sheldon and Linda Hitchcock; Starla Robinson and staff of the Edgewood Vista community; Frontier Hospice and the many friends who supported her in prayer and visits through these later years of her journey. Lastly, special thanks from the boys to Jim Johnson, Dorcas’ friend and attorney, who was our counselor and advisor through the decisions of the last 15 years. Dorcas would have appreciated your care and concern for her.

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for Dorcas’ family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to view Dorcas’ Tribute wall, offer condolences and share memories.