Carol Lynn Nicholson, 62

Carol Lynn Nicholson, 62, was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on July 8, 1952, the only child to parents Melvin A. “Nick” and Grace (Sommerville) Nicholson. Early in life she found sports, beginning with bowling on a Saturday morning league at the age of 8, playing summer league softball before her high school years, and powderpuff football as a junior in high school. After graduating from Clarksville High School in 1970, she raced stock cars for two summers at the local track there in Jeffersonville.

She began visiting family in North Pole, Alaska, in the 1970s and in 1981 she made a permanent change of address. Among other jobs there, Carol spent 13 years working for the Bureau of Land Management. While living in Alaska, she enjoyed fishing for halibut and salmon. She also became involved with National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), an advocacy group for federal workers. She served as chapter president of the Fairbanks Alaska Chapter and as vice president of the Alaska State Federation. After moving to Montana in 2001, she served as the Montana State Federation secretary.

While still living in Alaska, she became interested in genealogy when a friend challenged her to trace her family roots back to the American Revolution, to establish her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). From that point on, Carol was very involved with family history research. She volunteered her time at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Family History Center in Kalispell and on a national website (findagrave.com) to photograph cemeteries in Flathead County. She had spent countless hours researching gravesites for the Montana Veterans Home Cemetery and requesting markers for those who are buried there without markers. And in her effort to provide pictures of markers to loved ones who live in other parts of the country, she visited findagrave.com before she traveled somewhere, to see if anyone was looking for a picture of a grave marker in the area in which she was planning to visit.

Already being a member of DAR, Carol was the organizing regent of Bird Woman Falls Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) in Columbia Falls in 2007, an accomplishment she was quite proud of, even if she did so kicking and screaming. The ladies that she and daughter, Tracy, met were wonderful and Carol quickly gained new friends.

Carol and Billy were married in 1994 in Fairbanks, Alaska, and moved to Kalispell in 2001 to be nearer family. Since moving to Kalispell, they have enjoyed camping and fishing, when they weren’t tied up with their other activities. Carol’s favorite place to fish was Middle Thompson Lake for perch.

Carol was diagnosed with cancer in July 2008 and her will to live was obvious in that she defied the odds and lived much longer than ever expected.

She passed away on May 1, 2015, at her home.

Carol was a Baptist and a member of the Culbertson Baptist Church in New Albany, Indiana.

As per Carol’s wishes, her ashes will be buried next to her father at Kraft Graceland Cemetery in New Albany at a later date. A memorial plaque will be placed in the Gebo Cemetery in Fromberg, Montana, where her husband, Billy, will be interned next to his first wife, Marianne.

Carol was predeceased by her father, Melvin A. “Nick” Nicholson; her grandparents, Edgar L. and Hazel A. Nicholson of New Albany, Indiana, and Harold and Phyllis Sommerville of Clarksville, Indiana.

Carol leaves behind her husband of 20 plus years, Billy E. Butts, of Columbia Falls; mother and stepfather, Grace and F.D. “Brad” Bratager; of Kalispell; and stepsister, Durene Morgan, of Michigan; daughter, Tracy Morsching, and husband, Brian, of Kalispell; and grandchildren, Emily and husband Zane Flint, Nick and Brianna; and her great-granddaughter, Aubry Nicholson, born in March 2014. Carol also leaves her stepchildren, Jeanie Heron and Marty of Montana, Christina Baker of Washington, Greg Butts and Karla of Montana, Susan Boyer and Doug of Utah, and Richard Butts of Washington. She leaves her stepgrandchildren, Connie, Mike, Megan, Tim, Catherine, Katelyn, Douglas, Benjamin and Taryn; and stepgreat-grandchildren, Kylah, Quinton, Camilla, Liam, Elizabeth, Josh, Mariah and Gabriel.

There will be a memorial service held for Carol at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, at Columbia Mortuary.

In lieu of flowers, the family ask that donations be made to Carol L. Nicholson Page Fund c/o Dorothy Oliveria 365 Brookfield Drive, Helena, MT 55602 to help DAR pages attend state conferences.

Columbia Mortuary is caring for Carol’s family.