Cheryl E. (Rames) Tweet, 72

Cheryl E. (Rames) Tweet, 72, a beautiful lady who shared cashes of smiles to all her banking customers over the past 40 years in Kalispell, lost the race to cancer on July 3, 2016.

“She may have lost the race, but she crossed the finish line hand-in-hand with Jesus, who was waiting with great joy!” There was no first place finish according to the sporting world, but a first class trip to Heaven — all past sins and sorrows left behind, gifted by the grace of the gospel! Can I get an “Amen”?

Cheryl was born on Dec. 5, 1943, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the sweetest, salt-of-the-earth people you’d ever know, Dwight and Eleanor Rames. She spent her early youth in the small town of Olivet, South Dakota — one of those magical, heart-of-the-Midwest places authors pen in their quaint stories of endearing Americana. She then moved and lived on a little ranch in Rapid Valley, near Rapid City, South Dakota.

She worked one summer at the famous “Wall Drug” near the Badlands of South Dakota before graduating in 1961 from Rapid Valley High. There she met and married her first husband and welcomed her one and only bundle of joy: a daughter. Seeking to find and enjoy the mountains instilled in her husband’s Norwegian DNA, the couple ventured away from the flatlands and found themselves with only $8.01 to their name in the middle of Columbia Falls in 1967. With the help of a kind patriarch of the valley, Louise Monk, Cheryl established a house to put down roots and find a job at First National Bank of Kalispell (now Wells Fargo on First Ave. East).

With her years at making the beautiful Flathead her home, she broadened her banking career at other financial institutions, retiring from Parkside Federal Credit Union in 2007. Boy howdy, she loved to shop! She loved gardening, dancing and music; she had the biggest crush on Elvis. She made it to Graceland in 2009 and sang “Happy Birthday” at the gates of Graceland at midnight, like every fan dreams of doing.

She spent the majority of the past 30 years married to Mel Tweet, retired city of Kalispell fireman, living north of Kalispell. With this union her family grew, sharing deep-seeded bonds with the Tweet children, other relatives in Butte and Spokane and many friends. Cheryl and her husband were involved in hot rod car clubs in Kalispell, most recently “The Outlaws,” and she could be seen shining up her husband’s bright yellow, cropped Dodge pickup with a Tweety on the tailgate.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, and after the passing of her husband in 2014, she spent much of her time in Portland, Oregon, with her daughter. Cancer has taken her too early; however, she would say that her journey with cancer broadened her faith, love and trust of Jesus. All her family will surely miss her, but the angels are rejoicing at her arrival back to our real home!

She was preceded in death by her sister, Marsha Rames; father, Dwight Rames; mother, Eleanor Rames; brother, Douglas Rames; and husband, Melvin Tweet.

She is survived by her daughter, Angie Satter, of Portland; brother, Marlowe Rames and wife Michelle, of Great Falls; sister-in-law, Audrey Rames, of Greeley, Colorado; step-children, Marty Tweet, Mark Tweet, both of Kalispell, Mike Tweet, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Jackie Linstead of North Dakota; as well as many grandchildren and nieces and nephews from combined families.

A viewing will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, July 8, at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held 11 a.m., Saturday, July 9 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Kalispell. A future memorial service with inurnment held in Scotland, South Dakota, spring or summer of 2017.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to Cancer Support Community, 37 West Washington St., Kalispell, MT 59901.

To send a note of condolence to the family, please visit www.buffalohillfh.com.

Buffalo Hill Funeral Home is caring for the family.