Alma E. Agre Johnson, 96

Alma E. Agre Johnson passed away from the complications of dementia on Sept. 10, 2016, at Heritage Place in Kalispell, while in the loving care of her family and the staff.

Born in Hebron, North Dakota, on March 12, 1920, Alma attended country school near her parents’ farm. In order to enter high school Alma moved into town at age 14, where she boarded with a family while working her way through school, graduating in 1938 from Glen Ullin High School as the valedictorian.

After graduation, Alma moved to Billings with her lifelong friend, Marie. At 20 years old Alma was hired to work as a cook at a cattle ranch near Cody, Wyoming, and after the war she moved to Roundup, Montana.

In Roundup, she worked at the Eat Shop Café and enjoyed bantering with the many lonely bachelors, oil workers, and ranchers who frequented the place. There she met her future husband, Harry, and they were married in 1949. Harry worked for Texaco Oil Company and together they raised three daughters. After her girls entered school, Alma became a checker at the Model Grocery. As a lifelong learner and advocate for public education, Alma blazed the trail in getting special education classes started in Roundup and proudly served the Roundup School Board alongside her dear friend, Superintendent Bob Krogh.

When her husband Harry passed away suddenly in 1966, Alma bravely commuted to classes at Eastern Montana College in Billings. She went on to manage restaurants in Roundup and in Billings. In 1972, she married Everett Johnson and spent many happy hours fishing and camping on the “blue highways” of Montana. After the accidental death of her daughter Betty in the summer of 1983, Alma moved to Kalispell to live with her daughter Harriet and care for her two granddaughters.

Alma was a humble servant of the Lord and an active member of Northridge Lutheran Church. She loved books, the Atlanta Braves, rooting for the Roundup Panthers and the Flathead High School Braves basketball teams. Alma’s remembered as an exceptional cook, a believer in the power of positive thinking, an accepting and supportive mother, and a loving grandmother who relished the years she spent caring for her granddaughters and their friends – particularly the Holmgren and Vollmer children.

Preceding her in death was her husband Harry, her husband Everett, her oldest daughter Betty Ann, her sister Betty, and her brother, Paul.

She is survived by her daughter Harriet Agre Febach and husband Fred at the family home in Kalispell; her daughter Diana Agre of Conrad; her “adopted son” Frank Weigum and wife Misty and family of Huntley; granddaughter Katie Febach Woodfork and husband Rick, granddaughter Hannah Febach, and one precious great granddaughter, Charley May Woodfork, all of Tacoma, Washington.

The family would like to thank the hardworking, compassionate staff at Heritage Place Nursing Home, particularly Kyliegh, Lori, Stacy, Kat, Jessica, and Robin for the loving care they gave to Alma during her final years and especially during her final hours.

A celebration of Alma’s life will be held on March 11, 2017, at Northridge Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations be made to the ministries of Northridge Lutheran Church, especially Neighbors in Need and Community Kitchen. “No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.”