LaDona (Greer) Monk, 93

LaDona (Greer) Monk, 93, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017.

LaDona was born Nov. 18, 1923 to Wilmer and Marion Greer, in McGregor, Minnesota. She was the second of what would be 11 children in the family. When she was 5 years old, they moved to the Flathead Valley in a Model T, and she grew up here, attending Flathead High School, graduating in 1941.

She met and married a dashing, young pilot, Bob Monk, and during WWII she lived in Long Beach, California, and worked like “Rosy the Riveter” as a welder in the shipyard there. After the war the couple returned to Kalispell and she suddenly became a ranch wife when Bob purchased the ranch in Pleasant Valley from his father. She had never even seen it before, but she learned to drive a team of horses, butcher a deer and brand calves, all while raising four kids. They were married over 60 years.

She served on the Pleasant Valley School Board for many years, was an election judge, and a member of the Cow Belles — the woman’s auxiliary of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. She loved to be outdoors, birdwatching and driving her four-wheeler and snowmobile on the ranch. She was an avid knitter, both by hand and with a knitting machine, and made countless mittens, socks and sweaters.

LaDona was preceded in death by her son, Roger Monk, and her husband, Robert Monk, also by two brothers, Russell and Weldon (Pee Wee) and one sister, Dorothy.

She is survived by three daughters, Barbara Swartzenberger, Marilyn McDougall, and Myrna Matulevich; eight grandchildren: Angel Kee, Allyn Williams, Amy Glimm, and Ashley Swartzenberger, Sarah and Clayton McDougall, and Blaine and Iris Matulevich; and 11 great-grandchildren: Jessie, Kassidy, and Roger Williams, Kohlter and Kadence Kee, Matt, Rylee and Ariannah Glimm, Tyler AuClaire, Austin and Aspen Swartzenberger. She is also survived by seven siblings, many of whom she helped to raise: Wanda Branenburg, Wilma Vance, Lois Kleint, Phyllis Fritts, Beverly Ellis, Ardith Jensen and Robert Greer.

A memorial service is planned in July. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana, a charity that benefits homeless high school students of the Flathead Valley.

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for the family.