Joan Alice Morine, 75

Joan Alice Morine “left her earthly home” on Saturday, February 3, 2018, “to be with her heavenly Father.”

Joan was born in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 1942, to Patsy and Frank Thomsen. She grew up in San Diego with her sister, Jean, and attended college at San Diego State and the University of Colorado in Boulder.

In Colorado, Joan met her husband, Jim. In 1972 they moved to Montana and, over the years, lived in multiple homes in the Flathead Valley. Together, Jim and Joan raised malamute dogs for sledding, chickens and horses. Joan had multiple interests, including sewing, spinning wool, playing the violin and working on family history projects. She even started a dating business.

For many years, Joan stayed home to raise her children. Eventually she returned to work at the Kalispell Agency on Aging where she made many lifelong friends.

After retiring, Joan stayed busy, continuing her extensive family history efforts. She established another business, this time online and for selling books. It was called Montana Bookseller. Joan was very active in the community. She volunteered in the gift shop at North Valley Hospital, assisted the elderly with their taxes and collected magazines to send to troops overseas.

Joan will be remembered as a kind, loving mother and grandmother who loved camping and spending time with her family, scrapbooking with her daughter, and making delicious huckleberry pie and potato salad.

Joan was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Patsy Thomsen, and her stepmother, Evelyn Addams Thomsen.

Joan is survived by her husband, Jim, of 47 years; her sister, Jean Gragg, of Sunnyvale, California; her four children, Julie Bergman of Hillsborough, North Carolina, Janae Christensen and husband, Michael, of Kalispell, Jacey Morine and wife, Ellisa, of Clinton, Utah, and Justin Morine and wife, Jude, of Kirkland, Washington. She also left behind seven grandchildren, Anna, Ella, Adam, Jett, Kree, Violet and Rocky.

Because Joan was so dedicated to her family, she will be dearly missed by her children, grandchildren, and everyone who knew her. Her smile and laughter could light up a room and she was truly an example of love and kindness to everyone who knew her.

A celebration of life will be held for Joan at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb.17, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Columbia Falls.