Wanda Marie Poore, 81

Wanda passed away peacefully on April 15, 2021, in her hometown of Kalispell.

She was born to Richard “Dick” and Naomi Savage in 1939. She graduated from Flathead County High School in 1958 and married (the late) Patrick M. Reynolds that same year and had three children. After living in Texas, California and Oregon, Wanda made her way back home to Kalispell in 1969 where she firmly planted her roots for the remainder of her life. She met her husband, Robert “Bob” Poore and they married in 1971 and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. She worked for Kalispell Public Schools’ Food Service program for most of her career and saw generations of kids go through the lunch line at the Kalispell Junior High and Flathead High School.

Everyone who met Wanda will remember her for her lively and honest personality and her quick wit. Her family and friends will fondly recall her laugh, her love for gag gifts, funny stunts and shenanigans including toying with the many telemarketers who tried but failed to scam her; she always found a way to toy with them. She had a great love of music and her children have memories of her dancing around the house to her favorite songs, while snapping her little fingers to the beat. She loved a good drum riff and guitar melody. Wanda was “old school” and believed in sending letters the old-fashioned way. She was an amazing writer. She wrote poetry and was often asked by friends and family to create poems for special occasions, many of which have been saved by her children and grandchildren to hold near and dear to their hearts. She was a wonderful and giving wife, mother, and grandmother. She never quit mothering her kids, even in their 50s and 60s. She would remind them to check the oil, their antifreeze before winter, and wear their seatbelts. Her legacy will live on through the telling of good jokes, belly laughs, and the love of music.

Wanda is survived by her loving and devoted husband, Bob “Jingles” Poore, of Kalispell; her three children, Mike Reynolds (Kim), Richard Reynolds, and Rhonda Heston (David); three grandchildren, Sarah Calhoun, Chelsi Benson, and Dustan Reynolds, and two great-grandchildren, Xaiden and Ava, all of Alaska; two sisters, Muriel Hagerman (Bill) and Sally DePue (Cliff); and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A graveside service will be held at the C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery on May 22 at noon, followed by a lunch reception at the Village Greens Clubhouse. Friends are welcome to attend both the graveside service and the reception.