Mavis Irene Heil McNamara, 84

Mavis Irene Heil McNamara passed away on Oct. 29, 2021.

She was born on July 8, 1937, in Walkerton, Indiana, to Paul and Fern Heil. In 1947, the family moved to Montana where they came to settle in the Flathead Valley. Mavis was proud of the fact that they fit 14 kids and seven adults into two trucks and a car. Mavis attended schools in both Whitefish and Kalispell.

In 1954, she married Walter Rufenach and together they were blessed with three kids, Kenneth, Kristal and Kathie. They did eventually divorce, and she later married Lawrence Brunner. In marrying Lawrence, she became stepmom to Roseanne and Larry Jr. Later on in the marriage, they began raising their granddaughter, Mandy. In January of 1984, Lawrence passed away.

On April 22, 1992, she married the love of her life, Del McNamara, and he was by her side until the end. Mom had quite the life and really is the toughest woman we know. In 1968, she was in a head-on collision with a logging truck and survived. That car accident was the first of many “miracles” we had involving her. In 2001, she suffered a massive stroke and when the doctor advised the family to remove her from life support (we listened), to our amazement, she pulled through — living for another 20 years.

Mom lived quite the life; she lived on and took care of a farm with Lawrence. She had a huge garden, which all of the kids hated because they had to weed it. She was also known for delivering calves and, because she was a small woman, used a come-along to deliver them. Mavis was also a master canner of all things. One of our favorite memories of our mom was burning the farmland. We all wanted to burn with her because that was the fun part.

Mom was a very proud member of the Columbia Falls Eagles club and a past president of the Ladies Auxiliary. In addition, she was a member of the American Legion. When Mavis married Del, they moved to Eureka, Montana, where they made many friends. In 2000, Mavis’s granddaughter Randie, came to live with them. Randie lived with Mom and Del until Mom had her stroke in 2001, and Mavis chose to move into Mountain View Manor, the local nursing home.

We always joked that she was the queen of the nursing home; she loved to play bingo and loved to tell jokes and put smiles on the staff and residents’ faces. She was known in the nursing home as “the card lady.” She was always so thoughtful in giving out cards, ones for all of the occasions. Besides bingo, our mom loved crafts and patrolling the halls keeping everybody in line. Our mom had an uncanny ability to find four-leaf clovers. She could find one with no effort at all, and despite our best efforts, none of us inherited that ability.

Mavis was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Fern, her brothers Max and Jack and Max’s wife Shirley. She was also preceded in death by her brother- in-law Don.

Mavis is survived by her husband, Del McNamara. She is survived by her brother Paul and sister Myra. Mavis is survived by her children, Kenneth, Kristal and Kathie, as well as her stepchildren, Michael, Roxy and Ron. Mavis is survived by her grandkids, Kenny, Christopher, Cassadie, Chauncey and Randie. She is also survived by grandchildren, Lacey, Kyle, Shane, Aaron and Michael, and numerous great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held this summer.

The family would love to thank Dan, Jodi, Kim and all of the other staff at Mountain View Manor for loving this wonderful lady and taking such good care of her for the last 20 years. We don’t say goodbye, we say “Love Love.”