LaVera Corrine (Mahoney) Morton, 89
LaVera Corrine (Mahoney) Morton went to be with her Lord and Savior Feb. 16, 2022, due to cardiac arrest.
She was born in Harlem, Montana, to John and Opal Mahoney May 24, 1932, and moved to the Swan River community in her teens where her father bought what is now the current Boese property, turning it into a commercial dairy. This property was later owned by the Sirucek family, who also operated a dairy there. LaVera’s father was a butcher and had a butcher shop on the property, cutting and supplying meat for the Echo Lake Store and the local area. She finished her schooling in the Bigfork School system and married Dee Morton on Oct. 23, 1948, sharing 73 years of married life. They spent their honeymoon in a hunting camp in the Southfork of the Flathead River which would lead to many summer trips in the backcountry of Northwest Montana over the years. They bought their farm in Lower Valley in 1956, where all four kids were raised and she grew a huge garden every year. She spent many years working at the B&B food store in Kalispell and was instrumental in starting the local diabetic association, teaching many classes for newly diagnosed diabetics. She had been a diabetic since she was 20 years old. She also volunteered her time with the Flathead Election board as an election judge, and the Somers Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary. When Dee retired from the Northwest Telephone Company in 1985, they sold the farm and built a new home at the mouth of Jim Creek in the Swan Valley. The ranch property, or Morton Meadows as it was called, was formerly the property of Dee’s uncle and they lived there for 21 years, eventually spending the winters in Arizona. The ranch was a place for huge friends and family gatherings, particularly Memorial Day weekends. They often brought over 100 people together and kept LaVera very busy. As life went by and the doctor visits to Kalispell became more frequent, they agreed to sell the ranch and move closer to family and medical care, buying a property near Bigfork where they have resided for the last 15 years. With Dee’s huge garden, LaVera was kept busy canning and Dee supplied friends and family with the fruits of his labor.
LaVera was preceded in death by her sons John Paul and Gary Lee, daughter Tammy, grandson Sean Purcell, and brother Lavern Mahoney. She is survived by husband Melvin Dee, sons Bill (Pam) Morton, Lanny ”Punk” (Karen) Morton and daughter Pam Purcell (Dan), all of Bigfork; grandchildren, Tom Morton and Scott Graham of Boise, Idaho, Jeremy Coberley (Kim) of Columbia Falls, Jennifer Evanoff (Seth) of Kalispell, Jason Morton (Kay) Morton of Bigfork and Amy Campbell (Seth) of Bigfork. She is also survived by 14 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held May 4 at the Bethany Lutheran Church, Bigfork, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Bigfork Community Cemetery at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Montana Youth Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 104, Columbia Falls, MT 59912.