Betty Ann (Lerum) Heimbigner, 70, passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018, in Great Falls at Benefis. Betty was born on May 17, 1948 to Clifford Maynard and Doris Antonia (Ruud) Lerum in Cut Bank while the family lived in Ethridge. She was the 4th of 7 children.
While growing up, her father managed several Service Stations, was a mechanic for ag dealerships and local farmers while her mother helped with the accounting of the Service Stations. The family moved to Galata and then to Valier where she attended Valier Public School for 1st and 3nd grade. She attended the Chester Public Schools for 3rd through 8th grades, Fort Benton Public Schools for 9th through the first half of her senior year to Dec.
1965, and the family moved back to Chester in 1966 where Betty finished her senior year and graduated from Chester High School in 1966. On December 23, 1965, she married Don Heimbigner. Betty worked as a waitress at the Tip Top Restaurant and at The Grand Hotel and Restaurant in Chester, MT.
On September 20, 1967 they were blessed with their first son, Donavan Walter. On June 13, 1970, their second son, Conrad Clifford was born. In the mid 70’s, Betty started working at the Liberty County Medical Center where she worked as a team member of the Cooking Staff while taking various courses for being a Dietitian.
In the early 80’s, she transferred to the Housekeeping Staff at the Liberty County Medical Center where she worked until retirement on May 3rd, 2013 after her right knee replacement had complications. In the 90’s Betty started working part time in the Bakery Department at Mikes IGA in Chester, MT until the early 2010’s. Betty also took care of the accounting for H & H Pumping from 1960 until 1983 as well as for the current name of Don’s Septic Service from the name change in 1983 to 2018.
She also helped deliver papers for the subscribers of the Great Falls Tribune with the family from 1977 until 1987 for the town of Chester. Betty was a one of a kind person that raised two boys and helped Donnie and anyone else that needed a helping hand. Her favorite things in life was God, family, and friends.
She could play a mean game of Aggravation as well as many other card games! Betty was a very hard worker with a big heart that would never let her pain be known while she took care of others. In her “free time” Betty was active in the local Sons’ of Norway, a member of Our Saviors’ Lutheran Church in Chester, as well as an active member in the Martha Circle and other church related activities and other community events.
Betty was an avid blood donor and received her 6 Gallon Pin from the Red Cross. Between the other responsibilities she was handling including the several trips to knee and joint specialists in Missoula for multiple knee and hip replacements and Cancer Treatments in Great Falls in the last 7 years. Through the years she took courses in Drawing, started recovering automotive seats as well as manufacturing home furniture, and attended various adult education classes when time permitted including making stain glass windows.
Her most memorable trips include various Glacier / Baniff National Parks Family trips, a trip to Fir Mountain, Saskatchewan to visit the Claude Hardin Family in late 70’s, a family trip with Alice Heimbigner to West Virginia to visit Alice’s daughter Pearl Morton and family in the mid 80’s, attending the Army Graduation Ceremony of Private C. Heimbigner at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in the Fall of 1988, trips to Oregon to visit her sister Diane at Medford, Oregon in 1977 and again to visit her son Donavan while working for a logging company in the greater Portland, Oregon area in the mid 2000’s, and a visit to Jacksonville, Florida to visit her new granddaughter in early Spring of 2008. She is survived by her husband, Don Heimbigner; sons, Donavan (Natalie) and Conrad (Lianna) Heimbigner; grandchildren, Zakary (Zak) Heimbigner of Chester, Severin Heimbigner and Walter Heimbigner of Big Sandy, and Lena Dantas of Jacksonville, FL; siblings, Monte (Sharon) Lerum of Galata, Vivian (Lawrence) House of Great Falls, and Westley Lerum of White City, Oregon. She was preceded in death by parents, Clifford and Doris Lerum; siblings, Gordon (Shirley) Lerum, Diane (David) Marion, and Bruce Lerum; and Lucenda Dantas.
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