Jane Quesenberry

Nettie Jane Ward Quesenberry was born in Kettle Falls, Washington, on September 21, 1927. Her father was a forest ranger near John Day, Oregon and Walla Walla, Washington, so she spent much time outdoors and in the woods with her brother, Bill, and her sister, Myra. Jane was a 4-H Club President and the pianist in a small band which became the first to play God Bless America on the radio in that region.In her youth, Jane was a skier and tennis player. She was an exceptionally skilled stenographer and typist, and worked as a bookkeeper and secretary for the railroad until she went to college.In 1945, at a Walla Walla Grange Hall dance, she met and fell in love with World War II Veteran Neil Quesenberry. They married in 1946, and over the next decade, had four children. As Neil studied Dairy Science on the G.I. Bill, they lived near college campuses in Logan, UT, and Bozeman, MT, as well as near Camp Pendleton Base during the Korean War. They lived on dairy farms near the Marcus Whitman Mission (Walla Walla, WA) and Chinook, MT. The care and importance of large and small animals and fields was what Jane and Neil always instilled in their children.The Quesenberry Family returned to Bozeman and lived on the Montana State College (later, MSU) Dairy Experiment Station during part of the 50s and 60s. Jane was the skilled vegetable gardener and preserver of enough food to last til next summer. She baked the daily bread and rarely bought groceries from the store.Jane was a parent who guided her children to be curious and to love learning. She always read books with them gathered around her, and she enjoyed going for rides to look for animals up the Gallatin. For several years, she was the Methodist Church secretary and had to make copies of the weekly bulletins using a revolving-drum mimeograph.Jane was instrumental in helping type and edit Neil's Masters thesis in 1963, and then their family moved to California. They lived for several decades in Visalia, where Jane was the highly valued main secretary and jack-of-all-trades/Mommy-figure at a "public" school. When all her children had graduated and moved away from home, Jane enjoyed several women's groups who went to lectures in Fresno, studied religious history, and practiced meditation and yoga. In about 1990, when Jane and Neil retired, they moved back to Montana, this time to the Bitterroot Valley, and later to Great Falls. When Neil passed away in 2005, Jane continued being the center of the now extended family with her children, their spouses, and seven grandchildren living all over the world.Jane loved reading and going on rides. She could always be the first one to spot an eagle or a mountain sheep. She looked forward to hearing the first meadowlark sing every spring.Jane was always fascinated by Montana history and devoured that part of the newspaper every Sunday. She loved to read books by Montana authors and to study pioneers and homesteaders customs and daily lives in bygone eras. She was always a good neighbor. Wherever she lived and whoever her neighbors were, she expressed interest and kindness.Jane is survived by her sister, Myra; her four children, Pam Stuckey, Claudia Rowe, Peter (Mary) Quesenberry, and Lori (Fred) Armstrong; and by her seven grandchildren.Memorials can be made to Great Falls Community Food Bank and Peace Hospice.