Lillian Wahl

Lillian was born on March 3, 1938 at the family home in Madoc, Montana. She was proud of her rural prairie upbringing on the farm. She grew up liking the outdoors and working hard. Her parents were Hilmar and Gabrielle (Girard) Wahl and she was the seventh of thirteen children.She attended country school in Madoc through grade eight and finished high school in Scobey graduating with the class of 1956. She worked for the Michels in their dry cleaning shop in Scobey and then as a farmhand for some Madoc neighbors, Elmore Rowe and Harry Batterton, and spent one winter taking care of the Henry Danelson place north of Scobey. She loved the cowboy life and got a horse from Dominic Bonneau. She rode Snorty all over the countryside. The thrill of motorcycles soon caught hold and she became an avid rider for nearly six decades. Her woodworking talents showed through at a young age and she continued those projects through her whole life.Lillian moved to Great Falls in 1960 where she got a job at the Columbus Hospital. Her pay was $1.03 per hour and she rented a bedroom from an old lady down the street for $35 per month. Thus started Lillians venture out into the world, in search of fame and fortune. She worked as a bookkeeper at Mosch Electric, then as a partsman at H/O Motor Supply and then got a job as custodian for the Great Falls school district where she worked at Roosevelt School. Her working career ended after a fall from a ladder while decorating for the school Christmas program.She bought her house on Central Avenue in 1968 and made it her home for forty nine years doing remodeling and adding a big garage. The mountains called to her and she bought property in Hardy Creek where she built a little cabin and entertained many of her nieces and nephews. Many fond memories were made there with Auntie Lil. At the end of the 1990s, she found a cabin near Monarch where she found her perfect niche. There she could hike through the mountains, explore the old mines, search for firewood, saw it up and sell it and socialize with friends and neighbors. She enjoyed four-wheeling, riding her Harley, snowmobiling and making sawdust which was her description of her woodworking projects! One of her favorite gifts for family and friends was an original wooden name plaque which she carefully and lovingly created.Lillians health began to deteriorate the last few years but she continued to live at her cabin as much as she could. She loved to be close to nature. She only ventured home to Great Falls when absolutely necessary. She spent the last two months in the hospital, Park Place rehab center and finally Golden Eagles Plaza where she passed away on August 16, 2017 at the age of seventy-nine. Every day she talked about getting back out to the cabin!Lillian was preceded in death by her parents; half-sister, Edith Victoria Simonson; baby siblings, Eddy Oscar, Mary Ellen and Clair Ann; brothers, Iver, Hilmar Butch, and Kaare; and sister Hilda Leibrand.She is survived by sisters, Anna (Fred) Sherer of Great Falls, Cora (Bud) Jones of Salmon, ID, and Carol Cassidy (Randy Klatt) of Great Falls; two brothers, Randy (Peggy) of Belgrade and Larry (Karen) of Scobey and Spangdahlem, Germany; and numerous nieces and nephews.A memorial service will be held on Sunday, August 27, at 2:00 p.m. at Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Chapel in Great Falls. Burial of ashes will take place in the summer of 2018 in the family plot in the Daniels County Cemetery in Scobey.