Billie M. McCrum

Billie M. McCrum, age 86, passed away at Kalispell Regional Medical Center on Saturday, April 15, 2006. Billie was born on July 8, 1919 in Clay, Louisiana to John Wesley and Jessie Emma Stewart Harden. She was raised in San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated from high school and attended beauty school.

Billie married Samuel B. McCrum in 1938. She worked for the government for about 25 years. She moved to Spokane Wash., where she went to work for the Spokane School District developing the teacher's center for 10 years. She was a member of the Eastern Star in Okinawa, Great Falls and Spokane Chapters, a member of the Lady Shriners and the Ladies of the Nile in Spokane, Washington. She volunteered at the Shriners Burn Center for children in Spokane, and at the Lake View Care Center and the art center in Bigfork.

Billie was a can-do person; she had many skills including painting, needlework and sewing.

Billie was preceded in death by her parents and her husband Aubrey McCrum. She is survived by her daughter Sandra Hults; stepson Don Carberry and his wife Carol; stepdaughter Gwen Pollard and her husband Jerry and their children; sister Anna Beth Hewgley; grandchildren Samuel B. Hults, Janine Kay Hults, Richard Warren Hults, Richard Warren Hults; stepgrandchildren Heather Bruner, Aaron Carberry; niece Billie Beth Kretzschmar; and nephews Richard Hewgley and Warren Hewgley.

Funeral services were Tuesday, April 18, at the Community United Methodist Church in Bigfork, with Rev. Jan Witman officiating. Burial will take place at the Oak Island Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. Memorials are requested to the Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, Calif., or the Community Methodist Church in Bigfork.

Buffalo Hill Funeral Home is caring for the family.