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Melanie Rae Sage Dalimata
Melanie Rae Sage Dalimata was born July 26, 1965, to Francis Jean Holt Sage and Elmer R. Sage in Bozeman.
She passed away surrounded by friends and family on Oct. 6, 2016, after a fierce and valiant battle with cancer.
She was the 10th of 11 children. She grew up near Sturgis, South Dakota, before moving to Livingston. She graduated in Oregon and began working with the MMDD for the state of Idaho. After reading a poem in a magazine, “Common Ground” by Ron Ridenour, Melanie was drawn to the Glacier Park canyon where she tended bar at every watering hole in the area. It was through this journey that she met Mark Dalimata and they were married in Idaho May 1, 1998. Mark and Melanie were truly soul mates and were together over 20 years before she passed away.
She had a feisty fighting spirit. She loved kids, wind chimes, the color purple, hummingbirds, eagles and chickens and Mother Earth. Her favorite flower was “kid picked.” She loved the movie “Men in Tights,” Sid from “Ice Age,” and any music from “1920 to 2525.” She loved life and making people smile. She honored her Catholic faith and embraced her Native roots. Melanie’s spirit will be carried on in others as she was an organ donor.
She was preceded in death by both her parents Francis and Elmer, brothers Danny and Perry, and her granddaughter Mariella.
She is survived by eight brothers and sisters, her husband Mark and his family, and numerous brothers and sisters of circumstance. Her caring and committed heart lives on in the people from “The Canyon” whom she truly loved. She never knew a stranger, only a friend whom she had not met.
Services were performed Oct. 13 at St. Richard’s Catholic Church in Columbia Falls. Interment near her mother Francis “Jean” followed at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Melanie loved flowers but her preference for donation is to Neighbors in Need-Kalispell. She would want us to relay to all the travelers coming to visit, “God be with you and Mary love you.”
Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for the family.