Alice (Waite) Kanning

Heaven’s Gate opened wide in the early morning hours of September 24 ^th to receive another loving Mother, Daughter, Sister, Aunt and Grandmother – Alice Marie (Waite) Kanning.

Alice was born on May 5, 1949 to Norman & Patricia Waite in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. In Alice’s early years, she traveled with her parents and younger sister, Patty, to the Shelby area and later was raised in the Whitlash Community at the Montana Power Camp.   Alice always had fond memories of riding horses in the Sweetgrass Hills.

Alice attended the rural one-room school house at Whitlash through 8 ^th grade.  She then graduated from Chester High School with the class of 1967.  While she was growing up, Alice was active in the Whistling Whitlasher’s 4-H club and better known to the family as her mother’s right hand, always keeping her brothers and sisters in order. Upon graduation, Alice attended and graduated from Great Falls Commerce College.  She then went to work in Denver, Colorado.

In the early 1970’s, Alice returned to the Shelby area and started working for Buttrey Foods with her Aunt Dolly.  Alice married Fred Kanning in March 1974 and to this marriage they had three children, Shawn, Becky and Erik. They made their home at the Kanning family farm in the Devon area.

In the early 1980’s, Alice and Fred moved their family to Shelby, where she could continue to work at Buttrey’s/Albertsons and raise her family.  Alice loved working at the store, where she could wait on her customers and keep track of how they and their families were doing.  This also gave her the opportunity to update the whole community on how Shawn, Becky, Erik and the grandkids were doing. Although the family would tease Alice about her memory, she was the go-to person if we wanted to know how someone in the area was doing or where their kids had moved off to. If we wanted to go back 30-40 years and ask who someone was related to, Alice always knew.

Alice’s passions lie in her family (especially the grandkids), reading, keeping up with people online, gardening,  flowers  and quilting – although she never seemed to have enough time for the latter three.  As Alice enters Heaven, she will be greeted by her sister Patty and mother Patricia (Pat), maternal and paternal Grandparents – George & Alice Swetland; Homer & Mildred Waite. Alice is survived by her husband Fred; children Shawn (Lindsay) Kanning, Becky (Martin) Cunningham and Erik (with a K) Kanning; father Norman Waite; sisters, Kathy (Tom) Lakey, Mary Waite; brothers, Paul, Mike (Tammie), Bill (Tami), Frank and Patrick (Brenda) and numerous nephews and nieces.  Most precious to Alice, she leaves behind grandchildren – Shane Mann, Alex, Nicholas and Ben Cunningham; Logan and Emrey Kanning.

Always Keep Smiling, It Looks Good on All of Us!

Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 pm on Monday, September 29, followed by a vigil service at 7:00 pm, both at Whitted Funeral Chapel, Shelby.  Funeral service for Alice will be on Tuesday, September 30 ^th at 10:30 a.m. at St. William’s Catholic Church in Shelby, MT.  She will be interred at Whitlash Cemetery.  Please visit Alice’s online memorial and leave a message of condolence at www.whittedfuneralchapel.com .