Gladys (Bluemke) Billman

Gladys Billman, 84, passed away peacefully at the Northern Rockies Medical Center on Dec. 6, 2015.

Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 pm on Friday, December 11, at Whitted Funeral Chapel in Cut Bank.  The funeral service will be 1:00 pm on Saturday, December 12, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cut Bank.  She will be laid to rest at Crown Hill Cemetery.

Gladys was born in South Haven, Minnesota on 03/26/1931 to Herman and Ida Bluemke.  She was raised on a small dairy farm in Bruno, Minnesota.  Gladys had three brothers Marvin, Melvin and Norman Bluemke and one sister, Aileen Billman (Her younger sister was married to dad’s older brother.)  She attended school in Willow River, Minnesota where she met the love of her life, Charles Billman.  They were married on 09/16/1950 and made their home in Duluth, Minnesota where they were engaged in building construction.  Chuck and Gladys had three children, Penny, Karen, and Richard.  In November of 1961 the family relocated to Hamilton, MT.  In June of 1964 the family moved the construction business to Cut Bank where Gladys lived until her death.

Mom was born into an era where most women would proudly state their occupation was a house wife.  She took great pride in being the very best wife, mother and home maker that she could possibly be.  She was also a very active part of all of her and dad’s business ventures.  She could expertly change hats from being the truck driver picking up building supplies all over the country or helping Rick work with the cows on the small ranch she and dad had to being the gracious hostess welcoming prospective home construction customers into her home at a moment’s notice.  She always knew there was the possibility they would buy her house instead of building a new one so she was always planning the next move.  Mom worked for a very short time during the late 1960’s or early 1970’s for Schlumberger in their office in Cut Bank.  She enjoyed the work but found it too hard to keep up with all of her other obligations.  She also spent time as a Pink Lady at the hospital.  In the late 1970’s she and dad bought the Big Sky Café as a business venture. She dove in and worked all jobs needed and as soon as it was running successfully they sold it.  The next time she worked outside of the home was in 1981 when they decided to start Glacier Building Supply.  She enjoyed the buying trips to stock the store and loved helping the customers in the store.  Again, she took on any job that needed to be done.

Mom’s world came to an abrupt halt in 1988 when dad was diagnosed with cancer.  The next year and a half was spent constantly by his side until he died.  She always said he was the only man for her so she would never remarry.  True to her word, she spent the next 27 years of her life learning to be a totally independent person.  She enjoyed traveling with friends, golfing and bowling. The Business Appreciation Days picnics were always a function she enjoyed working on with the other business people.  The annual Christmas lighting work parties were another of her jobs she looked forward to doing each year.   She was an active member of the hospital auxiliary and later the hospital foundation.   If there were tickets to be sold for a fund raiser, she prided herself in being able to get out and sell to everyone.  She truly believed that someday in the future she would need the hospital so she was passionate about supporting the fund raisers to make sure that Cut Bank would always have it.  As it turned out, she spent the last month of her life in the hospital where she received the finest of care from the most caring staff.

Mom remained active until the last four years of her life.  Her failing health forced her to stop doing many of her favorite activities like bowling and golf but she continued to support Cut Bank in any way she could.  She could be seen daily going about her errands with her cane.  Her grandchildren believe she will always be remembered as a “classy lady”.

Gladys was preceded in death by her husband, Chuck, her mother and father and all three of her brothers.  She is survived by her daughter  Penny and Richard Johnson of Cut Bank and their family Riki and David Lackey, Collyn, Brandyn and Ryan, Staci and Jacob Barnes, Emmalee, Keegan and Kael and Kelli & Clayton Irwin all of Great Falls, her daughter Karen and Charlie Conway of Helena and their family Denise and Russell Wolf, Elise and Reagan of Helena and Stevyn and Beth Conway, Madison, Morgan and Logan of Elizabethtown, PA  and her son Richard and Glenda Billman and their family Valerie and Douglas Vermulm, Caitlyn and Brendan and Jeffrey and Cassie Billman and River all of Cut Bank. She is also survived by her sister, Aileen of Twig, MN and her family of the Duluth area, sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws and nieces and nephews all of MN and her dearest friends and traveling companions Allison and David Harvie of Cut Bank.  Also surviving is her faithful kitty, Mittens.

Our family would like to suggest that memorial gifts be given to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church or the Northern Rockies Medical Center because without them she would not have been able to spend her final days in Cut Bank.  We would also like to express deep appreciation to the entire staff at the hospital and nursing home for all the care and love they gave to mom during her stay and the almost daily visits by Pastor Bear.  The generosity and compassion shown by the community of Cut Bank during mom’s illness and passing will always be fondly remembered by us all.  Please visit Gladys’ online memorial and leave a message of condolence for the family at www.whittedfuneralchapel.com.