Ora E. Bucher

Ora E. Bucher passed away on September 18, 2017, in Reno, Nevada.  Ora was born on February 18, 1923, to Oscar and Minnie Duncan, in Conrad, Montana.  She was the sixth of their twelve children.  Ora, along with her siblings, was raised on the family homestead, located thirty-seven miles east of Conrad.  She attended the one-room Selma school, also with her brothers and sisters.   Ora attended Conrad High School.  She moved to California during World War II and was employed at the Santa Ana Air Base in the post office department.  She returned to Montana in 1948.   In 1954, she started working for Mountain Bell, and retired from there in 1982.

On July 2, 1955, she married William (Bill) Bucher in Great Falls, Montana.  She and Bill liked to fish, camp, and garden.  They also did some traveling after their retirements, going to Hawaii, Alaska, and taking several bus trip tours through the mid-West and to the east coast.

Ora was a lifetime member of VFW Post Auxiliary 7655, and the Conrad Garden Club.  While it was active, she was also involved in the Conrad Soroptimist Club.  She was also a member of Ladies of the Moose; Pondera Valley Lutheran Church.; Eastern Star; and the Montana Telephone Pioneers.

Ora is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Louis Porta, of Reno, NV; grandson, Matt and his wife, Jana, and their two children, Olivia and Jack Porta, of Thornton, CO; her granddaughter and her husband, Monica and Bob Brown of Sun Valley, NV.  She is also survived by her brother and his wife, Bud and Barbara Duncan of Great Falls; sisters-in-law, June Duncan of Cut Bank, Linda Duncan of Conrad, and Jeanie Duncan, of Whitefish; brother-in-law, Ted Eklund of Billings.  Other survivors include many nieces and nephews on both the Bucher and Duncan sides of the family, including all their children, their spouses and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

She is predeceased by her husband, Bill in 2012; her son, Douglas in 1965; her parents; brothers Maynard, Delwin, Lyall, Kenneth, and Earl; sisters LaVeave Hammann, Gladys Mortenson,

Alice Iverson, Marjorie Prindle, and Annabelle Forster; several sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law; and several nephews and nieces.

Memorial services will be held on Friday, April 6, 2018, at 11 a.m. at the Pondera Valley Lutheran Church in Conrad.  A reception will follow at the Moose.  In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Conrad Scholars, PO Box 787, Conrad, MT  59425 (the Douglas Bucher Memorial Scholarship Fund); the Pondera Valley Lutheran Church; VFW Auxiliary Post 7655; or to your local hospice