1925
Rea
2011
Rea Gerlough Flesch
November 20, 1925 — April 29, 2011
Rea Gerlough Flesch, 85, a homemaker from Shelby, passed away at her home on April 29, 2011 from natural causes. The visitation will be from 11:00 am-6:00 pm on Friday, May 6 at the Whitted Funeral Chapel. A rosary/vigil service will follow on Friday at 7:00 pm at St William Catholic Church with the funeral mass on Saturday, May 7, at 10:30 am. Burial is in the Mountain View Cemetery.
(Wilma) Rea Gerlough Flesch was born on November 20, 1925 at her maternal grandmother Mary Berry’s house in Havre, Montana. She was the daughter of Jean Paul and Wilma Berry Gerlough, and the younger sister of Mary Mina. Jean was a petroleum geologist who came to Toole County from Idaho for the Sunburst-Kevin oil boom of the 20’s and 30’s, and never left the field or Shelby. Wilma was a homemaker, musician, family archivist and community activist, from Missouri by way of Havre.
Rea lived all of her years in and near Shelby. She attended school here, graduating in1943 Salutatorian of her high school class. She was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. In high school she acted in plays, edited the newspaper, and played clarinet in the band. She was a strikingly beautiful young woman who never lost her beauty inside or out.
The Gerloughs were active in the civic, social and religious life of the community and many of the experiences and adventures of Rea’s youth were tied to their interests. Her family spent many Sundays fishing on Duck Lake, and weeks touring Glacier National Park and visiting her grandmother’s summer home outside of Fortine, Montana. When she was 13, her dad took the family to Calgary, Alberta to see King George VI and Queen Anne of England. She commented recently, “They had the girls with them.” One of the girls is now Queen Elizabeth II. Her dad was on the Marias Fair Board for years. Both parents played musical instruments and sang, and Rea became an accomplished pianist and developed a soprano operatic-quality voice. You could not listen to her sing Bach-Gounod’s “Ave Maria” and not be inspired.
In her late teens, Rea met Leo Flesch at the Toole County Saddle Club. He was a handsome energetic farmer, working his parents’ ? Edward and Hazel Flesch’s ? land north of Shelby. Rea worked a year, and attended one semester at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, majoring in home economics. She returned home to follow her heart, marrying Leo at St. Williams Catholic Church on February 2, 1945.
They honeymooned in Montana and settled on the Flesch farm where Rea learned the particular skills of a pre-electricity farm wife. (Electricity came in 1948.) She said those years on the farm were hard work and among the happiest of her life. She and Leo had their first child, Paula, in late 1945 and went on to have 14 children in all, eight boys and six girls: including Barbara, Allen, Joanne, Charlotte, Ed, Gene, Vince, Leo Wayne, Wilma, Lyle, Dan, Ken and Marie. Eleven still live in Montana, nine in Shelby. When a daughter asked how she maintained her sanity all of those years taking care of so many children, she said, “What makes you think I did?”
Leo and Rea had wanted to build a house of their own in town. After his father’s death in 1950, they purchased the farm. And, between Leo’s hard work, several years of rain and high grain prices, in 1952-1953 they built and moved the family into a four-bedroom house at 1000 2nd St. South. Rea continued, during harvest, to take hot mid-day meals to Leo, the hired men and her sons for decades after.
A devoted daughter, wife, mother and grandmother for 66 years, Rea was always interested in the lives of her husband, children, their spouses, the grands and the great-grands, as well as the lives of dear relatives on both sides of the family, and longtime friends. She put together hundreds of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and birthday celebrations; made hundreds of potato salads and lemon meringue pies; and attended innumerable performances, games, weddings, christenings and funerals. And she was there to talk. If she could make it, she was a person you could count on to be there.
Rea also kept lifelong contact with the girlfriends of her childhood and youth, and the 1000 2nd St. South-neighborhood wives and mothers of her twenties and thirties. She attended birthday parties and monthly lunches with these women for many years, and didn’t miss a class reunion from her forties on.
Also throughout her life, Rea contributed her talents and work to the wellbeing of the community. She was involved in the Music Club, Garden Club, Charity Thrift Store, Hospital Auxiliary and Book Club. She served on the Community Concert Series Board for many years, including as President. In the 1950’s she served several shifts in a tower that was erected on Main Street for citizens to watch for bombers from the USSR.
Rea was a devout Catholic all of her life. She sang in the St. Williams church choir for over 50 years and in many community productions of “The Messiah”. She was active in the Altar Society, read the Bible and prayed frequently, and was generous to those in need.
She was highly intelligent and interested in many topics, especially history and biography. She enjoyed traveling to visit family in a dozen or more states. She noticed everything around her and had an enviable memory, remembering 30 years later, for example, the details of a hand-carved staircase she had seen on a trip to South Carolina. She was an avid reader and loved old black-and-white movies.
Rea will be remembered for her sense of humor, her non-judgmental attitude, and her generosity of spirit. She’ll be remembered for the scores of baby and big people afghans she crocheted as gifts, for her care in selecting birthday and Christmas presents, for the flowers she and Leo planted and tended—she especially liked yellow and pink roses, for playing the piano every afternoon, and for her traditional Sunday meals.
Rea suffered from several health conditions in her later years, had been bedridden since December 2010, and died on the evening of April 29, 2011 from complications of the auto-immune disease, myasthenia gravis. The Shelby sons, daughters and daughters-in-law shared bringing dinner each night of the week the past two years. The last year of her life she was blessed by a mutual love for and companionship with her great-grandson Conner Massey. During her last months, it was Leo’s voice and the presence of the smallest great-grand children that brought the most joy to her face. Rea’s daughters Joanne, Wilma and Charlotte, and granddaughter Amber Massey, cared for her at home 24 hours a day the last several months of her life. Through their gifts, in particular, she died at home, surrounded by people who loved her.
Rea was predeceased by her parents, Jean Paul and Wilma, and sister, Mary Mina Gerlough, relatives on the Berry, Gerlough and Flesch sides of the family, and by friends going back to her childhood. She is survived and will always be remembered and loved by her husband, Leo Flesch; by her children, in order of birth, Paula Randall (Cherry)/San Francisco, CA; Barbara Grisillo (Steve)/Tucson, AZ; Allen Flesch/Shelby; Joanne Stanford (Rick)/Kalispell; Charlotte Hout, Edward Flesch (Melodie), Gene Flesch (Ruth) and Vincent Flesch (Janet)/all of Shelby; Leo Wayne Flesch/Kalispell; Wilma Steiner, Lyle Flesch (Denise), Dan Flesch and Kenny Flesch/all of Shelby; and Marie Flesch (Ben)/Oklahoma City, OK; and by 34 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren/mostly of Montana.
Rea, all of us who were close to you were blessed by your presence in our lives. We commend your spirit to the Lord.
(Wilma) Rea Gerlough Flesch was born on November 20, 1925 at her maternal grandmother Mary Berry’s house in Havre, Montana. She was the daughter of Jean Paul and Wilma Berry Gerlough, and the younger sister of Mary Mina. Jean was a petroleum geologist who came to Toole County from Idaho for the Sunburst-Kevin oil boom of the 20’s and 30’s, and never left the field or Shelby. Wilma was a homemaker, musician, family archivist and community activist, from Missouri by way of Havre.
Rea lived all of her years in and near Shelby. She attended school here, graduating in1943 Salutatorian of her high school class. She was a Brownie and a Girl Scout. In high school she acted in plays, edited the newspaper, and played clarinet in the band. She was a strikingly beautiful young woman who never lost her beauty inside or out.
The Gerloughs were active in the civic, social and religious life of the community and many of the experiences and adventures of Rea’s youth were tied to their interests. Her family spent many Sundays fishing on Duck Lake, and weeks touring Glacier National Park and visiting her grandmother’s summer home outside of Fortine, Montana. When she was 13, her dad took the family to Calgary, Alberta to see King George VI and Queen Anne of England. She commented recently, “They had the girls with them.” One of the girls is now Queen Elizabeth II. Her dad was on the Marias Fair Board for years. Both parents played musical instruments and sang, and Rea became an accomplished pianist and developed a soprano operatic-quality voice. You could not listen to her sing Bach-Gounod’s “Ave Maria” and not be inspired.
In her late teens, Rea met Leo Flesch at the Toole County Saddle Club. He was a handsome energetic farmer, working his parents’ ? Edward and Hazel Flesch’s ? land north of Shelby. Rea worked a year, and attended one semester at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, majoring in home economics. She returned home to follow her heart, marrying Leo at St. Williams Catholic Church on February 2, 1945.
They honeymooned in Montana and settled on the Flesch farm where Rea learned the particular skills of a pre-electricity farm wife. (Electricity came in 1948.) She said those years on the farm were hard work and among the happiest of her life. She and Leo had their first child, Paula, in late 1945 and went on to have 14 children in all, eight boys and six girls: including Barbara, Allen, Joanne, Charlotte, Ed, Gene, Vince, Leo Wayne, Wilma, Lyle, Dan, Ken and Marie. Eleven still live in Montana, nine in Shelby. When a daughter asked how she maintained her sanity all of those years taking care of so many children, she said, “What makes you think I did?”
Leo and Rea had wanted to build a house of their own in town. After his father’s death in 1950, they purchased the farm. And, between Leo’s hard work, several years of rain and high grain prices, in 1952-1953 they built and moved the family into a four-bedroom house at 1000 2nd St. South. Rea continued, during harvest, to take hot mid-day meals to Leo, the hired men and her sons for decades after.
A devoted daughter, wife, mother and grandmother for 66 years, Rea was always interested in the lives of her husband, children, their spouses, the grands and the great-grands, as well as the lives of dear relatives on both sides of the family, and longtime friends. She put together hundreds of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and birthday celebrations; made hundreds of potato salads and lemon meringue pies; and attended innumerable performances, games, weddings, christenings and funerals. And she was there to talk. If she could make it, she was a person you could count on to be there.
Rea also kept lifelong contact with the girlfriends of her childhood and youth, and the 1000 2nd St. South-neighborhood wives and mothers of her twenties and thirties. She attended birthday parties and monthly lunches with these women for many years, and didn’t miss a class reunion from her forties on.
Also throughout her life, Rea contributed her talents and work to the wellbeing of the community. She was involved in the Music Club, Garden Club, Charity Thrift Store, Hospital Auxiliary and Book Club. She served on the Community Concert Series Board for many years, including as President. In the 1950’s she served several shifts in a tower that was erected on Main Street for citizens to watch for bombers from the USSR.
Rea was a devout Catholic all of her life. She sang in the St. Williams church choir for over 50 years and in many community productions of “The Messiah”. She was active in the Altar Society, read the Bible and prayed frequently, and was generous to those in need.
She was highly intelligent and interested in many topics, especially history and biography. She enjoyed traveling to visit family in a dozen or more states. She noticed everything around her and had an enviable memory, remembering 30 years later, for example, the details of a hand-carved staircase she had seen on a trip to South Carolina. She was an avid reader and loved old black-and-white movies.
Rea will be remembered for her sense of humor, her non-judgmental attitude, and her generosity of spirit. She’ll be remembered for the scores of baby and big people afghans she crocheted as gifts, for her care in selecting birthday and Christmas presents, for the flowers she and Leo planted and tended—she especially liked yellow and pink roses, for playing the piano every afternoon, and for her traditional Sunday meals.
Rea suffered from several health conditions in her later years, had been bedridden since December 2010, and died on the evening of April 29, 2011 from complications of the auto-immune disease, myasthenia gravis. The Shelby sons, daughters and daughters-in-law shared bringing dinner each night of the week the past two years. The last year of her life she was blessed by a mutual love for and companionship with her great-grandson Conner Massey. During her last months, it was Leo’s voice and the presence of the smallest great-grand children that brought the most joy to her face. Rea’s daughters Joanne, Wilma and Charlotte, and granddaughter Amber Massey, cared for her at home 24 hours a day the last several months of her life. Through their gifts, in particular, she died at home, surrounded by people who loved her.
Rea was predeceased by her parents, Jean Paul and Wilma, and sister, Mary Mina Gerlough, relatives on the Berry, Gerlough and Flesch sides of the family, and by friends going back to her childhood. She is survived and will always be remembered and loved by her husband, Leo Flesch; by her children, in order of birth, Paula Randall (Cherry)/San Francisco, CA; Barbara Grisillo (Steve)/Tucson, AZ; Allen Flesch/Shelby; Joanne Stanford (Rick)/Kalispell; Charlotte Hout, Edward Flesch (Melodie), Gene Flesch (Ruth) and Vincent Flesch (Janet)/all of Shelby; Leo Wayne Flesch/Kalispell; Wilma Steiner, Lyle Flesch (Denise), Dan Flesch and Kenny Flesch/all of Shelby; and Marie Flesch (Ben)/Oklahoma City, OK; and by 34 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren/mostly of Montana.
Rea, all of us who were close to you were blessed by your presence in our lives. We commend your spirit to the Lord.
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