Obituaries for September 16

Linda Sue Andrews, 56, beloved wife, mother, grandmother and sister, Linda Sue Andrews, 56, passed away on September 2, 2009.

Linda was born to Richard and Eva Payne in Seattle, Washington on August 6, 1953.

Linda surrounded herself with animals all of her life from 4-H as a child to raising and training racehorses in her twenties and thirties. She loved the outdoors and had a passion for camping and fishing.

She is survived by her adoring husband, Randy Andrews of Lonepine, daughter Debbie Inman and husband Shawn and son Kennley of Polson, daughter Kelly Jaques and husband Kasey and sons Clayton and Corbin of Kalispell, son Kaece of Plains, and stepdaughter Angie Burgner and daughter Linsay of Kalispell. She is also survived by one brother, Scott Payne, of Hot Springs and one sister, Teri Burkley of Monroe, Washington, a grandmother, Irene Woolworth of Hot Springs, an aunt Lois Spalding of Florence, Arizona, many neices and nephews and all her loving four-legged friends.

She is preceeded in death by her first husband, John, her mother Eva, father Richard, Aunt Judy, Grandpa Woolworth and Uncle Jim.

MILLS, Robert F. Robert F. Mills, 79 of Burlington, passed away on Tuesday (August 4, 2009) at Bristol Hospital. Robert was born on March 21, 1930 in Hartford, a son of the late Edward and Mary (Frietag) Mills. Mr. Mills was a US Air Force veteran and was an avid Red Sox and UCONN Huskies fan. He is survived by his three daughters and their husbands, Terry and Michael Hannon of Pawleys Island, SC, Cynthia and Richard Goodwin of Burlington Ct and Robin and David Pitch of Bristol Ct; his sons Edward Josephson and Robert Mills Jr. of Plains, Montana, grandchildren, Scott Hannon, Brian and his wife Melissa Hannon, Bret and Keith Goodwin, Kelly Franklin and her husband Andy Annelli, Angela Wachsmuth and her husband Mark of Nampa Idaho, Luke Josephson, Dylan Josephson and Brian Josephson and his wife Mari Jo; several great grand-children, and several nieces and nephews. A graveside service was held on Tuesday August 11, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Cemetery, Bristol.

The McCarthy and Bjeletich families have lost their Matriarch, one month short of her 101st birthday, Frances Sullivan McCarthy McGuinness joined her parents, her treasured sisters, and her beloved son on Thursday, Sept 10, 2009.

Frances was born on October 7, 1908 into a proud Irish family. “Pretty” Pat Sullivan and Mayme O’Neil Sullivan gave life to Frances, Dorothy, Mary, and Agatha and proceeded to have a short homestead experience in Hot Springs followed by a life time love affair with Butte, Montana.

In an obituary you generally give the timeline of a person’s life through a list of dates and geographic locations where they spent time. Grandma Fran represents the end of an era. She represents the end of a long cultural and family journey which begins in Ireland and ends in America and this type of ending must be marked with a large sound so that the descendants have the great comfort to remember who they are and where they came from and the ties that bind them. This type of death cannot be summed up in linear dates it must be understood the abstract chaos of the Irish.

Grandma Fran lived life as a true Irish woman in a true Irish Town, Butte, Montana. As an Irish woman she loved and detested with passion. She loved; humor, blood relatives, canned food, the Democratic Party, and the sense that you’d better enjoy the moment due to the inevitability of bad luck showing its face. She detested; the royal family, corporate greed, and republican dogma.

Grandma Fran had in her long life moments of great sadness. Her family lost their beloved sister Agatha to typhoid while Grandma was pregnant and she always regretted not being able to say goodbye. She outlived all the members of her family and had the great sorrow of letting her parents, her second husband Tommy McGuinness, and her sisters go before her. Her beloved son, Larry, also passed before her but thanks to age and dementia she was unaware of that devastating loss.

Grandma Fran had in her long life moments of great strength. She gathered the strength to leave her husband to protect her children during a period of time where woman could not leave nor support themselves. Her strength came in the form of sisterhood. She and her beloved sisters clung together to build a clan system which allowed the strength of spirit and numbers to one day produce 100’s of descendants. All the descendants can glance back at our past and see the three strong, willful, loyal women from which we survived.

Grandma Fran had in her long life moments of great blessing. She loved to hike, fish, garden, and raise orphaned animals. She discovered in her eighties that she had an artistic flare for painting and won several awards at local art contests. In addition, she traveled to Ireland, and was quoted as saying if I die here there is no better place! Of all the blessings that she experienced in her long life, none where as important to her as her family. Frances had and fiercely loved two children Larry and Joan. These children were a cherished gift from a difficult and complicated marriage to Jack McCarthy. Frances spilt her time between her two children living in Plains and Seattle. She was able to know and care for all of her eight grandchildren; Sharon, Shelia, Barbara, Caryl Ann, Robert, Colleen, Erin, and Meghan. Due to her life span she was able to know and care for her 16 Great Grandchildren and 5 Great Great Grandchildren.

Grandma Fran’s life’s work was staying alive and holding the door open so that her many descendants could walk through and have a more secure and comfortable life than the one she experienced. She deserves this long rest and she will be missed and remembered.

Frances was preceded in death by millenniums of ancestors and survived by her cherished daughter Joan Bjeletich of Seattle and 29 loud, passionate, and fully alive descendants. That is her legacy and that is her impact!

A memorial service is planned for Monday September 14th at 10:00 AM at St. James Catholic Church in Plains. The family suggests that memorials in her name can be sent to the Plains Public Library.