Marie H. Wasson, 91

Marie H. Wasson, 91, died peacefully in the early hours of Thursday, June 4, 2011, at the Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell.

Marie was born on May 25, 1920, to William and Marie S. (Meyer) Hambleton in Woodworth, N.D.

When her father, a pharmacist, succumbed to the flu, her mother and the six children moved to Missoula in 1930. Those were hard times, as her mother worked as a domestic and then as a cook at the University of Montana. As a girl, Marie had aspired to go to college and become a kindergarten teacher but without the means, she moved to Ronan after graduation to work for a relative. It was here that she met and married Walter H. Peschel, a local cattle buyer, on April 8, 1939. Over the next 19 years she raised two sons and two daughters, and worked as a bookkeeper in her husband's business. She always planted a large garden, belonged to PTA and did anything else necessary to maintain our home west of Ronan.

In 1958 to 1959 the family moved to Missoula, probably to make it easier for her children to attend the University of Montana. She encouraged us all to get higher education, to make our lives easier, and we thank her for all that she did for us.

Marie and Walter divorced in 1972. She was then briefly married to Carroll Wasson. She worked hard in various jobs from short order cook to the Community Hospital laundry, and later left Missoula to work in a venetian blind factory in West Bountiful, Utah. She then worked in her sister- and brother-in-law’s State Farm office in Torrence, Calif.

In 1982 Marie retired and came to live with her daughter, Bonnie, in Kalispell. After suffering Crohn’s Disease and several surgeries, she worked again as a nanny to two young children, and finally, as an assistant to the M.A.B. secretary of the Montana Association of the Blind.

Marie retired again at age 74. After sharing a house with Bonnie for 24 years, she moved into the Immanuel Lutheran Home, where she was treated with love and care.

Marie always said that the best thing she ever did was to have children. She was kind, generous and at times, feisty. She had a great laugh, she absolutely loved to dance and to sing along while she played along with her piano to some of her favorites like “Alexander's Ragtime Band” or “Red Wing.” Marie enjoyed gardening and embroidery. She had a passion for picking huckleberries, which was later impeded when she encountered a large grizzly bear in Essex. She was competitive playing “Hand and Foot” with her beloved sister Margie or brother Hammie and friends. She adored her grandson, Nick, and reminisced about her times spent with him.

Marie was preceded in death by her parents; older sisters, Ruth Barden, Carol Bettle and Helen Rumsey; brothers-in-law, Morris “Doc” Mayo, and Thayne Rumsey; and sister-in-law, Mary Hambleton; and her ex-husband, Walter Peschel, and his four brothers and wives.

She is survived by her sons, Walter Peschel, M.D., and wife, Peggy, and Bob Peschel, all of Missoula; two daughters, Bonnie Runge of Kalispell, and Marie Cheeseman and husband, Tom, of Hempstead, N.C.; her siblings, Margie Mayo of Fallbrook, Calif., and Howard “Hammie” Hambleton of Ogden, Utah; grandson, Nicholas Peschel of Redmond, Wash.; and special friends, Sandy Hurd Olson, Sandra Rossette, Wayne Runge, and Jackie Simmons.

“Goodbye for now, Mom, we love you and miss you.”

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for Marie's family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to offer condolences and sign Marie's guest book.