Maxine Clara Miller Drew, 92

Maxine Clara Miller Drew, 92, passed away at Echoview Assisted Living on May 15, 2020.

Maxine suffered a stroke four years ago, but fought the good fight the entire time. Maxine met some amazing people along the way and was very fond of some of her caregivers. The ones that got to know Max appreciated her wry, self-deprecating sense of humor. She loved telling people that the snarky cartoon character, Maxine, was designed after her.

Maxine was born in the Flathead Valley on Oct. 28, 1927, to Alta and Vick Miller. Her only brother, Norman, was born 15 years earlier. The Millers made their living growing produce and alfalfa west of Kalispell, and Maxine used to complain about how boring it was riding the plow horse up and down the rows! Back then, Kalispell was a small town, with room to roam, little traffic, and neighbors that came and helped make root beer and ice cream for Sunday afternoon picnics.

Maxine spent her childhood attending Kalispell public schools, and graduated from Flathead High in 1945. A shorthand whiz, she was named Best Business Student in her class. After high school, she attended Railroad Telegrapher School in Spokane. A woman ahead of her time and off on her own at 17, she finished her training and was then was assigned jobs at the many railway stations along the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana.

To share a bit of history about the job of a telegrapher--the main line was dotted with stations where the operators were the communication systems that informed the trainmen what they were to do--where they were to meet other trains, where they were to pick up freight cars, and of any obstacles on the tracks. Predating the use of radios, the operators typed out orders, tied them up in string in a Y-shaped stick, and hung them out on a train order stand, where the engineers and brakemen could hold out their arms and snag the orders on their way by. The operators then stood about ten feet from the tracks and watched the trains roar by, making sure there were no problems such as “hot boxes” (overheated bearings causing a fire in the journal box), flat wheels or shifted loads. The engineers, brakemen and conductors that ran the trains became Maxine’s friends.

Out on her own, she would bunk with local people or live in the living quarters of the depots. She worked in towns such as Perma, Avon, Garrison, East Helena and Rivulet. Her husband-to-be and fellow telegraph operator, Bob Drew, came over to East Helena one day to “check out the new operator.” They were married in 1947 in Missoula, packed up their wedding present and settled into the depot at St. Regis, about 70 miles northwest of Missoula, where Bob was the railway station agent. Maxine continued to work at whatever small town needed a relief operator until 1948. She took some time off to care for her and Bob’s only child, Cheryl. Not a real homebody, she was anxious to return to the railroad life and did so, again working wherever she was sent with Cheryl in tow: St. Regis, Lothrup, Rivulet again, and later, Superior. She finished her railroad career in the yard office in Missoula when computers and centralized traffic control (CTC) were coming into being. She happily took early retirement and Bob and Maxine moved to Kalispell in 1991.

One of Maxine’s main motives for working was her love of nice cars. She bought a new car just about every other year and had a string of Chevy Impalas—a ‘58, a ‘61, and a ‘65. There was an Austin Healy in between the last two Chevys and a MG Midget in later years. She loved her red Chevy Avalanche to her final days!

Maxine loved being retired and had no problems entertaining herself. She was talented at all sorts of crafts and excelled at needlework, painting, sewing, macrame, quilling and other crafts too numerous to mention. She could have recreated the Empire State Building out of plastic canvas! She was an avid reader and enjoyed working crossword puzzles. She loved her pets, especially her doggies--Thumper, Happy-Go-Lucky, Todd, and her Sweetie, a Jack Russel Terrier. A number of other critters made their homes at the Drew household--a cat named Casey, turtles, hamsters, a Myna bird, and a deodorized skunk, Ichabod.

One of Maxine’s lifelong pleasures was her springtime search for wildflowers. Out in the mountains, she loved picking bouquets of early buttercups, shooting stars, dog-toothed violets and trilliums. Her great joy was to find a few fairy-slippers or a rare moccasin flower, wild members of the orchid family. In late summer, gathered bear grass was inserted into water tinted with food coloring, where the bouquet took on hues of green, blue, or pink.

Maxine was a “Crazy Bird Lady” and could identify most local birds by sight or song. She loved all the creatures that visited her yards--from hummingbirds to toads to bald eagles--and fed the birds, ducks, turkeys, pheasants and squirrels daily. However, she was quite horrified when a hungry eagle swooped in and tried to eat one of “her” mallards for his lunch. The lucky duck escaped with his life and a few missing feathers.

Max and Bob loved to ramble around the countryside, just exploring. Maxine was the family bloodhound and always knew where she was and how to get back, whereas Bob and Cheryl could get lost going around a city block! The Drews had places on several lakes and loved being there and going out in their boat. In the summer, Cheryl and her boys, Dave and BJ, would come and spend their week’s vacation, giving them all memories of their times at the lakes--for instance, nearly setting the Flathead National Forest on fire when an errant firecracker landed in a tree, terrifying BJ for life by telling him there was a shark in the lake, and the boat motor blowing a gasket and having to row the boat back to shore!

Bob and Maxine were married for 66 years until Bob succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. Maxine managed well on her own until her stroke in 2016. She required full-time care after that, a real affront to her “stubborn-German” independent spirit! Maxine is survived by her daughter, Cheryl Lee (Jim Trepina) of Kalispell; grandsons Dave Poll and BJ Poll (Nicole) of Gillette, Wyoming; and two great-granddaughters, Ever and Vella of Sheridan, Wyoming. She leaves many other relatives and friends behind including a beloved cousin, Florence, of Homer, Alaska.

The three legs of the Drew tripod are down to just one. Always three peas-in-a-pod, the Drews got a kick out of arguing, nit-picking, competing, laughing and just enjoying each other’s company.

A memorial service to honor Maxine will be held at 1:00 p.m. on June 16 at Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home. Interment will follow. Anyone who wants to join in giving Max a send-off is welcome and Max would be honored. Social distancing will be possible and masks are suggested.

Maxine is somewhere collecting wildflowers and communing with her birds--celebrating her own life—but an earthly Celebration of Maxine’s Life with food and drink will follow at a later date to be announced in the summer.