NewsObituaries

Actions

Obituary: Dorothy Bloom Mangold

Posted at 4:20 PM, Dec 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-19 18:20:00-05

Dorothy Bloom Mangold died peacefully in her sleep December 17, 2018. She lived for 85 years, but was never really old, always having a twinkle in her eye, a blunt opinion, wisdom in conversation and a laugh in her heart.

The Funeral will be held at Croxford Funeral Home, 11:00 AM, Saturday, January 5, 2019 with Internment and at the Sun River Cemetery with Reception following.

Dorothy was born November 16, 1933 to Clarence (C.J.) and Helen Skeie Bloom, and raised on the homesteaded family ranch at Simms. She grew up with older brother Donald and younger brother Robert, along with her amazing grandfather Severus Bloom, all living under the same roof.

The ranch in those early years was a busy place growing sugar beets, grain and hay on the irrigated fields, raising beef ‘Out South’ on the prairies, and hundreds of chickens for eggs.

Dorothy was from the generation of stout souls who entered this world without the comforts of electricity or indoor toilets, lived through years of The Depression, the Big War, and Polio, then handed the rest of us a better world; truly they were of the Greatest Generation.

The Montana Cowgirl Association honored Dorothy as their Montana Cowgirl of the Year in 2010, and was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was very patriotic, a 50-year member of the American Legion Auxiliary and wore a bracelet for decades in memory of an American pilot lost in Vietnam as a POW/MIA.

Dorothy went to Simms High School, was a cheerleader and had many lifelong friends; her roots went deep in the Valley and the people there she loved. She had lived at times in Rhode Island, Hawaii, and a remote Alaskan fishing village, and later worked along side her husband Gerald on the family farm near Fairfield.

A day might see her out early swathing hay, then prepare big lunches for the farmhands, grab an irrigation shovel to make ‘sets,’ help lock a cow in the chute, start supper and finally take a truck load of grandkids off to the river for a late swim.

Dorothy was an active 4-H Leader for years with show steers and cattle judging competitions. Later she bought her much loved home on the North Side in Great Falls. Local children would stop by Dorothy’s for candy or to do some little chores for money, a neighbor with car troubles could call her for an early morning ride to work, or get a needed loan that might not be repaid. She was the neighborhood Grandma.

With the old paintings and antiques that filled her house it seemed to many like a fascinating museum, but to the family it was our history. Friends could stop by for coffee, while children and grandchildren would drop in to ‘bunk’ anytime. Dorothy loved her family and friends, to talk history and to be surrounded by her books.

She will be missed. Adios Mother, and thanks for everything. Dorothy had four children; Steve (Kit) Scott (Kathy) Marcie (Richard) and Justin-Todd (Samantha) plus 17 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

To share condolences, visit the Croxford Funeral Home website.