Delores Nadine (Fairbanks) Juedeman passed away on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at the age of 92, surrounded by her four children, their spouses and her oldest grandson. Delores was born on August 8, 1931, in Great Falls, Montana to Frank and Henrietta Fairbanks. She graduated from Geraldine High School in 1949 and attended Montana State College, obtaining her bachelor’s degree in nursing.
After graduation from college, Delores moved to the Big Island of Hawaii, living in Honokaa and working as a nurse at the local hospital. The months in Hawaii were some of the most impactful of her life and began her affinity for Hawaii and an aptitude for playing the ukelele.
In 1955, she moved from Hawaii to San Francisco and worked at Kaiser hospital for a year before returning back home to Montana. She then worked for the American Red Cross and traveled all across the state of Montana in that role. During this period of time Delores was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Montana Air National Guard as a Nurse and served for approximately a year.
In October 1957, she married her best friend and love of her life, Harold “Buck” Juedeman in their hometown of Geraldine. They quickly started their family with the birth of their first son, Mark, nine months after their marriage. They farmed in the Graceville area east of Geraldine where they built their own home and welcomed two more sons, Ward and Kevin. Delores was involved in the building of both the new Geraldine Methodist Church as well as the new Geraldine Public School building.
In 1968, Buck and Delores moved to Great Falls where, as a military spouse, Delores cared for their three boys when Buck deployed to Vietnam with the Montana Air National Guard and was subsequently injured in an aircraft mishap.
In 1970, the couple purchased what is now Canyon Cattle Company in Craig, Montana where they had a farming/ranching operation and made many wonderful memories. In 1972 they completed their family with the birth of their daughter, Corry.
Seeing a need in her rural community for improved emergency services, Delores became a First Responder and then an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in the early 80s. She then helped train dozens of additional First Responders and EMTs throughout the Wolf Creek/Craig/Cascade area and significantly improved the emergency response capacity in these communities.
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, click here to visit the Croxford Funeral Home website.
