On March 19, 2025 the world lost a wonderful Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma, and recently Great-Great Grandma. Patricia Ann Giard passed peacefully at Peace Hospice in Great Falls, Montana after a weekend filled with love and family.
Pat grew up on her family's farm with her five siblings outside Conrad, Montana. She loved the farm and learned how to work hard which greatly helped her later in life when she was raising 10 children. Pat never was one to sit around unless she was fishing. She was so handy that if she wasn’t baking yummy treats like homemade bread and her famous pies, then she was canning strawberry jam, sewing her kids’ clothes and making quilts and baby blankets.
Pat’s greatest love was her family. She was inseparable from her darling husband and loved to go hunting, fishing, and camping with him and their large brood. During the summer, she would have the car, food, and gear ready to go on a Friday night so they could enjoy a fun weekend in the great outdoors. This love of the outdoors has continued with their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Everyone has wonderful memories of Pat cooking her famous cheesy bacon potatoes and frying up the day’s catch of fish.
Jason and Pat met when Pat’s mom, Grandma Florence, set up a picnic for her girls and some of the eligible Minnesota bachelors. There were a group of farm hands that had moved from Minnesota for higher paying jobs in Montana. Fortunately for us, Pat met and fell in love with our dad. They celebrated 66 years of marriage and were blessed with a huge family of 5 boys and 5 girls.
Pat was famous for her card playing skills. She loved to play with family and friends. She and Jason were a formidable team and a lot of the family memories are around a table playing Hearts, Pinochle or Michigan Rummy.
In her retirement years Pat worked on her crafts, she loved to sew, and made many blankets for her family. She started to create baby blankets, aprons, and many other sewed crafts that she would take to craft shows where she loved to socialize and share her talents with the world. Over the years, she donated many receiving blankets to the hospital for newborn babies. She also loved being part of the “Red Hat” group and enjoyed various social activities alongside her sisters Maxine and Marcella.
Patricia is survived by all of her 10 children - Jason (Alice) Giard, Homer (Mary) Giard, Eva (Wayne) Smith, Amy Storle, Earl (Julie) Giard, Sarah Giard, Julie Palmer, Steve (Kimette) Giard, Joe (Deanna) Giard, and Alice (Larry) Johnson; 26 grandchildren and 35 great Grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild. Patricia was preceded in death by her parents, her husband (Jason Joseph Giard), her three brothers, Leonard Armstrong, Darwin Armstrong, and Walter Armstrong, her sister Maxine (Armstrong) Schlosser and her son-in-law’s Craig Storle and Scott Palmer. She leaves behind her baby sister Marcella (Armstrong) Rodriguez.
Her funeral will be held on April 26, 2025 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Conrad, Montana at 1:00 p.m. A reception will follow at the Conrad Community Center.
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, click here to visit the Croxford Funeral Home website.
