Helen Hoyt

Helen Jean (Sullivan) Hoyt, 82, of Great Falls, died of complica-tions of lung cancer Friday, June 17, at Peace Hospice.

A celebration of her life is 2 p.m. Saturday, August 6, at the home of her son Ed, at 939 2nd St. S.W. Cremation has taken place under the direction of Croxford Funeral Home and Crematory, who is handling the arrange-ments.

Helen was born on August 4, 1928, to Art and Mabel Sullivan in Chinook. She was one of 10 children. Her mother died in childbirth when Helen was young, and when she was 5 she was sent to St. Thomas Orphan's Home in Great Falls with her sisters Kay and Mary. She was raised at St. Thomas and gradu-ated from high school in 1946. Throughout her entire life, she kept in constant contact with her older siblings, who remained in Montana, and her younger broth-ers who were sent to Iowa to live with her aunt Mary after her mother died. Her closest and constant friend was her sister Kay with whom she shared much of her life.

Helen attended the College of Great Falls for two years after high school. In college she met Warren "Beans" Venetz. They were married in Great Falls in 1947. They lived on the lower Sun River and raised five children. They were divorced in 1965. She married John Hoyt in 1970 and they remained married for twelve years. After her divorce from John Hoyt, she became a happily unattached grandmother who devoted much of her time to her family. Helen worked at a variety of jobs, including the food pro-gram for the Great Falls School system and the Great Falls Trib-une.

Helen enjoyed many pursuits, but her passion was cooking. From raising five hungry kids with little money to better days as time went on, she could make a banquet out of about anything. For well over a decade, as her grandchildren were growing, she would babysit on Mondays and have all of her family over for a Monday night dinner to end the day. "Grandma Pete" could be counted on to make everyone's favorite on a regular basis. She generously included her ex-husband Beans in all the Monday night dinners because of her strong belief in family. She volun-teered her time at the Missouri River Manor making thousands of batches of cookies over ten years, and became known at the Manor as the Cookie Lady.

Her other favorite activities in-cluded collecting antiques, cross-word puzzles, garage sales, taking trips to Deadwood to gamble, visiting her grand kids in Wash-ington and using every holiday as an opportunity to get everyone together. She was as excited about Christmas as her grand-children were, and she showed us all the true meaning of giving and love.

Survivors include her daughter, Marvia Ray of Rapid City, S.D.; and sons, Ted (Beverly) Venetz of Kennewick, Wash., Don Venetz, Ed (Karen) Venetz, and Bob (Cindy) Venetz all of Great Falls. Her "most favored status" was reserved for her grandchildren; Leslie, Abby, Kim, Nick, Joe and Matt Venetz, who she loved with reckless abandon. She also is survived by her sister, Kay Fergu-son; and brothers Alan (Marge) Sullivan and Paul (Joan) Sullivan.

She touched many lives with her spirit, strength, and love and will be missed dearly. Memorials in her name are suggested to Peace Hospice of Montana.

Condolences may be posted online at www.croxfordfuneralhome.com and/or www.gftribune.com/obituaries.