Shirley Mae Westlund

GLENDIVE - Shirley Mae Westlund, 82, of Glendive, passed away on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016, at Glendive Medical Center. Visitation will be held from 1to 5 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2016, at Silha Funeral Home in Glendive. Vigil service will be at 7 p.m., Aug. 11, at Silha Funeral Home. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m., Aug. 12, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Glendive with Father Francis Schreiber officiating. Rite of Committal will follow in Dawson County Cemetery. Silha Funeral Home of Glendive has been entrusted with the arrangements.

Shirley Westlund was born into the Curtis family from Manhattan at the Florence Crittenden home in Helena on April 16, 1934, and was adopted by Frank James and Mary Nina (Brownell) Westlund in February of 1935. She was raised in West Glendive and spent her summers roaming Dry Creek hunting agates, chewing grass and watching white fluffy clouds floating by in a blue sunny sky as well as throwing rocks by the hour. A cat, a dog, an occasional pig and cackling chickens chasing grasshoppers and laying eggs to be gathered and sometimes setting a nest provided entertainment for a little girl. All this outdoor activity turned Shirley into an animal lover, hunter and very amateur photographer. Always athletic, she participated in all sports although at the time she attended school the only sport girls were allowed to play on an interscholastic level was tennis.

Shirley moved to Glendive with her parents when she was 11 years old. She had many odd jobs both at home and outside the home during her school years. She loved movies and read many books. Thanks to taking shorthand and typing in high school she was able to pass the required test at the Northern Pacific Railway Company Superintendent's office and become a member of the Class A clerk's roster which enabled her to work in the various division offices in Glendive. She attended college and graduated from Montana State University in Bozeman in 1956. She taught one year and confirmed her suspicions that education was not to be a field of endeavor for her to pursue as a career. She began working in the Exchange State Bank in Glendive in 1959 and that led to many years of employment in various phases of real estate lending, including nine years in the savings and loan industry in Minnesota. Her final full-time employment was as an enforcement officer in the Wibaux scale. After her retirement in 1999, she spent five summers working in the national parks, one in Glacier and four in the Tetons. From these jobs she made acquaintances and friends who also were in the parks for summer work.

She bowled for many years and attended 18 national tournaments all over the United States. She was at one time a member and officer of the Does, and a longtime member of the local genealogy club. Loving to travel she spent one year driving an 18-wheel moving van for North American Van Lines and made her way through 47 states. She sold her home in Glendive in 2013.

One of Shirley's most important projects was her family history. She spent many hours in museums, libraries, courthouses and cemeteries. Along the way, she also helped many others with their family histories. She was one of several individuals who were instrumental in putting together the Dawson history book, "Our Times, Our Lives."

Shirley never married and had no children. She had a few cousins in her adoptive family and recently had become acquainted with the families of her biological half-brother, who preceded her in death, and a biological half-sister.

Memorials in Shirley's name may be made to the Glendive Public Library, the Frontier Gateway Museum, the Catholic Daughters, or to the Genealogical Society of one's choice.

Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at: www.silhafuneralhomes.com.