Billie Lou Stephens

DUTTON - Billie Lou (Jensen) Stephens, 75, a lifelong resident of Diamond Valley east of Dutton, died of emphysema Tuesday at Peace Hospice.
Services are 11 a.m. Saturday at Dutton Methodist Church, followed by a reception. Private family burial will be held later in Highland Cemetery. Croxford Funeral Home and Crematory is handling arrangements.
Survivors include children Robert "Short" and Mitzi Stephens, with grandchildren Amberly and Tyler of Augusta, Mont., Chris Stephens of Dutton, Mont., Mark Stephens of Dutton and granddaughter Kate of Great Falls, Mont., and Andrea and Doug Swing of Manhattan, Mont.; and a sister, Jeannine Achenbach of Billings, Mont.
Billie was born May 7, 1933, in Great Falls, to Chris and Irene Jensen of Dutton, Mont. She lived her entire life, first as a child with her parents, and then with her husband, Robert, and their children in the farmhouse her father and mother built.
She attended Diamond Valley School for grades one through six and completed seven through 12 in Dutton and graduated from Dutton High School.
Robert and Billie were married March 4, 1951, in Dutton, Mont., and were married for 57 years.
Billie was a devoted mother and grandmother. There wasn't a football, basketball or track event that her children and her grandchildren participated in that she wasn't cheering from the sidelines. She was an avid reader and a great supporter of the Dutton Public Library. Billie had a lifelong interest in flowers and had a beautiful yard and garden. She also did ceramics, doll making, stained glass and bird watching. Home canning and cooking were other interests.
Although Billie lived all her life in the same house, she and Robert traveled widely in the U.S. and Canada. Skiing in Switzerland and Germany. Bird watching in Tobago and on the Orinoco River in South America. Traveling with her grandchildren to Denmark, Iceland, Germany and Sweden, and winter getaways with her husband to Roratonga, Fiji, Mexico and many other places.
Billie was a person of strong convictions which she would freely express, and she was a champion of the underdog. She was proud to be a Democrat.
We, her family, with all of her friends and neighbors, will miss her.
The family suggests memorials to the Dutton Public Library, 22 Main St. W., Dutton, MT 59433; or the Choteau Youth Ranch, P.O. Box 469, Choteau, MT 59422.
Condolences may be posted online at www.croxfordfuneralhome.com and/or www.gftribune.com/obituaries.