Brigit Mikota

1980 - 2025

Brigit Mikota

April 23, 1980 - August 8, 2025

Brigit joined this life as a delicate and frail infant on April 23, 1980. Not to be deterred, she mastered running at nine months and continued bouncing and dashing throughout her life.

At age six, she began her entrepreneurial ventures by setting up a soda pop stand and serving an 1/8 cup of cola for a quarter. And people actually paid. Brigit graduated to garage sales as a teen, never lowering a price, and made good money.

She went to middle and high school in Havre, where her father was a vice principal and her mother an elementary teacher. She mentioned to several classmates that she was in witness protection and really not a Mikota.

Throughout her life, Brigit dealt with ADHD, IBS, a word retrieval disability, and depression. As time went on, alcohol entered to smooth the way and eventually caused irreversible liver damage.

But that is not who Brigit was. She was an athlete, playing basketball, volleyball, and tennis, as well as cheerleading. In these endeavors, she took risks and played to WIN. High school testing could be terrifying when she had no sense of which days would be good word days and which bad. Brigit's solution was earning an A+ in in-school suspension where secretaries kept favorite books on hand for her to read and pleasantly pass the time.

After graduating, Brigit entered college in Ashland, Ore. There, she successfully advocated for herself and earned a degree in social sciences with an emphasis in criminology. Her work life included retail and working at a tennis club. During her brief marriage, she worked for a California talent agency and then moved to Helena to work in social services, including as a part-time preschool teacher at her family-owned Deanosaurus Preschool. Perhaps her most unusual job was retrieving corneas for donation-a job that, when mentioned, stops people 'dead' in their tracks.

Brigit was preceded in death by her father, Michael, in 2012; her paternal grandparents, John and Aileen Mikota; and her maternal grandparents, C.W. and Corné Leaphart.

She is survived by her brother, Abe, and niece, Naomi; her mother, Karen Mikota; aunts and uncles, Susan Leaphart, Bill and Babs Leaphart, John and Shirley Mikota, Bryan and Tamara Mikota, Chris Mikota, Ray Mikota, and Pat and Buzz Hettick. She was lucky to have a boatload of cousins: Downses, Kelleys, Harringtons, Leapharts, Carters, Dratzes, Brouwers, Osborns, and Leahys.

A heartfelt thank you to Anna and Joe Furshong, Fong and Cort Harrington, Gayle Joslin, Carolyn Torske; Lucy, Dan and Michael Gengler; Mary Clare Christopher; and Jane, Mike, and Andrew Bishop. All have been available for Brigit at a moment's notice. It takes a village, and the village gathered. We are grateful, too, for many friends and family members unmentioned here.

A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. on Friday, August 22, at St. Paul's Methodist. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall. Donations may be made to the NPR station of your choice or the Lewis and Clark Humane Society.

Simple Cremation Montana

315 E Sixth Avenue

Helena, MT 59601

(406) 410-1321