Cecelia C. Poole

Cecelia C. Poole, age 91, of Missoula passed away on Monday, May 19, 2014, at the Springs at Missoula. She was born Oct. 2, 1922, in Missoula one of seven children, two girls and five boys, to Rumald and Hazel Bourdeau. CeCe attended schools in Missoula, growing up kitty-corner from the man who would one day become her husband. After high school CeCe moved to Washington, D.C., to attend business school. After business school CeCe returned to Missoula. Tom Poole also returned to Missoula after serving in the U.S. Navy. The two were married on Dec. 31, 1944, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and raised their family of five children, two boys and three girls. CeCe managed the couples rentals around the area and was the bookkeeper for her husband's construction company. Aside from helping her husband CeCe spent years caring for her children. She was told that because she was a stay at home mother, she really didn't have a job though her children remember her as one of the hardest-working people they have ever known. She was always the first person up in the morning and the last to go to bed at night. She was constantly busy in her role as wife, mother, housekeeper, laundry lady and cook. She put all five of her children through Catholic School, always making sure uniforms were clean and pressed for school. CeCe loved to spend summers at Flathead Lake with her family. She had a great love of swimming and taught that skill to all of her children. Another passion CeCe had was her love of music, especially playing the piano. She shared that love with her children, attempting to teach them all, even the boys, to play.

Her husband had his first stroke in 1990 and began developing Alzheimer's in 1994. Throughout Tom's struggles CeCe kept him at home caring for him and also continuing to manage all of the rentals on her own. She continued to manage the rentals until 2005 when she could no longer do so. CeCe moved into the Springs at Missoula in October 2011 where she continued playing the piano and enjoying her love of music. She always stayed active in the Catholic Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband Thomas J. Poole Sr. on April 27, 1999. She is now survived by her children, Tom Poole Jr., Barbara (Bill) Kennett, Mike Poole, Mary (Ron) Powell and Cathy (Joe) Vernon; a brother Paul Bourdeau and a sister JoAn Smith; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren also survive.

Graveside services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 27, at St. Mary's Cemetery in Missoula with the Rev. Matt Kunkel officiating. Arrangements are under the direction and care of Garden City Funeral Home and Crematory.
Read Cecelia Poole's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.