Emily Bevington

Emily Bevington of Missoula died suddenly Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. She was born Ablonczy Emöke Mária in Waldkirchen in the German state of Bavaria in June 1945 as the child of Endre and Mária Ablonczy, newly arrived refugees from Hungary. Her home language was Hungarian, but diglossic German (standard and Bavarian) was used in the wider community.

She came to the U.S. with her family in 1951 knowing no English, which she had to learn sitting in the back of a one-room schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania. And her mastery of it was truly spectacular. We used to say that you knew it was not her native language exactly because she knew and spoke it too well. The three languages were acquired, that is learned through natural processes rather formal instruction. But she also was fluent in French and Spanish as learned languages.

When she studied in Switzerland in the mid-'60s, as a polyglot American she was the belle of the ball among the Europeans. Em and her husband Gary got together because of their common passion for languages and cultures, something they were able to pursue with abandon in the '80s and '90s although her facility with them was far greater than his. Along the way Em acquired an M.A. in linguistics (Northeastern Illinois University) and a Ph.D. in multi-lingual, multi-cultural education (University of Illinois) and achieved her dream of a position as a professor at the research university Northern Illinois University, a career cut short unfortunately by her becoming cognitively impaired in 1997.

Em and Gary were together from 1981 until her death, the first 17-plus years in an equal partnership followed by an equal amount of time coping with her disability. Gary retired early in 1999, in part so that he could more effectively be Em's caregiver. At the time they moved to a high-rise condominium near the Gold Coast area of Chicago across the street from the Newberry Library, where Gary planned to pursue academic research and teaching interests. The plan was unimpeachable but the reality of both the condo and the Newberry was unsatisfactory. In 2001 Gary's brother Kent found them a summer rental in the Upper Rattlesnake area of Missoula, and they were hooked. It took four years but finally in 2005 they were able to move to Missoula permanently. They had finally found "a place to call home" and Em in particular felt cozy and secure in their Brookside house. She made peace with her disability and was content with a very quiet life in their home.

Because she was disabled for so long, the memory of her as a brilliant hard-working teacher and scholar has faded even for those who knew her for longer, and many in her contemporary circle are only vaguely aware or even unaware of this other Em. She was also the devoted mother of Andria Marcussen of Potlatch, Idaho, stepmother of Douglas Bevington of Berkeley, California, and Jill Bevington of Beallsville, Ohio, as they were growing up, a long-term caregiver to her father, who lived with Parkinsonism for many years, and finally the "bff" of her sister, Gloria Kareken of Glenview, Illinois. She is also survived by three step-granddaughters.

Although she did not take the sacraments after she married her first husband, a divorced man, nearly 50 years ago, she always considered herself a daughter of the Catholic Church. She told Gary that she prayed daily. Interment in St. Mary's Cemetery was private.

Em was a warm and thoughtful person of the highest moral probity, much loved by everyone who knew her. May she rest in peace.


Read Emily Bevington's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.