Frances Wind Shinsato

Frances Wind Shinsato, 62, of Stevensville, passed away April 13, 2024 at home surrounded by family. A memorial service will be held at a later date and intimate burial has occurred at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

Born Frances Marie Rasch, she later chose the name Wind. The daughter of Bob and Thelma (Nee: Ray) Rasch, was born March 3, 1962 in Hartford, Wisconsin. She graduated high school, but she continued to learn her whole life and took great time to research and write about spirituality around the Baha'i Faith. Her husband Harold was drawn to the Baha'i Faith in having met members of their Baha'i community at a Rainbow Gathering in Missouri in 1996. They first learned of each other via email in 1996, and Harold came to Montana to learn more. During his visit he and Wind went on a walk on Kelley Island where Blue Herons flew by and the bird became a lifelong symbol of Wind and Harold's connection. They became a couple in September of 1998, he proposed at Christmas that year and they were married March 27, 1999.

Wind deeply loved her family and her many nieces and nephews (and their kids). She loved to read. She had a passion for botanicals, flowers, plants and nature as a whole. She loved all animals, wildlife as well as domestics (including their chickens, sheep, llamas, and goats) but especially her beloved cats and dogs. She was always at peace being in water, floating and swimming in the Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers and lake Flathead and Como. Harold and Wind loved watching movies whether at the theater, drive-ins or at home. She loved fashion. She lived her life fully, embracing those around her wholeheartedly.

Left to cherish her memory is her husband, Harold Shinsato; siblings: Barbara Jo (Thomas) Schilhabel, John Lawrence (Diane) Rasch, Janet Louise (Jim) Shulka, Maryellen Rasch-Hall, Robert Gordon Rasch, and Arthur Allen (Heather) Rasch; sisters-in-law: Kelly Rasch and Gaile Hansen; a plethora of nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents David (Bob) and Mary (Thelma); siblings, Brian Matthew Rasch; Elizabeth Jean Rasch; her first husband Michael Iglar; and second husband Leland "Doc" Jensen.