Terry Black Cosgrove

Margaret “Terry” Black Cosgrove entered the world en caul (a veiled birth, a sign of good fortune) in Kalispell, Mont., on Labor Day 1942 and died on Labor Day 2024 in Missoula, Mont., holding the hands of her daughter, Tracy Cosgrove, and grandson, Donal Lakatua. She was preceded in death by her parents, Hugh and Margaret Black, and brothers Lucky and Roscoe Black.

St. Mary, Montana, and the beauty of Glacier’s mountains were core to Terry’s identity. She spent her summers as a youth at her parent’s resort on the east side of Going-to-the-Sun Road, working when needed and riding horses whenever she could. She was the family cowgirl, bold and fierce, and rode and broke horses bareback. Her favorite steeds were Mr. Chips and Chocolate, and they took her on many adventures in the big pasture and beyond. She loved her five siblings and the many friends she brought from Minnesota to experience the wonders of Montana. The joy she found in nature informed and extended her rich spiritual life and was central to her world view. 

The off-season found her in school in St. Paul, Minn., where she graduated from Visitation School in 1960 and the College of St. Catherine in 1964. She studied Speech/Drama and English at St. Kate’s, and during those college years she met her husband, St. Thomas College student Don Cosgrove, in the theater during a college production of The Tempest, in which they portrayed Miranda and Prospero. Although they divorced amicably later, they raised three children, Tracy, Kevin and Erin, together. As soon as Erin was in kindergarten, she went back to school and earned a master’s degree in Special Education at the College of St. Thomas. She worked in that challenging field for many years. She nurtured her children’s strengths and passed onto them her joy of art, literature, spirituality and the glories of nature from the smallest animal to the broadest mountain.

Midlife, she went back to school for Management Information Systems, and worked for large companies like Barnes & Noble and Best Buy in Minneapolis. When multiple sclerosis made the complexities of that field too difficult, she retired and came back to Montana to join Tracy’s family in Missoula. There she made many dear friends, especially when she moved to the Village Senior Residence in 2019. During her time in Missoula, she gave generously of her time volunteering as an advocate for the YWCA Missoula and working with elementary children at Cold Springs school. 

She is survived by her children, Tracy Cosgrove (Tim Gordon) of Missoula, Mont., Kevin Cosgrove of Minneapolis, Erin Cosgrove (Hirsch Perlman) of Los Angeles; grandsons Forest Tresidder of Arcata, California and Donal Lakatua of Missoula, Mont.; siblings Hugh Black (Mary Grace) of Helena, Mont., Patsy Huberty (Bob) of St. Paul, Minn., and Sally Welder (Terry) of Kalispell, Mont.; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Terry loved St. Mary, books, her spiritual practice, horses, bad puns, singing cowboy songs (often off key but always with exuberance), miracles, mysteries, puzzles, and bridge. But the greatest share of her heart belonged to her family and friends. We will miss her shining smile.

A memorial will be held Sunday, Oct. 27, at 2 pm at the Knights of Columbus in Missoula (312 Pine St). Memorial donations may be made to the Jeannette Rankin Foundation for women’s scholarship c/o the Montana Community Foundation in Helena, or to the Poverello Center of Missoula.