Marian Marie Beck Pedersen

Marian Marie Beck Pedersen, 90, passed away Saturday, July 25, 2015, at Edgewood Vista in Missoula, relieved of her suffering and now in the arms of Jesus.

She was born Oct. 4, 1924, in Shelley, Idaho, the third of eight children born to Arno Paul and Inez Ann Beck. Her father died when she was 12. The family moved to Dillon and she worked on a ranch where she met her future husband of nearly 69 years, Ralph Pedersen. Her mother died when she was 15. Marian and Ralph married March 1, 1941, in Dillon. The couple left the family ranch in the fall of 1941 and moved to California, where Marian worked in the shipyard while Ralph served in the U.S. Navy.

They returned to Montana in 1957, residing first in Stevensville, where she helped out on the home ranch and was a creative seamstress. Marian was not a typical modern wife. As a devoted wife and mother, she would get up early, fix Ralph breakfast and pack him a fresh lunch, usually roast beef sandwiches made with homemade bread. Supper was on the table shortly upon his return from work in the evening. Sometimes in the summer, after getting Ralph off to work she would find some cold early morning grasshoppers sleeping in the wood pile to use as bait and catch a few brook trout for the kids' breakfast. That's LOVE! In 1967 they moved to Missoula where she continued to enjoy sewing, making many beautiful clothes and quilts for her family.

Marian was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph Pedersen; parents, Arno Paul and lnez Beck; twin sons, Ronald and Donald Pedersen; and all of her siblings but one.

Survivors include her brother, Wayne (Sharlene) Beck of Clinton; sister- in-law Jane Beck of Lob; son Jerry Pedersen of Missoula; daughter Linda (Philip) McCurdy of Atlanta, Georgia; granddaughter, Kyla (Konstantin) Shatskikh of Faribault, Minnesota; grandson Corwin McCurdy of Phoenix, Arizona; great-grandson, Gabriel Shatskikh of Faribault and many nieces and nephews.

Inurnment will take place at Riverview Cemetery in Hamilton. A memorial service will be held at Garden City Funeral Home, 1705 W. Broadway St, on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 2 p.m.
Read Marian Marie Pedersen's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.