Mary Anne MacPheat

Mary Anne MacPheat, 88, died in Missoula on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 of natural causes. She married William Richmond MacPheat on Valentine's Day, 1953, and was mother to Teresa "Terry" and William "Will" (Mihaela) MacPheat. Mary was born in Owensboro, KY on September 23, 1930, the second daughter of Marty Lorenz and Frances Irene Mitchell. She was preceded in death by her husband in 2007, her parents, a brother, Marty Lorenz, and a sister, Martine Lorenz Corliss. In addition to her children and daughter-in-law, she is survived by brothers Kenneth of Ames, IA and Larry Lorenz of Burlington, VT as well as sister Louise Krueger in Piedmont, MO.
As an Air Force wife, Mary traveled all over the US but adopted Montana as her permanent home after an initial stint at the 716th Radar Squadron base in Lakeside from 1964-67. The family settled in Somers following Bill's retirement, and then Bill and Mary moved to Missoula in the late 1990s when Bill's health required closer monitoring. Mary worked a number of jobs at various times: secretary, 911 operator, newspaper route driver, etc. in order to help bring in extra money, but her primary job was mother and wife. She loved dogs and over the course of her married life was "mom" to Pal, Boots, Janus, Copper, April, and Annie. Her hobbies included reading, sewing, knitting, travel, and in her last years enjoyed coloring books and jigsaw puzzles. But her proudest achievement was learning to play ukulele at age 76.
Mary was raised in the Catholic faith and attended St. Anthony's Catholic Church before infirmity prevented her from attending regularly.