Irene Crilly

Irene Iona (Miller) Crilly passed away at home with family by her side on Saturday March 30th, 2019. Irene was born on November 7, 1934 to Henry and Luella Miller in Pomeroy, IA. She was one of 11 children. Irene is survived by four daughters, Cindi (Chief) Gilles, Vicki (Lee) Langlinais, Susan (Matt) Michael and Dawn Crilly; six grandchildren, Jack Gilles, Luella and Claira Langlinais, Amanda, Sean and Olivia Michael; brother, Loren Miller; sister, Linda Miller; and many nieces and nephews. Irene married Jim Munn after high school and together they owned and operated a Dairy King in Des Moines, IA. This cemented her lifelong love affair with soft ice cream! Only eight years after marrying, Irene became a widow at the age of 26. She met Don Crilly the following year and they would go on to be married for 40 years and have four daughters and six grandchildren. Coach, Scout leader, Sunday School Director/Teacher, PTA member, Farmer/Rancher, Entrepreneur and Business owner were some of the roles she fulfilled. However the titles she relished the most were Mom and Grams. Irene never missed one of her daughter's activities and made it to as many as humanly possible of her grandchildren's activities. She schlepped her daughters to thousands of practices, rehearsals, games and performances without complaint and cheered form rainy fields and uncomfortable bleachers with a smile. Irene loved to laugh and had an amazing sense of humor! No matter what challenges she faced, she overcame them with a positive attitude. Her laughter is one of the things that will be missed the most. Irene was extremely proud of her grandchildren and treated each one of them as her most prized. A sleepover with Grams often involved a midnight shopping trip to Wal-Greens or CVS, pancakes at Perkins where they would play the claw machine, a game or two of cribbage and very little sleep. Irene was a woman of integrity and faith. We know that we will see her again one day. Until then, we will remember her with laughter and not tears. We will eat ice-cream, play the claw machine and we will laugh. We will honor her memory by continuing to love others the way she did… fiercely. A Memorial Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 3, 2019 at St. Pius X Parish in Billings, MT.