Carol Anderson

Carol Chaffin Anderson, mom, grandma Carol, passed from this earth on Christmas Day, 2015. Carol was 88 years old with deep roots in early Western Montana. She was born January 11, 1927, the only child of Gilbert E. Chaffin and Mildred Haffele Chaffin of Corvallis, Montana. Carol's great-grandparents, Elijah and Margaret Chaffin, escaping the trauma of the Civil War traversed the Wild West from their native Tennessee through Kansas, crossing the plains by ox-drawn wagons, settling in the Montana Bitterroot Valley in 1864. Carol lived in a cabin without running water or electricity until she was 10. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class living in what is now part of Teller Wildlife Refuge on Chaffin Lane near Corvallis. Carol's mom, Mildred, was a 1919 graduate of the University of Wisconsin and her dad, Gil, went to business school as an adult despite having not finished high school. Carol said that “my father preached education to me since I was a little girl.” So, upon graduation from high school, she enrolled at then Montana State University in Missoula. When Carol was a sophomore at the University studying home economics, she entered and won a hastily assembled contest to become the very first Miss Montana in 1947. The executive director of the Miss America Pageant, who wanted to reshape the pageant into a contest for college scholarships, asked the University and two others in Wyoming and Idaho to send contestants to the national competition. Carol was surprised by her University victory and neither she nor her parents wanted her to compete in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a long way from home. The Chaffins did not have the money to send Carol to the East Coast, but the University's Dean of Women drove to Corvallis and persuaded them to let their daughter compete. The female Dean promised to raise money for travel expenses and to serve as Miss Montana's chaperone. Carol spent the summer traveling around the state singing a French aria for donations. When she performed the aria from "Samson and Delilah" in Atlantic City, the orchestra fouled up the score. However, Carol just kept singing. After she returned to Montana, she received a handwritten apology from the pageant director and a $500 Talent Scholarship. The scholarship was the only way Carol was able to graduate from college and get a degree. Carol turned down offers to pursue a career in entertainment so that she could return to Montana, finish her education and start a family. Upon graduation from the University, Carol married her college sweetheart, S. Keith Anderson, in 1949 who she met in an accounting class. After both taught at the Alberton, Montana High School for a time, they moved to the Anderson family ranch on the Judith River in Central Montana. Keith ran the ranching operation and Carol fulfilled full-time duties at the ranch house. When Keith's mother, Alma, died in 1953, his father, Oscar, sold the ranch and retired in Lewistown while Keith, Carol and their infant son, Craig, moved to Helena in early 1955. Keith took a position with the Montana Taxpayer's Association which he served until his retirement while Carol continued to teach high school and then worked as a tax and land law researcher. Carol and Keith had two sons, Craig and Eric, both of Billings. Although Carol continued her career and was a tireless contributor to many, many worthy causes in the Helena community from education to being a founding member of her church to singing upon request, she was fully and foremost devoted to her “boys.” She would often say “family is the most important part.” Keith passed away in 1999 and in 2006 Carol moved to Billings to be closer to her family; Craig, his wife, Jane, and their two sons, Chris of Billings and Chase of Chandler, Arizona, and Eric, his wife, Dale, and their daughter, Alexis of Santa Barbara, California. Carol knew that she would be surrounded by her entire family this Christmas and, although quite ill this past week, was an enormous blessing to each family member, individually, as they had the opportunity to spend time with her. Without question, Carol modeled this wish of the Apostle Paul better than anyone we have ever known: Now we urge you to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. We will miss her astounding kindness, love, and generosity to all she encountered, her resoluteness (even to a fault) of not wanting to bother anyone, and her common sense wisdom and gracious understanding. Carol remained a “classy lady” until her passing. “I thank my God every time I remember you.” Services will be held at Dahl Funeral Chapel on Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to Mission Ridge Annual Fund, 3940 Rimrock Rd, Billings, MT 59102 or a charity of your choice.