Naomi LaRue

Naomi Louise LaRue, 88, passed peacefully into eternity in the presence of family members on November 3, 2019. A memorial service will be held at Dahl Funeral Chapel in Billings, Montana at 11:00am on Monday, November 11, 2019. A burial at Sunset Memorial Gardens and a luncheon at Dahl Funeral Chapel will follow the service. Naomi Louise Wolf was born on Father's Day, June 21, 1931 to John Charles Wolf and Inez Huff in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. The family resided in Kansas City, Kansas until 1932, when they moved to the Wolf farm south of Paola, Kansas to assist the Wolf grandparents. Louise and her younger brother, John D., grew up on the farm and attended country grade school in Osage Valley District #35 for eight years each. She attended Paola High School, where she participated in a number of activities, was elected to the National Honor Society and graduated in 1949. While Louise was participating in 4-H, the Miami County Extension Agents encouraged her to enroll at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, to pursue a degree in Home Economics. She graduated on August 1, 1953 and two weeks later started work at Miltonvale Rural High School as Vocational Home Economics Teacher in Miltonvale, Kansas. While attending Kansas State, Louise met the love of her life, Joe N. LaRue of Erie, Kansas. Previous to college, Joe had worked as a Cadastral Surveyor in many places, including Alaska, where he spent two summers. Louise and Joe were married on June 5, 1955 at the First Methodist Church in Paola, Kansas. That summer they moved to Alma, Kansas, where she taught Home Economics for two more years and he commuted to Fort Riley, Kansas, for military service. Their first child, Steven K., was born on September 5, 1957, and soon after Joe resumed his survey work with the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey in California. For the next five years, Joe worked with a survey crew that lived in 19 locations in seven states, mostly in California, and the family accompanied him. A daughter, Catherine L., was born in Ventura, California on December 4, 1958. Beginning in 1960, Joe went back to K-State on G.I. Bill to finish his Civil Engineering degree. Joe was hired by the Bureau of Land Management in July of 1962 and the family moved to a permanent home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Their third child, Byron P. was born there on October 3, 1964. Louise did some substitute teaching in Cheyenne. In June 1971, the LaRue family moved to Billings when Joe was transferred there by the B.L.M., and Big Sky Country became their home. Because of the nature of Joe's work, Louise has been a devoted wife and mother to her family ever since. She was Girl Scout Leader for five years and room mother for several more. She has pursued family history since 1962, and is a charter member of the Yellowstone Genealogy Forum. She helped organized Big Sky Dollers, a collectors club, in 1972. Early in 1972 she joined the YWCA Quilting Club and continued with the group when it became the Nimble Thimble Quilters in 1981. For Louise's 50th birthday, she joined the Daughters of the American Revolution and served as Registrar for 24 years. Through these and other organizations, Louise has developed a large network of friends. Sewing, quilting, crafts, writing and a love of history have played a part in her well-rounded life. She has privately published several family histories which she loved to share. Louise was preceded in death by her parents, brother John and husband, Joe N. LaRue. She leaves three children—Steven (Steve) K. of Billings, Catherine (Cathy) Stanke of Missoula, and Byron P. of Billings, three grandchildren—Bradley Stanke of Missoula, Kyle Stanke of Missoula and Aimée LaRue of Billings, one great-grandson, Keenan Johnson and one great-granddaughter, Bentley Stanke.