Marianne Milne

When we asked Mom what year she was born, she would reply, '1930: Wall Street had crashed, investors were jumping to their deaths and then a light appeared and little Marianne was born and hope was restored”. Marianne Elizabeth Altmaier was born at home in Bozeman, Montana on July 22, 1930. She was the 4th of 6 children born to Clarence John Altmaier and Mildred Elizabeth Taliman Altmaier. Being a middle child, brothers, Jack and Bill, and a sister, Beth, were born before her and brothers, Tom and Duane followed her, completing the family. Pete, as her father would call her, was involved in dance, 4-H and sewed many of her own clothes. During her 10th year of life, she developed osteomyelitis in her left arm requiring 20+ surgeries and then learned how to write with her right hand, as she was previously left handed. Never to be one that let a little thing like osteomyelitis hold her back, she put her sling to good use and would run with a football tucked inside of it and could out arm-wrestle the best. Around this time of her life, she also met a friend at summer camp for children with osteomyelitis, Bruce G. Milne, who remained her friend and would later become her loving companion until his passing. In 1941, the family moved to Billings, Montana and Marianne attended Fratt Memorial School, graduating grade school in June of 1944. She then attended Senior High School where she met her future husband Donald E. Garrett. She graduated from Senior High in 1948. She went on to Carroll College and completed her degree as a Registered Nurse in December 1951. She was head surgical nurse at St Vincent Hospital for 27 years. She also worked at Deaconess Hospital in the trauma unit and worked as a contract nurse In Billings. One such contract took her to the set of 'Walks Far Woman' where she was nurse to the movie cast for the duration of the movie. Over the years she took her nursing skills to Wyoming and South Dakota. Marianne's love of medicine was an inspiration to her children and grandchildren. She passed the torch on to her granddaughter, Molley, by placing her RN pin on her during her graduation ceremony. She was a talented, compassionate woman and remained a nurse her entire life. On May 2, 1952 she was united in marriage to Donald E. Garrett. That union brought forth the births of her daughters, Dianne, Judith and Michelle. The marriage was dissolved and she raised her daughters on her own. Marianne had boundless energy and attended the various activities of her daughters. She had a natural attraction for making friends of all ages and her home was always full of the friends of her daughters that referred to her as 'Mom”. She walked all 3 daughters down the aisle to give them to their future husbands. She was present for, or soon after, the births of her 11 grandchildren. Marianne sewed many formals for dances and wedding attire and made baby clothing and beautiful needlepoint blankets for not only her grandchildren but some of her great-¬grandchildren. She stayed active in the lives of all of her family and was a dear friend to all. Our sweet Marianne passed away on February, 8th 2014. She was surrounded with love by her family. We will miss her humor, her strength and her loving heart every day. Marianne is survived by her daughters Dianne Hauer, Judith Garrett, and Michelle Henneberry (Terry), her brothers, Tom (Mary) and Duane (Beverly) Altmaier, as well as Mildred Ann Altmaier, Mary Joan (Leon) Dahl, and William Altmaier. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, Jeremy, Scott (Michelle), Stephen (Amanda) and Megan Hauer, Kara Padilla (April), Amanda Torgerson (Joshua), Amber Martinez (Rodney), David, Molley, Hayley and Adam Henneberry. She is also survived by 12 great-grandchildren, Ryley, Macey, Addyson, Rayden, Joseph, Jacob, Mateo, Mylah, Siena, Kaiden, with two on the way. She was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence J. and Mildred Altmaier, brothers, Jack and Bill, sister, Beth and son-in-law, Neal. We would like to thank Rocky Mountain Hospice for their compassionate guidance through the final difficult days of her life. Please make any contributions to this amazing foundation. A special thanks to Rosie, Diane, Jimmy Sue, Brianna and Sue at the Sapphire Suite of Valley Health Care for treating Mom like family. We could not have done it without you. Service: A celebration of Marianne's life will be held at Dahl Funeral Chapel on February 11, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.