| . . . . in Memory of . . . . |
- Elizabeth Brenteson
Elizabeth Mathilda Johanson Brenteson, 95, died Friday, May 15th at Sheridan Memorial Nursing
Home in Plentywood, Montana of natural causes. Funeral services are planned for Friday, May
22nd at 10:00 a.m. at Plentywood Lutheran Church with burial to follow at Emmaus Lutheran
Cemetery of rural Westby, Montana. A family and friends service will be held Thursday, May 21st at
7:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Fulkerson Funeral Home. They are in charge of the arrangements.
- Elizabeth was born December 9, 1913, the oldest child of Johannes and Gurli (Gade) Johanson of
Daneville, ND. She grew up there with her brothers and sisters on Gurli and Gurli’s father’s
homestead. She attended 8 years of school in Daneville before staying in Westby with the Harold
Larson and Birger Larson families while attending 2 years of high school there. She then worked
for several families in the Westby area before working for Albert & Gladys Spoklie near Coalridge.
While with the Spoklie family she met Vernon Brenteson, also of Coalridge. They were married on
December 9, 1938 in Sidney, Montana. They lived on his families’ homestead and, together with
their son Duane and his wife Carol, they built a farming and ranching operation over the next 55
years. Duane and Carol took over the farm and ranch in 1993. Vernon and Elizabeth moved to the
Pioneer Manor in the fall of 1994 and Elizabeth entered Sheridan Memorial Nursing Home in the fall
of 2001.
Elizabeth loved gardening, sewing and baking. She tended to numerous flower beds and a large vegetable garden every summer.
There were bouquets of fresh flowers on the kitchen table from the time the crocuses bloomed in the spring until the first frost of fall. Her
vegetable garden yielded plenty of produce to can and share with family and friends. Especially potatoes! Elizabeth also canned
homemade jams and jellies using the wild chokecherries and june berries picked from bushes on their farm. Her homemade
chokecherry wine was always served before dinner on Christmas Eve.
While growing up, she sewed most of her and her sister’s clothing. Later, she enjoyed sewing for several of her nieces. Her
granddaughters remember her helping their mother sew lined wool “church” coats for them. The family continues to use braided rugs
Grandma Liz made.
Loaves and loaves of bread and dozens of cookies were baked in Elizabeth’s kitchen. Her family especially enjoyed her fresh cinnamon
twists and rolls along with Vernon’s favorites - her sugar cookies and “cheese toast” made from her homemade bread and fresh
churned butter. The cookie canister was always full! Vernon taught each of his “girls” a love for Grandma Lizzie’s sugar cookies dipped
in coffee. Nothing made her happier than a table full of family and friends at coffee time.
Vernon & Elizabeth started square dancing in the early 50’s and were active square dancers for nearly 50 years. She enjoyed browsing
through magazines and catalogs of any kind – especially Gurney’s! She loved to play cards and played game after game of solitaire.
Later, as a resident of Sheridan Memorial Nursing Home, she loved Bingo and always felt guilty because she won so many prizes!
Elizabeth remained active in her daughter-in-law and granddaughter’s lives and never missed a chance for a family occasion. If she
couldn’t go to the party, the party came to her. No matter how poor her vision or hearing became, at the end of any event, she always
remarked, “wasn’t that a fun party!” She continued to bless those around her with her quick wit and a precocious sense of humor as
long as she physically could.
Elizabeth was a member of the Daneville Lutheran Church. She and Vernon later became members of Emmaus Lutheran Church
where Elizabeth was also a member of the ELCA and actively participated in quilting for Lutheran World Relief. Elizabeth was a member
of Plentywood Lutheran Church after the Emmaus Congregation disbanded.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by: her parents; her husband, Vernon; her son Duane; and her great-grandson, Jacob Gilbertson. Her
three brothers, two sisters and four of their spouses also preceded her in death: Harold and Esther Johanson; Ruth and Arnold Rukke;
Ernest Johanson; Gerhard Johanson and his wife Florence; and, Thora and Cy Wigness.
She is survived by her daughter- in-law, Carol Brenteson. Her granddaughters and their families: Linda, Chris, Nicholas and Alexander
Ator; Julie, Jon, Kirsten and Chris Anvik and Kelsey Rice; and, Sheila, Kevin, Gabriel, Jonah, Isaac and Elizabeth Gilbertson. Sisters-in-
law: Ellen (Ernest) and Margaret (Gerhard) Johanson; Doris Gunderson and Bernice Brenteson as well as many nieces, nephews and
their families.
| 1913 - 2009 |
Remembering Elizabeth