On October 12th 2017 our beloved sister, and wife, Marie Thoeny, 85 years old, died. She and her husband Matt Thoeny, were residents of the Beehive in Great Falls, Montana, where Matt continues to live. Maie’s mother Mary, and five siblings, were born in the Belt area. Marie was born during the depression on January 28th,  1932,  in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Mary Tkach and Marco Rudman. Marco was a coal miner who died from an infection when she was a baby. She never knew her father. Her mother and she moved back to Great Falls, Montana soon after.  When she was eight years old, mother Mary Rose, married Ernest V. Ahlquist who adopted her and she became part of the Ahlquist family. Marie and Matt were very attentive to our mother Mary, as she aged.

Marie loved all people, especially children, and animals. They had many cats they cared for lovingly. Marie was very kind and generous, knitting mittens for needy children, baking and cooking to share during the holidays. She worked hard all her life. She received two years of college. She worked at a paper company first, then a boarding house, cooking and cleaning. She met her first husband there, Bob Smith. He died tragically in a hunting accident after their marriage of only a few years. She married Matt Thoeny some years later. 

She worked as a sales clerk for over 30 years at Woolworth’s. She loved bowling and won trophies for the Ahlquist-sponsored team. She loved dancing and country music.  She was a member of the Flower Club, sewing groups, and she entered jams, pickles, and baked goods into the Montana State Fairs. She donated generously to animal shelters and related services. She and Matt cared for many cats over the year. She loved her rural visits to her nieces in Eastern Montana. She leaves her husband Matthew, and two remaining sisters, Jeanette Revela and Roberta Ahlquist, of Palo Alto, California and seventeen nieces/nephews, two in California.

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