Josephine “Jody” Brooker Arthur, 89, of Great Falls, passed away at the Grandview on May 5, 2016.

Per her wishes, she will be laid to rest at Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Mausoleum after a private ceremony.

Josephine Brooker Arthur was born June 27, 1926, at the original Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, the daughter of Mary and Charles Brooker. She attended grade school here, graduated with honors from Great Falls High School, and Summa Cum Laude from the (then) College of Great Falls.

The first leg of her career was a copy writer and on-air personality of KFBB Radio, one of the early women broadcasters in Montana. She later became advertising and sales promotion manager of Buttrey’s Department Store and Men’s and Boys’ Store, continuing her broadcast career with a daily program direct from the store. She served as a consultant and commentator for the Daughters of the Nile annual Spring Fashion Show beginning in the early 1950’s, until she retired in 2006.  These activities led to her being tapped as Assistant State Advertising Director in Helena and later, State Travel Director, a position she held until resigning in 1980. During these years, she was three times awarded the LULU award for excellence in advertising by the Los Angeles Women’s Advertising Club.

She then joined her husband, Forrest Arthur, in owning and managing Jody’s Fashions, a women’s apparel shop in Helena, and the Style Shop in Great Falls. She retired from retail in 1990 to pursue personal interests.

Mrs. Arthur was a talented musician. A student of Anna DeCew Sander. She served as pianist and organist at the Central Christian Church and the First Presbyterian Church in Great Falls, the Christian Science Church in Helena, and as accompanist in Great Falls for many annual choral presentations of “The Messiah.” During her career in Great Falls, she served as Vice Chairman of the Down Town Business Council, a member of the YWCA Board of Directors, and early member and Women’s Vice President of the Great Falls Advertising Club and Vice President of the Advertising Association of the West.  In Helena, she served on the Board of the National Association of Travel Organizations, the Old West Trail Foundation, and as President of the Helena Soroptimist Club.

In retirement, she was a life member and Past President of the Soroptimist Club of Great Falls, a Life Member of the Great Falls Advertising Federation, a 50-year-plus member of the First United Methodist Church, Chairman of the Soroptimist Village Board of Directors, a member of the University of Great Falls Guild and an active member of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE.)

Travel was a lifelong hobby, she attended several Elder Hostels from Florida to California and as a member and Past President of the Friendship Force of Great Falls she had travelled widely in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husband.

Jody is survived by her good friends, Laurita and Kenneth Jensen.

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