ANNIE TORKELSON Obituary

BIG SANDY - Annie A. Torkelson, a retired bar owner, died Sunday, March 2, 2003, at the Big Sandy Medical Center of natural causes. She was 92.

A funeral service will be 2 p.m. Friday at the Adams Memorial Chapel in Malta. Interment will be in the Malta Cemetery.

Annie was born April 3, 1910, to Henry and Sophia (Siskavich) Andrews in Budapest, Hungary, while her family was making the journey from Austria to Canada. Her family homesteaded in the Caldwell area in northern Phillips County. She attended school in Caldwell and in Dodson.

Annie married George Torkelson on March 12, 1929. They homesteaded at Horseshoe Lake. They left the ranch to buy a caf and hotel at Loring, and later bought the Mint Bar in Turner, which they ran for 15 years. They went on to run bars in Saco and Square Butte.

They later lived and ranched north of Chinook for 10 years before moving to Fort Shaw. When George became ill, they moved to Great Falls, where George died on June 12, 1969.

Annie continued to live on the west side of Great Falls and enjoyed an active social life until moving to the Big Sandy Medical Center in November of 2000, where she died peacefully.

Annie will be remembered for her love of people, laughter and jokes. She was a great homemaker and cook and would insist on fixing every visitor a meal. She loved to work in the garden, but most of all she was a wonderful dancer and a dear friend.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Sophia Andrews; husband, George; infant son, George Jr.; sisters, Nina Warren and Ella Hastings; and brothers, Mike and John Andrews.

Survivors include her brother, Peter J. Zaparynuk of Big Sandy; sister, Mary Maloney Kinder of Havre; longtime friend, Lew Savik of Great Falls; and many nieces and nephews.

Adams Funeral Home of Malta is in charge of arrangements.