RAGNA MCLEAN obituary

Ragna (Rags) McLean, 90, died on Monday, Nov. 24, 2003, at a care facility in Twin Falls, Idaho.

She was born on Aug. 19, 1913, in Hankinson, N.D., to Peter and Thora Mahlum, emigrants from Norway. Rags was the ninth of 15 children.

The

Mahlums moved to the Flathead Valley, near Kalispell, in 1917 and Rags and her siblings were raised on the family farm. Rags graduated from Flathead High School in 1933 and attended Washington State University for one year, where she took business classes while working at a sanitarium.

Rags went to work for a bank in Spokane and met the love of her life, Jack McLean, a farm boy from Plentywood, who was working for the Federal Land Bank. They were married in 1939 and moved back to Montana, where they settled in Havre. Jack died in 1994.

Rags was the ultimate homemaker and was deeply involved with the lives of her husband, her four children, her many friends and her community. She enjoyed flower gardening, her sewing club, bridge and having coffee with friends. Rags' kitchen was often the gathering place for her children's friends, where they conversed freely with her.

Rags developed a strong Christian faith and she was the superintendent of the Sunday school at the St. Marks Episcopal Church for many years. She was a Cub Scout leader, Babe Ruth Baseball leader, president of the PTA, member of the PTO and Eagles Auxiliary and was involved in many other civic and volunteer programs, including American Field Service, hosting a foreign exchange student, Keiko, from Japan in 1960-61. She loved rummage sales.

She is survived by her children, Jim (Francie) McLean of Bozeman, JoAnn (Ted) Parrish of Bainbridge Island, Wash., Dick (Diane) McLean of Havre, and Jane McLean of Twin Falls, Idaho; sisters, Margaret (Maggie) Davis and Ethel Ries; nine grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at St. Marks Episcopal Church in Havre in late spring, the date to be announced in the Havre Daily News.

Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Association-Montana Chapter, 3010, 11th Ave. North, Billings, MT 59101, or to St. Marks Episcopal Church in Havre.