BARBARA ANEZ obituary

Barbara Mary Anez, 89, died Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004, at a Havre care center of natural causes.

A prayer Vigil service will be 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Holland & Bonine Funeral Chapel. Her funeral Mass will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Jude

Catholic Church with Father Robert D. Grosch officiating. A fellowship luncheon will follow at the St. Jude Parish Center.

Barbara was born Nov. 21, 1915, in Minneapolis, Minn., to George and Clara Kuth. She graduated from St. Margaret's Academy in 1932, and worked as a waitress in a diner for a time after graduation.

She worked for American Electric Co. in Minneapolis, handling sales and preparing estimates for wiring projects. Barbara was a federal government employee in Washington, D.C., during World War II and then returned to Minneapolis to work for a film company. She later joked that she almost did not get married because she was so valuable to the company that her boss didn't want to let her quit and move to Montana.

When Barbara met Harry F. "Guy" Anez, it was a fluke. They met in December 1945 when she was maid of honor at a friend's wedding and Guy was best man for the groom, his brother. Barbara's sister was supposed to be the maid of honor, but had to bow out after giving birth just a few days before the wedding.

Barbara and Guy began a lost-distance, yearlong courtship through the mail - he in Montana and she in Minnesota.

Guy and Barbara married Feb. 15, 1947, at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. They moved to Montana, living briefly in Sidney before moving to Kalispell. There, they lived in a rustic clapboard house on a piece of land large enough to be used as a Christmas tree sales lot one year. Barbara and Guy were paid to watch the inventory.

It was in Kalispell that Jim, the first of their six children, was born. After a year-and-a-half there, they moved their young family to Havre, where they lived ever since. In 1957, Guy and Barbara bought their first house at 621 13th St. She lived there until 2001, when she moved to the Northern Montana Care Center.

In 1969, when half her children had graduated from high school, Barbara began selling Avon. During the next 28 years, she won numerous awards from the national cosmetics company. Barbara was a welcome visitor to the homes of her customers because she enjoyed visiting with her customers as much as selling them Avon products. She boasted that she willingly warned buyers when she questioned the value or pricing for some of her wares. Health problems forced her to retire from Avon in 1997.

Barbara was preceded in death by Guy in 1994; sister, Mary Denning in 1993; and brother, John Kuth in 2001.

Survivors include her sister, Betty Gossman, of Minneapolis; brothers, Bill Kuth, of Minneapolis; sister-in-law, Shirley Burkett, Fancy Farm. Ky.; children, Jim (Sue) Anez, East Wenatchee, Wash.; Marge (Jim) Burton, Bellingham, Wash.; Bob (Barb) Anez, Helena; Daryl (Kelly) Anez, Havre; Cathe (Rob) Donnelly, Bellingham, Wash.; and Betty (Phil) Williams, Havre; 12 grandchildren; and three great grandchildren.

Memorials in Barbara's honor may be made to the St. Jude Parish Center or to Bear Paw Hospice.

Services and arrangements are under the direction of Holland & Bonine Funeral Home.