HELEN BIERLE obituary

FORT BELKNAP - Helen Kirkaldie Bierle, 80, died Dec. 26, 2004, at Northern Montana Care Center in Havre due to natural causes.

A funeral service was scheduled for 11 a.m. today in Medicine Bear Lodge at Lodge Pole with burial following at the Bill Kirkaldie Family Cemetery.

Wake service began at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Medicine Bear Lodge.

Helen was the oldest of eight children born on May 25, 1924, to William and Mary (Flack) Kirdaldie on the family ranch northeast of Lodge Pole. She attended grade school at the Kirkaldie School and later high school at Flandreau, S.D. From the time she was a young girl she worked and lived many places. She started out working on the home place and later worked for Ray and May Bibeau. She later worked for a small caf in Malta and moved to Lincoln to work for the Mike Horse Mines, cooking and waiting tables.

While at Lincoln, she met and married Hance King in 1944. He died due to an accident at work eight years later.

Helen married Dan Daniels in the late 1950s and they lived in Mobile, Ala. They later divorced. In November 1962, she married Don Bierle in Great Falls, and he died in July of 1972.

Helen lived all over the United States, working as a cook and waitress. In 1984, she started working as a foster grandmother at the Lodge Pole Elementary School and later at the Harlem Elementary School. In 1990, she started taking classes at the Fort Belknap College in early childhood. After graduation in 1992, she continued working in human services with the chemical dependency counseling program. Helen was later hired by the Fort Belknap Community Council as a chemical dependence counselor trainee and later became a counselor. For 10 years Helen worked in CDC. Helen enjoyed her job and was very devoted to her position and to the AA program.

Helen knew many people from all over the country and she enjoyed visiting with all her friends. She had many adopted grandchildren from her school programs and loved being involved with all of her grandchildren and attending all of their activities.

Survivors include her son, Raymond (Carla) King Sr., of Lodge Pole; daughter, Tina (Jack) Has Eagle, of Lodge Pole; sisters, Betty (Bob) Bannick of Denver, Colo., Myrtle (Ed) Gunville and Donna (Hugo) Ekker, all of Billings; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook.