Obituary - Katie Margaret (Butler) Springer

Katie Margaret (Butler) Springer, 90, of Havre, died of natural causes Wednesday, Nov.  26, 2014, surrounded by family at Northern Montana Care Center.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at the Fifth Avenue Christian Church.

Katie was born March 14, 1924, on the family homestead, 37 miles north of Havre, Montana. She was the third child of Earl and Bertha (Latimer) Butler. The family farmed and ranched, and her father broke horses. Her mother died from complications in childbirth, leaving Earl and the children when Katie was only 5. She moved to Des Moines, Iowa, at the age of 12, where she was raised by her father's sister, Nina. She cleaned houses while in high school and worked in a Victorian tea house near the capitol building that specialized in baked pike. She graduated from East High School in 1944.

After finishing school, she worked at a defense plant during the war inspecting 30- and 50-caliber machine gun shells. Katie later returned to Havre to help her father on the ranch. She also worked in Havre at the Buttrey's Department Store.

It was in Havre that she met the love of her life. Clifford Vernon Springer passed her in a car on the Amos Trail on her way to town. He thought she was so cute that he turned around and passed her again for a second look. The two were married Nov. 10, 1944, and were inseparable, sharing virtually everything, for more than 63 years.

Cliff and Katie raised six boys on their farm almost 20 miles north of Havre. Family was a very important part in their lives, and they dedicated themselves to make sure they were all clothed and fed. She stood beside him as a willing and able hand - whether pulling a calf or handing him a wrench. They were partners.

The couple belonged to the Blue Horizon Good Sams Club, members of the First Baptist Church, helped to organize the Sunrise 4-H Club and worked at the election polls. Katie also belonged to the ladies home extension group and traveled North Havre collecting funds and volunteering for the American Heart Association.

Family, friends and traveling salesman alike all planned their visits according to Katie's baking schedule. Fresh baked bread and rolls on Saturdays and homemade cinnamon rolls on Monday. Coffee time was at 10 and 4 with fresh coffee and a delicious cookie/bar/cake/roll. She was well known for her baking, and would spend most of the fall baking cookies so she could send each grandchild their own assortment for the holidays. She was an avid knitter and loved to sew. Katie loved to read and even more to write poetry. She was always jotting down poems or ideas on napkins and loose paper to store in her book.

Above all, Katie was a strong Christian that led by example. She volunteered and participated at the First Baptist Church. She taught her family to put God first and to help those who did not have enough. Her deepest values were honesty, religion, fairness and trust in God. She was beloved by all who knew her and had a smile and witty sense of humor that could light up a room.

Katie was preceded in death by her husband, Clifford; parents, Earl and Bertha; sisters, Helen and Hazel, and brothers, Edwin and Leslie Butler.

She is survived by her sons, Earl (Susan) Springer of Kalispell, Lowell (Mary) Springer of Bozeman; Dennis (Kitty) Springer of Livingston, David (Kim) Springer of Havre, Phil (Molly) Springer of Conrad and Jay Springer of Havre; sister, Lettie Lee of Lynnwood, Washington; 19 grandchildren; 24 grandchildren (and two more on the way); brother-in-law, Martin Springer of Havre; sisters-in-law, Betty Anderson of Harlem, Betty Springer of Kremlin, and Ila Knudson of Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorials can be made in Katie's name to the American Heart Association.