Obituary - Alice M. O'Leary

Alice M. O'Leary, 86, passed away due to natural causes on Sunday, July 25, 2021, at the Care and Comfort Home.

A Rosary will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, August 2, 2021, and her funeral Mass will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 3, 2021, all at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church with Father Daniel Wathen officiating. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery.

Alice's family has suggested memorial donations be made to the St. Jude School or to St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church.

Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangements.

Please visit Alice's online memorial page and leave a message of condolence for her family at http://www.hollandbonine.com.

Alice was born on July 7, 1935, in Havre, to Lawrence and Helen (Bahnmiller) Jenkins. While she was growing up, her family lived west of Big Sandy, then the family moved to Barber, and then to Harlowton. Alice loved working the farmland with her father. She did her share of stacking bales, driving horses on the machinery, haying, and even shearing sheep, although hanging on to them could be challenging at times. She enjoyed letting the ewes loose so they could jump up and look at her as though they were saying "thank you."

She graduated from Harlowton High School in 1953. Following graduation, she moved to Havre to attend Northern Montana College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1957. On August 18, 1958, Alice married James P. O'Leary at St. Jude Catholic Church in Havre, and the couple was blessed with a son, Douglas, who learned early on not to tell his mother that he was "bored." She always found a job for him.

For 43 years, one year in Great Falls and 42 years in Havre, Alice taught elementary school in Great Falls and Havre. While teaching, she also earned her master's degree, and was two years into obtaining her doctorate. She was a very dedicated teacher, whose favorite times in the classroom were watching a child's eyes light up when they finally grasped a new concept. Alice believed her hard work was well worth the effort she put into it. Her students remember that one of her favorite sayings for when they were about to get into trouble was "Do you want to lock horns with Mrs. O?" She always enjoyed the return visits of her students after graduation from high school. They always thanked her for instilling a love of learning in them that inspired them to continue their education. Alice retired from Lincoln-McKinley Elementary School in 2000.

She and Jim had a great life together, and they enjoyed traveling together all over the countryside and abroad, including Australia, New Zealand, and Rome. Alice enjoyed quilting, handcrafts, ceramics, making porcelain dolls, scrapbooking, gardening, Big Band music, and dancing with her husband Jim. Alice was a member of St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church and the Catholic Daughters of America.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James O'Leary, in 2021; her great-granddaughter Tinsley Richmond; her mother, Helen Jenkins in 1982; and her father, Lawrence Jenkins in 1998.

Alice is survived by her son Douglas (Kimberly) O'Leary of Havre; her two grandchildren, Alicia (Jessie) Richmond of Havre and Bryant O'Leary of Bozeman; her three great-grandchildren Parker, Brantlee, and Jaxtyn Richmond; her four sisters, Grace (Jim) Glivar of Bozeman, Darlene (Joey) Malsam of Chinook, Connie (Robert) Stone of Billings, and Helen Jenkins of Molt; her brother, Lee Jenkins of Harlowton; sister-in-law, Theresa (Tony) Lirette of Lacy, Washington; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.