Obituary - Debbie Kuka Springer Burrington

Debbie Kuka Springer Burrington, 71, died in Great Falls, MT, Friday June 17, 2022. 

Cremation has taken place. Services will be Sept. 10 at 11 a.m. at the First Alliance church of Great Fall at 908 47th St S, Great Falls, MT 59405, with a celebration to follow at a local park. 

Debbie was born Feb.4, 1951, in Havre to Archie and Mildred Kuka, and raised in Havre, where she attended St. Jude's Elementary School and Havre High School, graduating in 1969. She married Martin Springer in 1978, and the couple had a son, Scott, and a daughter, Merissa.

They lived in Midland, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska, where Debbie owned and operated a cleaning service and later lived in Lakeside, MT, for several years.

After their divorce in 1988, Debbie returned to Havre with her children. She continued to work in home health care, and later for the Havre Public Schools as an aide.  

Jan 22, 2000, Debbie married Jim Burrington and they made their home in Havre before moving to Great Falls in 2018. They enjoyed camping and fishing, and their garden.  

As a little girl, Debbie was fascinated by the cheerleaders for basketball at Havre Central High School and had become a mascot and junior cheerleader for them. As an adult, she and Jim enjoyed the basketball games at MSU-Northern while her health permitted.

She loved all animals, large and small, from the snails and crawfish she collected as a child to the birds and squirrels at her feeder and her dogs she adored so much. She enjoyed painting brightly colored, wooden bird houses and was an avid reader of fiction. 

Debbie overcame a fight with cancer in 2021 and worked hard since then to regain her strength. She had an enduring faith that sustained her during difficult times. This spring, she planted her flower garden and was enjoying the baby squirrels that visited their feeder. 

She is survived by her husband in Great Falls; her son, Scott Springer, Los Angeles, CA; her daughter, Merissa Springer Lambert, Bozeman, MT: her brother, Paul Kuka, Havre; her sister, Mariella Daley, Kalispell, MT; nephew, Matthew Kuka, Yelm, WA; a niece, Katherine Kuka Neaves, and a great-nephew, Joshua Neaves, both in Colorado Springs, CO; and a stepdaughter, Twila Inman of Conrad. Between them, Debbie and Jim had five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Preceding her in death were her parents; her stepdaughter Jessica Burrington; her brother-in-law, Kenneth Daley; and her niece Jody Daley Herron.