Obituary - Lilly Ruth (Gilbert) Kretchmer

Lilly Ruth (Gilbert) Kretchmer, 101, passed away due to natural causes Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at Northern Montana Hospital.

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at Fifth Avenue Christian Church with Pastor Rick Hodshire officiating. Interment will take place at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Calvary Cemetery.

Her family has suggested memorial donations be made in lieu of flowers to the Havre Elks Club, Fifth Avenue Christian Church, the Little Rockies Christian Bible Camp, or any charity that Lilly supported. Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangements.

Please visit Lilly's online memorial page to send a card or leave a message of condolence for her family at https://www.hollandbonine.com .

Lilly was born on March 12, 1922, in Worland, Wyoming, to Millard and Emma Gilbert, number 10 of 14 children. She was raised in Chinook and Harlem, graduating as valedictorian of the Harlem High School Class of 1940.

At 18, she moved to Havre to live with her older sister and brother-in-law, Elsie and Sig Nelson. They had just purchased the Glacier Motel, so Lilly had a job right away, working as a maid and room renter during the day and as a bookkeeper at night at their Oldsmobile garage just across the street, making $.75 per hour in 1942.

During the war, Lilly, Elsie, and Sig moved to Portland, Oregon, to work in the shipyards. They performed welding and other jobs on the supply ships and became very good at it. They were "our own" Rosie the Riveters in the family and were very proud of their contributions to the war effort. After the war ended, they returned home to Havre and continued to operate the motel and garage.

Lilly met and married Ray Deeds, and they had three daughters together, but later divorced. She then met Dwayne Kretchmer in 1956, and one son, Matt, was born two years later, in 1958. She raised four children, Deanna, Sandra, Jody, and Matt. Lilly and her five sisters were always ready to help each other and anyone else in the family who needed it, and they loved each other no matter what was happening.

Lilly enjoyed boating and fishing with her husband, Dwayne, at their summer home on Canyon Ferry Lake. She was baptized in 2007 by Rowlie Hutton, and has been a member of Fifth Avenue Christian Church since that time. She enjoyed bowling, and traveling and dancing with Dwayne.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Dwayne Kretchmer; daughter, Sandra (Deeds) Burrington; granddaughter, Jessica Burrington; parents, Millard and Emma Gilbert; sisters Flossie, Lucy, Elsie, and Louisa; and brothers, Charles, Andrew, Lewis, Quentin, John, Calvin, Kenney, and Gaylord Gilbert.

Lilly is survived by her three children Deanna Hale of Havre, Jody (Duane) Skoyen of Chinook, and Matt (Rose) Kretchmer of Havre; grandchildren Twila Inman, Scott Scofield, Lesley Von Eschen, Jill Cochran, Melissa Tank, Jennifer Elias, Suzanne Skoyen, and Daniel Skoyen; 15 great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; sister Iris Hay of Hood River, OR; and numerous nieces and nephews.