Heaven called another angel home on June 17th, 2016. Lillian May Hawkins, 90, passed peacefully of natural causes in the arms of her Lord and Savior amongst family in Helena, Montana. God comes to us first and foremost through a mother’s love.
Born May 24, 1926, in Kalispell, Montana, to parents Ralph Edward and Lillian Gertrude Simpson, May was raised on the family farm in Ferndale, attending school there and graduating from high school in Big Fork. She grew up with sisters Grace and Francis, with brother Jack joining the family as the girls were starting their own families. May married Oscar Koford in Kalispell in 1945. They had one son, Daniel Mark, born shortly after Oscar passed away in 1958.
May met the love of her life, George Hawkins, and was married in 1962. She welcomed his children with loving arms – Lauri (Woolworth), Phil, Jerrilea (Archer), and Lee. The sudden family of seven soon moved to Helena and settled in Dillon where all kids attended school. The couple owned and operated Beaverhead Glass & Paint before taking off in 1976 on an Alaskan adventure managing apartment complexes. It was a joyous time for them as both enjoyed travel and being together. They managed properties in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho before finally retiring in 2001 in Idaho Falls and later Boise. George passed away in Boise in 2014.
Known as “Mimi” to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, May lived for the love of family most of all. Through a long and loving life, the extended family that she loved so much crossed generations, communities, and even boundaries of blood. She raised a family through trying circumstances, the greatest being loss of a son, a daughter, a dear son-in-law, and others much too soon. The loss of her lifetime partner two years ago was perhaps the hardest. A large photo of Dad and his twinkling eyes looked over her unto the end.
Blessed by a sharp mind and wry wit to the end, Mimi was always poking fun at herself or circumstances while being ever gentle with persons. Taking after her own mother, the greatest sparkles of Mimi’s eyes were reserved for children and animals, gifts of love born and reborn again. Her love showed continuously throughout a hard life beginning in the Great Depression, through love, loss, and love again, and finally into old age when so many, so close, had left this mortal coil before her. With grace, May accepted this pain and the physical ones arising in a body outlived, showing all around her that we do not live, nor die, alone.
May was preceded in death by her parents, sisters, husbands, son Phil, daughter Lauri, and son-in-law Gary Archer. She is survived by her brother Jack Simpson, daughter Jerrilea, sons Lee and Dan, daughter-in-law Jo Lee, and eight grandchildren: Sharlea (Archer) Watkins, Phil Archer, Johnathan Woolworth, Zia (Hawkins) Clark, Soren (Hawkins) Koford, Tyler Hawkins, Lindsey Hawkins, and Cheyenne (Hawkins) Bartelt. She left ten great-grandchildren with more on the way.
Remains will be interned at Mountain View Cemetery in Dillon with those of her husband, George, and daughter, Lauri, on July 23rd. The family asks that donations in memory of May be made to Rocky Mountain Hospice or Florence Crittenton Home, both of Helena.
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Dan Hawkins says
The family asks that donations in memory of May be made to Rocky Mountain Hospice or Florence Crittenton Home, both of Helena.
Dan Hawkins says
6 files added to the album New Album Name
Dan Hawkins says
The family asks that donations in memory of May be made to Rocky Mountain Hospice or Florence Crittenton Home, both of Helena.
Dan Hawkins says
The memorial service for Lillian May Hawkins will be held at Mountain View Cemetery in Dillon, Saturday, July 23rd, at 10:30 a.m. A reception will be held afterwards at the St. James Episcopal Guild Hall, 203 E. Glendale St. All are welcome.