January 28 1920 June 28 2019
Kathleen’s Obituary Kathleen “Kay” Doreen (Morrow) Bateman was born January 28, 1920, in Fort Benton, Montana, and passed from this life June 28, 2019 in Pleasant Grove, Utah, at the tender age of 99. Her passing leaves a hole in the hearts of countless people whose lives she has touched. Although she only gave birth to one son, she mothered countless others as a scout leader and surrogate mother to kids whose lives were in transition. Kay wasn’t an outwardly religious woman, but she lived a Christian life. She fed the hungry, clothed the naked, gave shelter to the homeless, and bound up the wounds of both man and beast. No one ever left her table hungry. Kay was raised, along with her two sisters, on a small farm/ranch operation on the Shonkin Creek south of Fort Benton. Kay and her sisters were frequently referred to as “Charlie’s boys”, as they worked along with the men in the fields and drove animals by horseback. Following high school graduation from Fort Benton High School, she worked as a secretary for the local mayor and was put in charge of the ceremonies for Shep’s burial. She had seen him many times when she accompanied her father to the local grain elevators. Her knowledge of Shep is a bit different than what the dog’s history has been made out to be. Having been very close to her father, Kay returned to the farm after she and her late husband, August “Soggy” Bateman, had worked in the shipyards during WWII where she worked as a secretary. Kay loved the land and the animals. Her passions for outdoor life and work helped their small farm/ranch operation run well through both good times and bad. They retired in 1982 and moved to Fort Benton, renting an apartment at the Pioneer Lodge. In 2010, Kay moved into the Sunrise Bluffs to be close to a long-time friend Ray Bennett and enjoyed a wonderful friendship with him during his remaining years. This remarkable woman could, and did, work from before sunrise until well after dark, seven days a week, for years during seeding, haying, harvesting, and calving. She could feed a large crew breakfast, weed the garden, gather the eggs, tend the baby, put up hay with the tractor and baler, run lunch out to the workers in the fields, round up the cattle, fix fence, and then at the end of the day, serve a meal fit for a king – all without a dishwasher or microwave (and in the early years even without electricity or running water). Her Sugar Cookies, Almond Rocha, and Angel Food Cake were out of this world. She did all this while remembering to stop and truly hear the call of the meadowlark, to quietly observe how the animals on the farm interacted, to make friends with wild animals (like a bird that for a few summers called to get her attention when a rattlesnake came into the yard), and to look over her small kingdom by horseback. She taught by example how to tend the roses but to also enjoy their beauty and fragrance. For more the 40 years, one annual event that she so enjoyed was the arrival of a group of pheasant hunters from Richmond, Virginia. The day before pheasant season opened, she would take her.22 rifle and get two pheasants (always head shots) and prepare a pheasant dinner for the group the night before season opened. Kay outlived all but one, Bill Steele, who still returns to Fort Benton nearly every year with his wife, Pooh. She was known to them as the “Cattle Queen of the Prairies”. There will be many things, for those who knew her, that will be missed, but perhaps most, we will miss her quick wit and brilliant mind. She was a great card player, enjoyed pinochle, poker, and cribbage, and the social humor that accompanied these activities. She also enjoyed bowling. She loved to joke and laugh until her eyes watered. The meal that was her life included hard work as the main course and hard play as dessert. She set an example of integrity, loyalty, hard work, and love. She wasn’t one to beat around the bush. If she didn’t like what you were doing, she let you know about it and that she expected better from you in the future. These lessons were not always taught with tenderness, but they were always forged with love and based on treating others with respect and dignity. Kay was preceded in death by her father (Charles W. Morrow) and mother (Edna M. [Manual] Adamson), husband (August [Soggy] J. Bateman), two sisters (Ruth M. [Sis] Fiers and Edna Jo Lahti), and two nieces, (Suzanne [Lahti] Lord and Linda [Bateman] Meeks). She is survived by her son Charles J. Bateman and unofficially adopted son Joseph Kowalchuk and seven grandchildren: Debbie D. Gerber (Parry), Dan Bateman (Alicia), Rebecca J. Nix (Ron), David J. Bateman, Thomas W. Bateman (Erin), Robert J. Bateman (Evelyn), and Amanda M. Robbins (Peter); 29 great grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; three nieces, Francis (Hunter) Bateman, Zin [Fiers] Matheny, and Stevie [Lahti] Neuman; and one nephew, Tom Fiers. Funeral services will be held at the Benton Funeral Home, Saturday, July 13, 2019 at 2:00 p.m., followed by a graveside service at the Riverside Cemetery. A reception will be held at the Montana Agriculture Center following graveside services. Benton Funeral Home has been entrusted with services. Please visit Kathleen’s online memorial page at www.bentonfh to leave a message of condolence for her family. Read More
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Kathleen Doreen Bateman January 28 1920 June 28 2019.
Death notice for the town of: Fort Benton, state: Montana