Alma S. Edwards

Alma Sederdahl Edwards, 81, died Thursday, March 6 at the Immanuel Lutheran Nursing Home in Kalispell. Alma had formerly resided in Libby for over 60 years. She was born in Hettinger, N.D. on Jan. 26, 1927 to Floyd and Agnes Sederdahl. The family spent the next years on the family homestead on the North Fork of the Grand River in Perkins County, S.D.

In 1936 the family moved to McCone City, Mont. during the construction of the Ft. Peck Dam along with other families from the Dakotas. In December 1938 the family moved to their cabin on Pinkham Creek near Eureka.

Alma attended grade school on Pinkham Creek and high school in Eureka. When her parents went to Spokane, Wash. to work during the war, Alma stayed in Libby with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. I.C. Quien. She met Lovell Dutton and they married. They had three children: Juanita, Russell and Clark. They were later divorced.

Alma was employed by Libby Public Schools as a bus driver and custodian. She met Frank Gill and they were married in 1968. They operated a commercial cleaning business in Libby. Frank preceded her in death in 1974.

She married Elmer Edwards on March 15, 1975. They enjoyed their years together until his death in 1989.

Alma was a very skilled carpenter; she did most of the building of four different homes in Libby and helped her mother, also a carpenter, keep up the little cabin on Pinkham Creek. Although a petite woman, she could be seen hauling rolls of roofing up a steep roof top with ease. Her workshop was filled with every kind of tool and many projects in various stages of construction.

Alma enjoyed camping, knitting, crocheting, sewing, gardening and cross-country skiing. She also enjoyed her little tractor which she used to keep her home and grounds up. Alma liked to learn about family history and made a trip to Iowa to see where her family lived after coming from Norway and Sweden.

She was also preceded in death by her parents, a grandson Christopher Dutton and brothers Donald and Les Sederdahl.

Survivors include her children: Juanita Oman and her husband Dale of Moses Lake, Wash., Russ and his wife Brenda Dutton of Kalispell, and Clark Dutton of Spanaway, Wash.; stepdaughters Vicky Edwards and Sebrina Graves and her husband Rick of Libby; and stepson Thon Edwards. Also surviving are her grandchildren: Annie, Holly, Shandon, Justin, Marissa, Shawn, Alice and Clark, Jr. as well as 13 great-grandchildren. Also surviving are numerous nieces and nephews including Donna Gentry and Dennis, Gary, Donald, Ray and Ken Sederdahl.

Services will be at 3 p.m. on Thursday at the Tobacco Valley Cemetery in Eureka. Visitation will be from 1-5 p.m. on Wednesday at the Nelson & Vial Funeral Home in Libby and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Nelson & Vial Funeral Home in Eureka.