Lila Dorinda McQueen
Lila Dorinda McQueen (Rindy), 65, passed away on Thursday, May 7, 2015, surrounded by her loving family and friends who supported her during her illness with ALS.
Cremation has taken place and a celebration of her life will be held at the Libby Cemetery at a later date. Her closest family and friends will be notified to join in this private gathering, where she will be laid to rest beside George McQueen.
Lila was born on May 13, 1949, in Cut Bank. She attended elementary school in Columbia Falls, Woods Bay and Lakeside, while spending countless summers at the Snow Slip Inn, which her parents built and ran for many years. She finished out her education in Libby, where she graduated in 1967.
Lila and her husband, George McQueen, welcomed their only child in July 1972. She later attended cosmetology school in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 1974, returning to Libby where she worked as a hairdresser for many years at Esther’s Beauty Salon. She raised her daughter, Laurinda, in Libby, Brady and Conrad.
Lila began her TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly) journey in 1984. She got started in Brady. Once she returned to Libby in 1991, she joined TOPS 126. In August 1997, she started TOPS 505. She was named Queen in 1999 and honored in the spring of 2000 in San Antonio, Texas.
After moving to Whitefish in 2007, she settled into her community and found her TOPS family again in 2010. During her years of service she was nominated and served as president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, weight recorder and assistant weight recorder.
She loved knitting, crocheting and making scrubbies for her friends and family. She knitted afghans for every one of her grandchildren, nieces and nephews upon their graduation from high school, as a subtle implication of her warmth and love. She also loved her furry companions, her cat, Zoe, and her Australian shepherd, Lady. She met with friends weekly to play pinochle and did so for many years.
Lila was surrounded by a huge social network of friends. Those of you who knew Lila, knew she was a die-hard Bronco fan. She opened her heart and home to any and all in need. She will be loved and missed by all who knew her.
A quotation from her daughter’s scrapbook reflects her relationship with her mother.
“My Mother kept a garden, a garden of the heart. She planted all the good things that gave my life its start. She turned me to the sunshine and encouraged me to dream, fostering and nurturing the seeds of self-esteem, and when the winds and rains came she protected me enough, but not too much because she knew I needed to grow strong and tough. Her constant good example always taught me right from wrong. Markers for my pathway that will last a lifetime long. I am my mother’s garden. I am her legacy and I hope today she feels the love reflected back from me.” This is not where it ends, I will see you again. I will always love you, la Madre, your daughter.
She is survived by her only daughter, Laurinda Hobson of Whitefish; her grandchildren, Braya and Riley Hobson of Whitefish, Nick Pruttis of Missoula and Nathan Pruttis of Conrad; her sister, Donna Opalka of Davis, Calif.; nieces, Tina Bets His Medicine and Nancy Speed of Wolf Point, Jeanna Speed of Columbia Falls and Rebecca Border; nephews, Terence Lott, David and Curtis Border and numerous great-nieces, great-nephews, great-great-nieces and great-great-nephews, as well her best friend of 58 years, Shirley Linder.
Lila is preceded in death by her parents, Samuel Iowa and Vera Mae Border; sister Bonnie Border; great-nephew, Andrew Diemunsch; niece, Mae Ruth Fewer and brother, Richard Border.
Thank you goes to Jeremy Holm and Donna Opalka, for their ongoing love and support in assisting Lila’s needs during this difficult time. We are all ever so grateful.