GREAT FALLS Ida Jodlowski Hull, 92, formerly of Chester, died Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, at her home in Great Falls, where she was being cared for by her family and visiting hospice nurses.
Memorial services will be 11:00 a.m. Dec. 7at the University of Great Falls Trinitas Chapel. Her ashes will be buried at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Missoula. Ida was born Sept. 9, 1915, at Mountain Fork in Polk County, Ark., to John J. McBride and Freddie L. Smith. Ida received her early education in Arkansas, then finished her formal schooling at Haskell, Okla. She met and married Frank Jodlowski in 1932 at Oklahoma City, where the Jodlowski family owned a custom mattress factory. Ida and Frank worked in the factory and raised three children. After their marriage ended in divorce in 1939, Ida moved to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. While there she worked in the fruit orchards and learned to fly airplanes. At the outbreak of WWII, Ida attended welding school. In 1942, she went to work in the California shipyards, doing overhead, flat and vertical welding. There she met her second husband, Ben A. Hull, who had been a welder on the Pennsylvania pipeline. Ida and Ben were married in Arkansas in 1945. In the few years that followed, the Hulls ran cafes and coffee shops in Delnorte, Colo., Joplin, Mo., and Plattsmouth, Neb. In the late 1940’s Ben developed medical problems; during his recuperation period, Ida worked as a receptionist at a health spa in Idaho Springs, Colo. From 1949-1951 the Hulls lived at Enders, Neb. Ben worked construction on Enders Dam. Ida managed and supervised the construction cafeteria and dormitory, which fed and housed about 1,500 workers. She also found time in Enders to learn how to sew, tat, and crochet. In 1952, they moved to Kopperl, Texas, where Ben worked as a welder on an expansion bridge. While there, Ida took some first-aid classes, then began teaching first-aid to students at Kopperl High School. In 1953, they transferred to Chamberlain, S.D. to work on a bridge being built over the Missouri River. Ida and Ben lived in Chester from 1953-55. Ben worked on the construction of Tiber Dam and Ida worked at the local telephone office. She was also employed as a clerk at the Liberty County Treasurer’s Office for a short while. The Hulls lived and worked various jobs in Great Falls and Helena before moving to Bellingham, Wash. While there, Ida took nursing classes, then began working as a visiting nurse to the homebound. In 1966 they moved to San Diego, Calif. Ida served as caregiver to her invalid mother and agreed to take care of her 18-month-old grandson, Paul Seidlitz, so that he could attend a “Speech and Hear” school in San Diego. While there, Ben worked on the construction of Highway 8 near Jacumba. When Ben’s health began to fail in the mid-1970s they moved back to Montana. They retired to Missoula, where Ben died in 1977. Ida lived with her son, Julius, and her grandson, Paul, then in 1995 they all moved to Great Falls, where they have lived since. Ida enjoyed playing marbles and cards. She loved gardening and flowers. She enjoyed music and singing, working crossword puzzles and reading. Over the years she had many collections, including cups and saucers, agates and stones, coins and others. She and Ben loved to fish and hunt, and Ida loved all animals, especially dogs and birds. She always had puppies around the house and a few parakeets, too. She is survived by her daughter, Patricia (Jack) Seidlitz of Chester; sons, Frank (Janet) Jodlowski of Kirtland, Ohio and Julius Jodlowski of Great Falls; sister, Nellie Banning of Wichita, Kan.; eight grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces. Ida was preceded in death by her parents; husbands; a stillborn son; grandson, Gary Seidlitz, and brother, Charles McBride. Arrangements are by Rockman Funeral Chapel of Chester.
