Katherine M. “Kay” Hellebust, 91, died Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007, at the Northern Montana Care Center of natural causes.
Viewing will be held at the Holland & Bonine Funeral Home from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday and from 9 a. m. to noon on Friday. Her funeral service will be 2 p. m. Friday at the First Lutheran Church with Pastor Brad Ulgenes officiating, and burial will follow at the Highland Cemetery. A fellowship will be held at the church immediately after the services at the graveside. Katherine was born May 24, 1916, on a farm in Hogeland. The eldest of five daughters born to Rufus and Josephine (Naugle) Hobbs, she attended schools in Harlem graduating from Harlem High School. She attended Northern Montana College where she obtained her Montana teaching certificate. Kay taught in rural schools in North Central Montana for five years. In 1941, Kay married Ernest J. Pfister in the Bitterroot and to this union two children were born, Barbara and Gary. In 1945, Ernest was killed in World War II, and Kay returned to the Harlem area and resumed her teaching career. In 1949, she and her children moved to Havre where she taught in the Havre Public School system. Kay married Ilert Hellebust in June of 1956 and their two families became one. Kay continued her teaching career until she retired in 1975. After Ilert’s retirement the couple traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. Kay was involved in many community activities including Bear Paw Retired Teachers, Kiwanis, Sons of Norway, Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Northern Montana Hospital Volunteers and The First Lutheran Church serving in many capacities. She was also a member of the First Church of Christ Scientists. She was preceded in death by her parents, Rufus and Josephine Hobbs; first husband, Ernest Pfister; three sisters, Harriet Baker, Ethel Egeland and Lillian Schock. Kay is survived by her husband of 51 years, Ilert Hellebust of Havre; her children, Barbara (Ronald) Clark of Lakeside, Gary (Shelley) Pfister of Helena, Lynn (David) Noyes of Bozeman, Zora (Tom) McMaster of Bellingham, Wash. And Conn (Debra) Hellebust of Havre; sister, Ellen Brinkman of Great Falls; and 10 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions in Kay’s honor may be made to a memorial of one’s choice. Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home.
