Inez Irene Johnson Sluggett, 92, passed away at the Big Sandy Medical Center on Saturday, February 16, 2008, of natural causes.
Inez was born in Great Falls on July 24, 1915, to Manville Mack and Mathilda Loretta Lehfeldt Johnson, who lived southeast of Big Sandy on the Evers homestead. When Inez was two, her family moved to Ohio, where she lived until she met and married Lester Sluggett on Nov. 1, 1935, in Ripley, N.Y. After honeymooning at Niagara Falls, Inez and Lester moved to his farm/ ranch southeast of Big Sandy and raised their family there until they moved to town in 1959. She was a farm/ranch wife who helped with the animals, with the field work, planted and harvested a garden and canned foods for the family’s use throughout the year. Inez couldn’t cook very well when she was first married, but soon learned, and made some of the best bread and pies in the country. In later years, she was well known for the “Grandma cookies” that she baked and shared with everyone, but most especially her beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren. Inez was a member of the Big Sandy United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women, the Rebecca Lodge; she volunteered at the Big Sandy Historical society, and was active in the Big Sandy Senior Center. Inez was preceded in death by her husband, Lester; young son Kenneth; infant daughters Jeanette and Shirley; stepdaughters Helen Shankle and Louise Thompson; son-in-law Roy Robertson; grandsons Timothy Gasvoda, Lari Sluggett and Greg Chambers, and greatgranddaughter Indigo Robertson Beyer. Inez is survived by one sister- in-law, Mary Johnson of Lovington, N.M.; her children, Earl Sluggett of Big Sandy, Lester and Carol (Henderson) Sluggett of Roy, Doris and Francis Gasvoda of Big Sandy, Sharon Robertson of Big Sandy, Nancy and Lenard Jappe of Big Sandy and Marna and Wayne Chambers of Foxfield, Colo.; 19 grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren; Thompson, Galbavy, and Shankle family members, and countless special nieces and nephews and extended family. When health permitted, Inez enjoyed working in her yard and it was only in the past two summers that she hired her lawn mowed. Those of you who knew her a few years ago know she was a doer- she would be running to get tasks completed in a timely manner. Volunteering was a given for Inez and she was happy to furnish food or whatever needed done for her club duties. For all time, Inez was generous to others, but frugal with her own needs. Woe unto you if you had a light burning unnecessarily or left the furnace turned up at night or used too much water in the shower. Having existed through the depression years, she was always on the lookout for those who wasted resources. A celebration of Inez’s life was held at the Big Sandy United Methodist Church on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008; private family interment services were held Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008, with Pastor Marvin Eldridge as officiant. Honor attendees and ushers were some of her grandchildren. Joanne Kibbe and Linda Ophus provided the instrumental music and Marla Ray was the soloist. Services were in the care of Holland & Bonine Funeral Home of Havre.
