Barbara Beatta Baird Varner Hauge, 82, passed away from our world to the next April 19, 2008, at home in Turner due to natural causes.
Please join us in celebrating her life April 28, 2008, at the Turner American Lutheran Church at 11 a.m. with interment following at the Turner Cemetery. Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook. Barbara was born on Aug. 20, 1925, in Gresham, Ore., to Stanley and Bertha (Crawford) Baird. When she was 1 the family moved back to the family ranch north of Zurich. Barbie, as she was known growing up in Zurich with brothers Allan, Wes, and sister Frances, was taught by her mother in country school. She attended Chinook Junior High School and graduated from Chinook Senior High School in 1942 while working full time as a bookkeeper for Farmers Union Oil. Barb married Frank Varner at the age of 18. Frank served with the 96th Infantry Division and was killed on Okinawa Island during the last battle of World War II. Barb worked for Chinook’s U & I Sugar Company and then for three years as bookkeeper for Coops in Opheim, and later she became the junior fieldworker for Montana Farmers Union in Great Falls. Barbara also attended Encampment for Citizenship, a training program for Leadership in Democracy in New York City where she met many famous people. Barbara also wrote for various newspapers and magazines. Barbara met Art Hauge in the autumn of 1947 and they married Jan. 30, 1948, in Conrad. To this union four sons were born, Dave, Dan, Dwight, Darel, and they raised two foster daughters, Maria Walker and Ida Purvis. They raised their family on the Hauge farm south of Turner. After 30 years of farming they retired to Turner, traveling by R.V. and abroad seeing much of the world and America. In the summer they were caretakers at Montana Farmers Union Camp in the Highwood Mountains. Her favorite pastimes included dancing, music, poetry gatherings, and scrapbooks of her and her family’s lives, her writings, reading and anything her children and grandchildren were involved with. She also put together six books of the Baird and Hauge family genealogy. Art passed away in November 2005, leaving Barbara without her best friend and the love of her life. Barbara is survived by sons Dave (Becky Metaggart) Hauge of North Pole, Alaska; Dan (Linda Jo Johansson) Hauge of Nacogdoches, Texas; Dwight (Alice) Hauge of Kremlin, and Darel (Linda) Hauge at the Turner farm; foster daughters Maria (Randy) Walker and family of Fort Belknap, and Ida (Joe) Purvis and family of Bossier City, La.; granddaughters Stacy Ann (Justin) Ballek and children of Fort Collins, Colo., and Char (Jason) Delaney of Golden, Colo.; grandsons Kaleb, Curtis, and Sean Hauge, who are all working in the movie industry in Los Angeles; Garrett Hauge of Laramie, Wyo,; Adam Hauge of Great Falls; Evan Hauge of Montana State University- Northern in Havre; sister-in-law Sara Baird of Chinook; many nieces, nephews and stepgrandchildren. She was preceded in death by husbands Frank Varner and Art Hauge; parents, Stanley and Bertha Baird; brothers Allen and Wes Baird and sister Frances Varner. Barbara’s Golden Anniversary Bookmark read, “Do the best you can for as long as you can and your life will follow Gods own plan.”
