By HDN Staff
GREAT FALLS Margery Alice Kirby, 79, died Monday, Sept. 25, 2001, from surgical complications at a Great Falls hospital.
A vigil service will be 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Funeral Mass will be 11 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Marge was born Jan. 19, 1922, in Stanford to Melvin and Grace (McGiffin) Cheney. She was schooled in the Stanford area. She worked as a radio operator for Western Airlines in the early 1940s.
Margery married Joseph J. Kirby at St. Ann's Rectory on Nov. 29, 1945. They moved to a ranch at Raynesford, where she took care of the hands and raised two sons. During the 1970s, she worked as a house parent at the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind.
Margery was an active member of St. Joseph's Parish in Great Falls and a leader in the cursillo movement in the 1960s and '70s.
She was an avid fan of Havre Blue Pony football and wrestling, Havre Northstar baseball, MSU football and Great Falls Dodger baseball.
She is survived by her husband, Joseph Kirby of Great Falls; sons, Michael Kirby of Great Falls and Kim Kirby of Havre; sister, Dorothy Willey of Hood River, Ore.; grandson, Josh Kirby of Havre; several loving nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to Havre-area Special Olympics, c/o Kim Kirby, or Peace Hospice in Great Falls.
