KAREN PARONTO, Obituary

Karen Ann Paronto, 48, owner of Northern Casuals, died Wednesday at her Havre home of cancerous tumors.

Cremation has taken place. Funeral Mass is 3 p.m. Friday at St. Jude Catholic Church with Fr. Robert D. Grosch officiating. Graveside services are to follow at the Highland Cemetery.

Fellowship is to follow graveside services at the Havre VFW.

Karen was born June 22, 1953, to Blair and Dorothy (Heckel) Paronto at Billings. She attended schools in Havre, graduated from Havre High, and attended both Flathead Valley Community College and Montana State University-Northern. She worked for Buttery's Foods, from which she retired after 25 years. When she retired, Karen opened her own clothing store in the Atrium Mall called Northern Casuals. Northern Casuals fulfilled Karen's life-long dream of being her own boss.

She was an avid softball player and enjoyed bowling and fishing. She was active in the United Way and was one of the organizers for the Cancer Relay for Life.

She was preceded in death by her father, Blair Paronto in 1997.

Survivors include her mother, Dorothy Paronto Havre; sisters Linda Ryan Cohasset, Minn., and Jackie Derdall of Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, Canada; brother, Al Paronto of Van Nuys, Calif.; a niece and four nephews.

Memorials in Karen's honor may be made to the At Home Solutions, 175 Commons Loop #400, Kalispell, MT 59901. At Home Solutions is for patients who go home with a terminal illness. They provided all of her life sustaining/nutritional needs during her illness.

Services and arrangements are under the direction of the Holland and Bonine Funeral Home.