JANE DARNER obituary

Jane Lorene Darner, 82, a retired telephone operator, died Friday, Nov. 21, 2003, at a Whitefish care center of natural causes.

A funeral service will be 1 p.m. Tuesday at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church in Havre with Pastor VaunDalee Delong officiating. Burial will

follow at the Calvary Cemetery. There will be a fellowship luncheon held at the Eagles Club immediately following the graveside services.

Jane was born on July 14, 1921, to Earl and Ida Best in Bennington, Kan. Her family moved in 1922 and settled on the U.S.-Canadian border of Sweet Grass and Coutts. Jane attended school in Coutts, Alberta, for 11 years and was an outstanding athlete in high school. She won an award as the most outstanding track athlete in the province of Alberta in 1938, and was also a member of the girls championship basketball team. She attended her last year of high school at Sweet Grass and was the only graduate in the class of 1939.

On Aug. 17, 1940, Jane married Gene Leonard Darner in Sweet Grass. They moved to Cut Bank, where she went to work for Mountain Bell Telephone. She later transferred to Havre and working as an operator until she retired in 1983.

Jane was a member of Van Orsdel United Methodist Church, Daughters of the American Revolution, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Eagle auxiliaries, Royal Neighbors of America, Lillian Rebekah Lodge and Women's Club. She was a volunteer at Northern Montana Hospital for 30 years, and was active in her church circle and Bible study groups.

Among her many hobbies, she loved to crochet and take pictures.