WILLIAM FILLER obituary

William "Bill" W. Filler, 69, died Sunday, May 2, 2004, due to an acute myocardial infarction.

A prayer vigil will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the St. Jude Catholic Church with the funeral Mass beginning 2 p.m. Friday, also at the St. Jude Catholic

Church with the Rev. Robert D. Grosch officiating. Burial will follow at the Highland Cemetery. A fellowship will be held at the St. Jude Social Hall immediately after the services at the graveside.

Bill was born in Havre on Dec. 12, 1934, to Hap and Florence (May) Filler, one of six children. A special blessing to their family was the youngest brother, Tommy, who was born with Down syndrome.

Bill attended St. Jude Elementary School and graduated from Havre High in 1953. While in high school, Bill was very active in basketball, football, baseball, swimming and diving.

Following high school, Bill joined the Army for two years. After completing his enlistment, Bill returned to Havre to attend Northern Montana College from 1955-1959.

In 1959, Bill left college to pursue a career in business finance. As his career took him several different places, he kept active in many activities such as Lions Club, Lions Swim Team, Knights of Columbus, golfing, basketball and baseball. In 1978, Bill returned to Havre to work for the First Bank System, now known as US Bank.

On Nov. 7, 1987, he married Carole A. Lindelow. Bill continued to work as a loan officer and worked his way up to being vice president of the Havre office, a position he held at the time of his retirement in 1994.

Bill once again became active with Northern Montana College upon his return to Havre. In 1979, Bill started out by serving on the annual fund-raising committee with the NMC Foundation. Bill was awarded Most Valuable Fundraiser on several occasions. Bill had also served on the Northern Montana Foundation Board for the past seven years and served as president in 1998 and 1999. Bill was also instrumental in starting the co-operative education program at First Bank in which many NMC students participated in and went on to have careers in banking.

Since his retirement, not only had Bill stayed active with the MSU-Northern Foundation, but had also been active with MSU-N sports. He directed the Men's Basketball Host Family Program in 2000 and 2001. Bill and his wife adopted several athletes to make them feel more at home in Havre. Bill never missed a basketball game or football game unless it was to babysit one of his 22 grandchildren. Bill also enjoyed traveling out of town to follow his favorite college team around the state.

Grandpa Bill will be remembered for his many fishing trips, golfing games, special Easter egg hunts and his unconditional support.

His parents and brother Bud Filler preceded Bill in death.

Survivors include his wife of 16 years, Carole A. Filler Havre; daughters, Tina (Tom) Weidmaier of Kansas City, Mo., and Tammy Eierdam of Columbia Falls; sons, Billy (Lisa) Filler of Havre, Rick (Lori) Filler of Chicago, Ill., Jamie (Molly) Filler of Portland, Ore., Gregory Filler of Las Vegas, Nev.; stepchildren, Linda (Billy) Blair of Arlington, Texas, Lisa (Randy) Hinebauch of Chinook, Megan Hill of Arlington, W.V., and Maria (Travis) Borlaug of Gildford; brothers Jim Filler of Great Falls, Dave (Sharon) Filler of Havre and Tommy Filler of Great Falls; sister, Mary (Harry) Gutherman of Great Falls; and sister-in-law, Faustine Filler of Bellview, Wash.; 22 grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorial's in Bill's honor may be made to the Montana State University-Northern Foundation, P.O. Box 1691, Havre, MT 59501.

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