Billie Crane

Billie Crane went home to Jesus on August 16th, 2023. Her last days were spent expressing love for her family. Her daughter and grandchildren were there for her last days.
Billie was born in Niarada, Montana, in May 1937, to James and Mabel Keiser. She had two older sisters: Joan and Mary Lou, a younger sister, Susan, and a younger brother, John.
Billie went to school in Lonepine, MT and always got good grades. She said that she loved school.

She had four children, Sharon & Debbie from her first marriage, and Lonnie and Beverly from her second marriage. She loved being a grandma to her nine grandchildren. She helped Beverly deliver two of her children.
Billie spent most of her life in Montana and Arizona.
No matter what the job, Billie put her all into everything she did.
She was a clerk for years at the Bigfork Mercantile. She also worked at The Jug Tree and the Christmas tree farms in Bigfork, Montana. Later in life, she worked for several years as a bus driver and aide for Mt Tipton school in Dolan Springs, AZ. Her coworkers and students loved Miss Billie. She spent years doing volunteer work in Chloride, AZ with the meals on wheels program and was a member of the Chloride Ladie’s Auxiliary.

Billie loved the outdoors and felt great joy when wading in the rivers and streams with a pole in her hand. She was happiest when with friends and family fishing, camping, gardening, rock hounding, and kicking up her heels on the dance floor. While living on the East Shore of Flathead Lake with her husband Charles Crane and her two children, Lonnie and Beverly, she would milk the cow twice a day, and tend to the garden and animals on the farm, while working full time. She hosted wonderful gatherings for family and friends and cooked amazing meals.

Billie never ceased to offer a helping hand to her family and friends, whether it be transportation, meals, nursing you back to health, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on or helping with housework.
Billie learned to survive some of life’s toughest situations with tenacity and grace. Her coffee and cocktails were almost as strong as she was. She excelled at being a friend, a mother, a wife, a grandmother, an aunt, a sister, and a daughter. She was tough and stern when she needed to be but always had a gentle loving touch for those that needed it. She spoke her mind and told the truth. She had faith in God and loved her country.

Billie planted flowers and food in the spring, canned food, and shucked corn in the summers, hunted for Shaggy mane mushrooms and deer in the fall and shoveled snow and chopped wood in the winter. Every season included a pot of coffee going all day. She could catch a fish in the dark and kill a rattlesnake with a shovel. Billie Crane could out-shoot, out-drink, out-fish and outsmart many, but could be as sweet as the pies she baked when she saw fit.
She meant so much to numerous people. She was loved deeply by all of them.
Billie is survived by her sister, Susan, her children Lonnie, Beverly, Sharon & Debbie and her grandchildren Cody, Casey, Kai, Kelsey, Tracey, Randy, Angela & Tim. She is proceeded in death by her parents, her sisters, Joan & Mary Lou, and her brother John, as well as a grandchild, Ryan.

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