In Memoriam

Billings West High School

Class of 1969

This page is dedicated to our classmates and to their families. Please know that your loved one is not forgotten by the Class of 1969 and that our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Karen Sue Cassity Holm
March 28, 1951- February 13, 1978

Karen, 26, and her daughter, Paris, age 6, were killed in a car/truck accident 37 miles east of Miles City. Born in Payette, Idaho, Karen and her family moved to Billings in 1967. After graduation, she attended Montana Institute of the Bible for one year. In 1970, she married Lynn Holm and was an active pastor's wife in Billings Bible Church. Karen and Lynn moved to Baker, MT, in 1973. Karen, a devoted wife and mother, was very musically talented and served the Baker Bible Church as organist, pianist and vocalist. She also taught piano lessons in her home, enjoyed quilting, flowers and sewing.

Peggy Lee Doss Utter
January 3, 1951-December 3, 1981

Peggy was born in Billings, Montana, where she lived and grew up. In 1976, Peggy graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Eastern Montana College. She married Greg Richau in July of 1969, and later divorced. Peggy married Stephen Utter in 1978, in Gardiner, MT. Penny, her twin sister wrote, "Peggy loved the sunshine in the mountains and by the streams especially at what she called the beaver ponds in the Beartooth Mountains. She was a gifted artist who painted in oils and drew with charcoal and pen and ink, especially portraits of Indians and birds. She a very loving person and especially felt that way towards the children in her classes and to her son Michael Joseph Utter born March 22, 1980, who was the light of her life. Peggy died at her home in Billings of a gunshot wound. She was truly a beautiful person inside and out and is missed greatly by her family and many friends."

JoLynn Fritzler
August 1, 1951 – April 5, 1971

JoLynn Fritzler, 19, was born in Billings and raised in Laurel until 1967 when she moved to Billings. After graduation, JoLynn attended both Eastern Montana College and Montana State University. In 1971, she was a runnerup in the Miss Montana Universe Contest. She was killed in a car/truck accident near Grassrange, MT.

Robert D. Haworth
June 10, 1951- May 12, 1993

Robert, 41, grew up in the Billings area. He worked for Sysco Food Service of Montana and Archie Cochrane Ford. Robert enjoyed all sports, especially boxing and had received a Golden Glove boxing award. He also loved fishing and the outdoors. Robert died from complications after suffering a stroke.

Paulette Gail Hayden Shelby
June 14, 1951 – October 14, 1977

Paulette, 26, died in an automobile accident on US 310, 2 ½ miles south of Laurel. Paulette was born and raised in Billings. After graduation she married Larry E. Shelby. She worked as a supervisor in the proof department at First Northwestern Bank, Billings, and had just moved to Cody, Wyoming, a few weeks before her death.

Floyd Johnson
April 27, 1951- July 8, 1983

Floyd enjoyed motorcycling and had recently won the First Tracks award in Death Valley prior to his accident. Growing up in Billings, Floyd worked for his dad at Johnson's Conoco and in the oil fields in Gillette, Wyoming, and for Union 76 in Mammoth Lakes, California, where he moved in 1977. Floyd died July 8^th in Reno, Nevada, after a motorcycle accident.

Bonnie M. Kozloski McGinnis
May 19, 1951 - June 15, 1986

Bonnie, 35, died from injuries received in a car accident southwest of Billings. After graduation, Bonnie went to Washington D.C. to work where she met Dennis C. McGinnis. They married in 1971, and later divorced. She was a member of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. Bonnie's mother shared that she had two beautiful daughters, Denise who lives in Billings and is attending MSU and Jennifer graduating this year from Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.

Monte Bruce Lahn
May 16, 1950 - May 17, 1989

Monte was born in Miles City, Montana, and after graduation joined the Navy Seabees and served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. He was a heavy equipment operator and worked for Empire Sand and Gravel. He was a member of Operating Engineers Local No. 400, the VFW Lodge of Worden and enjoyed reading, road trips and hunting. Monte, age 39, lived in Ballantine, MT and died of an apparent heart attack May 17, 1989.

Anita Carol Loken
January 28, 1951 – March 28, 1975

After graduation, Anita, a talented musician, attended and received a music degree from North Texas Sate University in Denton, Texas, and had been teaching instrumental music in schools in Fort Worth and Dallas since her college graduation. She was killed in a car accident while on spring break vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana, March, 1975, age 24.

John M. Lunney
April 25, 1951 – August 13, 1972

John, 21, drowned at Half Moon Park near Big Timber while trying to save another boy from the water. John was born in Miles City, attended Eastern Montana College for 2 years and was a senior at the University of Montana. He was a member of St. Thomas Catholic Church and employed by Albertson's bakery in the summer of 1972.

William K. Maxfield
April 17, 1951- February 7, 1977

"Bill" as most of us knew him, graduated in 1973 from the University of Montana, with a degree in geology. In 1974 he attended Wright University in Dayton, Ohio, and earned a master's degree in hydrology. After his college studies, he was employed by the Northern Cheyenne Research Project and began work with Indian lands and their resources. Bill, age 25, died of cancer. In the summer of 1977, he was honored by his peers for his work at a regional meeting of the Geological Society of America, of which he was a member.

Dennis H. MacDonald
March 22, 1951 - June 28, 1981

Dennis attended and graduated from the University of Montana and received a degree in History, in 1973. In 1979, he moved to Beaverton, Oregon, where he was employed by the Pacific Photocopy Inc. Dennis, 30, was born and raised in Billings and died of natural causes.

Catherine "Kitty" M. McCulloch Sinclair
October 9, 1951 – November 4, 1984

Kitty, 33, died from injuries sustained in a car accident northeast of Ingomar. Kitty was born in Wolf Point and moved to Billings in 1960. After graduation, she moved and lived in Oregon, Canada, and Jackson, Wyoming, returning to Billings in 1981. In March, 1984, she married Rod Sinclair, and had recently moved to Ingomar. Kitty's mother, Verna McCulloch, wrote, "Kitty has been gone for 15 years, but the path she traveled seems still to carry her name on every turning point. There is a French word - "ELAN" – which I believe represents Kitty's pattern for living. An enthusiasm for new experiences and a quick wit kept things moving around her, and life, however exhausting, was never dull. ….If she could somehow come back and be present at this reunion, she'd probably say something like: "I'm happy to be hear and see all of you! You all look just as you did 30 years ago—not one of you looks a day older. And if you believe that; then, I happen to own a bridge in Brooklyn, New York that I would like to sell you!"

Stephen Ray Stark
June 21, 1951- June 11, 1988

Stephen, 36, died of cancer June 11, 1988. He graduated from Marin Community College and had resided in Orinda, California, since 1980, where he was employed by NCR Corporation as a field engineer.

Susan Lane Todd
June 25, 1951 – January 13, 1980

Susan's mother wrote, "She was an insurance woman thru & thru….loved her horses and was was a very accomplished horsewoman .. with her Quarter horse "POGO". Susan also liked plants and the outdoors. After graduation, she worked for Beartooth Insurance Agency in Red Lodge until 1977, when she returned to Billings and was employed by Jerry Swanson Insurance Agency. Susan died at age 28.

John L. Berndjurgen Wittman
February 16, 1950 – March 23, 1971

John loved baseball and fishing. He died at the age of 21. John was born in Berlin, Germany. After graduation he attended Eastern Montana College and worked at Super America Service Stations in the Billings area.

Donald Wright
November 11, 1951 - March 19, 1984

After graduating from Billings West in 1969, Don enlisted in the US Marine Corp and served in the US Marine Corp for three years attaining the rank of sergeant as an S-1 chief with the 16^th Fleet. After his discharge, he attended Miles City Community College. During the summer of 1973, he was director of a Jaycee youth camp for underprivileged children. In 1979 he received a master's degree in juvenile justice and counseling from the College of Great Falls. Don worked as a juvenile probation officer for the 16^th Judicial District from 1973-1980. He then worked for Montana Power Company in Butte, transferring to Colstrip in December, 1983. He enjoyed woodworking, fishing, hunting, camping and spending time with his wife Lori and sons Kurtis and Kevin.