MARTHA MARIE CHRISTENSEN SWARTZ, 95

The ashes of Martha Marie Christensen Swartz, 95, who died June 28, 1995 at Valley Health Care Center at Billings, Montana were interred at the family plot at rural Emmaus Lutheran Cemetery in Westby, Montana.

Martha Marie Christensen Swartz was born September 12, 1899 at Racine, Wisconsin, the oldest of 15 children, including four sets of twins, to Louis and Gertha Andersen Christensen. She moved to a rented homestead owned by Swan Johnson on the Herman-Scribner Road in Sheridan Township, Washington County, Nebraska with her parents in 1904.

She attended Hewitt School, District 17 before moving to Daneville Community in Divide County, North Dakota when she was eight.

She married John Dosenius Swartz (formerly spelled Schwartz) March 1, 1918 at the Daneville Lutheran Church. They farmed in Coalridge, Montana for many years. They also had homes in Westby, where their children attended high school and in Plentywood, Montana where they retired in 1956. After her husband'sdeath she moved to Great Falls and Billings, Montana, to be near her daughter, Hazel (Mrs. Vic) Johnson.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John on September 17, 1977; her first child, an infant, Lyle Harlow; a son, Wallace in 1978 and a great-grandson, Timothy Mungula in 1959.

She is survived by three daughters, two sons and daughters-in-law and one son-in-law, Lorraine (Mrs. Olaf) Haugen, Phoenix, Arizona; Hazel Johnson, Billings; Mrs. Carol Lowe, Las Vegas, Nevada; Alden and Dorothy Swartz, Kalispell, Montana; Duane and Laurel Swartz, Spokane, Washington; eight grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; two brothers, Clarence Christensen and Elif Christensen, both of Crosby and two sisters, Lydia Lowe of Crosby, North Dakota and Ethel Swartz of Plentywood.