died Sept. 14, 2008, at St. John Lutheran Hospital in Libby. She was born on Feb. 19, 1920, in Somers, to Charles M. and Edith Mary (Boon) Elsass. She grew up near Somers and attended school there, graduating from Flathead County High School with the class of 1938.

She married Melvin Syth July 3, 1943, in Kalispell. They moved to Libby in 1952. She worked for the City of Libby as a meter maid for five years. She managed the state liquor store for five years. She purchased the Montgomery Ward Store and worked it from 1969 until 1979, and then retired.

They moved to Bull Lake in Troy after her retirement and lived there until 2005. She enjoyed gardening, needle work, family games and boating. She was a member of the Troy Volunteer Ambulance.

She was preceded in death by two sons, Kenneth and Larry; and two sisters and three brothers.

Survivors include her husband, Melvin Syth, of Libby; sons, Charles Stevens and his wife, Ruth, of Athol, Idaho, and Greg Syth and wife, Tina, of Cheboygan, Mich.; daughters, Doris Battin of Libby, and Mary Thomas and husband, Dave, of Helena; two daughters-in-law, Ellen Stevens of Springfield, Neb., and Loretta Syth of Helena; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Schnackenberg & Nelson Funeral Home in Libby.