Natalie Hoff, 92
Lake County Leader | UPDATED 4 days, 19 hours AGO
Natalie Hoff, 92, formerly of Moiese, passed away Jan. 11, 2026, at Sheridan Memorial Hospital in Plentywood.
She was a longtime member of the Polson Fiddlers Association and part of the scoring committee in the company of lovely ladies like Martha Bahm, Eleanor Gipe and Mary Collins for many years. She was also a founding creator of the original Montana Log Haulers Association, working with Senators Mansfield and Metcalf for the betterment and defending of the Montana log haulers’ rights and regulations.
She first came to the Mission Valley with her first husband, Ralph Chorn, back in the 1940s and ’50s where they partnered with Vern Roylance in Charlo to introduce the first registered Herford bloodline in the valley at that time.
While Ralph hayed large portions of Charlo farmland Natalie range grazed the cattle on the Mission Mountain range from St. Ignatius to North Crow in Ronan.
In later years she returned to the Mission Valley to live on a small ranch in Moiese for several years until the death of her husband, Harvey Hecht.
In 1990 she met and married Edward Hoff and relocated to his family ranch in Dagmar on the North Dakota-Montana border where she has happily lived for the last 35 years, roaming her precious prairie with her Edward who sadly passed away July 6, 2022.
She loved gardening and she was a very talented artist. She painted the portrait of Dr. McDonald’s favorite dog that hung in his office for many years.
She had a passion for animals her whole life. Cattle were in her blood from childhood, and she was an accomplished horseman.
She had such fiddle talent you couldn’t help but dance along. When she and Carl Knause fiddled together anywhere, they would bring down the house like it was on fire. Her music grabbed you and you could just feel every note she played; she poured her heart and soul into her playing.
Natalie is survived by her brother, Tom Shaughnessy of Kalispell; son and stock car Hall of Famer Mark Fairchild and his children, son Matthew and daughter Katelyn; son John Fairchild and his children, daughter Misty and sons Jeremy and Harvey, all of Polson; and daughter Eleanor Chorn and her sons, Taylor Chorn and Matthew McDermott of Kalispell; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her mother, Mary Shaughnessy, sisters Rose Gran and Terri Erickson, son Pat Chorn and late husband Edward Hoff. At her request there will be no services.