Jeanine Marie Thomas, 71

Jeanine Marie Thomas took her last breath in this life on the morning of Dec. 9, 2025, after a long illness.

Born March 28, 1954, in Butte, America to parents Florence and Jack Kneebone, she was always “Montana tough.”

Jeanine was my only sister and my faithful friend. Two years younger than me, she was my constant companion in our grade school years. We spend long, happily unsupervised summer days together in the woods east of Pablo, practicing with bow and arrows on tree-stump targets and listening to the wisdom of the trees and wild things.

Jeanine's skills with a fishing rod were unmatched; she could cast a line further and more accurately than most adults we encountered. Mud Creek and "the ditch" supplied our creels with a bounty of brook trout and water cress to haul home.

In all types of weather, we waited at the end of the driveway for the school bus to take us to elementary school in Pablo. She graduated from Ronan High School.

Later, we lived together while we went to nurse's training, renting a basement apartment in Havre that became so buried with six-foot snow drifts that our landlord had to tunnel a path to our door. Not surprisingly, Jeanine loved her subsequent trips to Hawaii.

She was a proficient nurse and later also worked as a pharmacy technician.

Jeanine was selective regarding friends, but was fiercely loyal to those she accepted. To her closest friends and family, she was known as “Nean”.

She was a champion for the underdog, loved to give presents to family and friends, and worked tirelessly as a St. Luke Healthcare team member for the Relay for Life fundraiser benefiting cancer research.

Jeanine was a skilled seamstress and crafter and sold a variety of handcrafts at local bazaars. An avid reader, she consumed dozens of books annually.

She loved cats more than she liked most people, cherishing them as faithful companions throughout her life. Purple roses were Jeanine's favorite flower, and will always remind her loved ones of her passion for them.

Although small in stature, she had a big heart and quietly brought joy to many people with her generous nature. Her family was her greatest treasure.

Jeanine is survived by her sister, her children, cousins and friends. Her husband and her parents preceded her in death.

The light in our world is dimmed by her absence.

    Jeanine Marie Thomas with sister Linda Cox