Margaret “Peg” Elizabeth Gustin

Margaret (Peg) Kavulla Gustin, 83, of Helena, passed away on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena.

Peg was born in Kalispell, Montana on January 31, 1927, the seventh of eight children born to Edward and Anna Kaeding. She was raised in the Flathead Valley, living on a farm where every spring they harvested their best crop when they picked the rocks from the fields that the frozen ground had pushed up. She had wonderful brothers and sisters who, she said, taught her everything she knew from playing cribbage, to making skis from barrel slats to fishing and hunting with sling shots and homemade sinkers. They were so good to their kid sister, the older ones buying her first candy bar (Babe Ruth), bike and typewriter. She was also blessed with a mother that saw the good and the beauty in all things, had a happy smile and a song in her heart.

Peg attended a country elementary school. After graduating from the Flathead County High School she enlisted in the Cadet Nurse Corp and received training in Bozeman and Great Falls. In Great Falls she met her Marine, the love of her life, Andy Kavulla. Peg was so happy to be welcomed into the Kavulla family and had the best mother-in-law ever when she married Andy in 1946 in Albany, Missouri where Andy attended the Midwest School of Horology and Peg taught in the local schools. With the shortage of teachers, you could teach when you had just some college credits and passed a test. After Andy’s graduation, they returned to Montana and over the years lived in Lewistown, Helena and Great Falls. At the time of Andy’s sudden death in 1965, he was a partner in the Teddy and Kavulla Jewelry store in Great Falls. Peg was a secretary at the local elementary school. Now being the breadwinner for the family she knew she had to have a better income so she returned to college and received her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with honors from the College of Great Falls.

She taught third grade in Ennis and Bozeman. She continued her education at Eastern Montana College during the summer vacations and received her Master’s degree in Elementary Education with emphasis in Learning Disabilities in 1980. Peg was working towards her doctorate when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in November of 1986. She had married Kenneth Gustin in June of 1985 and he passed away in 1987. Peg moved to Missoula in 1986 and enjoyed many wonderful times with her son Dave and grandson Mike and visits to and from her son, Dick, from Wisconsin. She had sort of inherited a great companion, the German shepherd, Duke, from Dick when he moved to Wisconsin. He was an amazing dog and they seemed to carry on many conversations. She started the Missoula Multiple Sclerosis Support Group and treasured her memories of the courageous members. In 1993 she moved to Port Edwards, Wisconsin to be by her son, Dick. She returned to Montana, lived in Missoula where she had the pleasure of sharing Mike’s junior high, high school and university years. In 2004 she moved to Helena and lived “On Broadway” (the house on Broadway across from the Health and Human Service Building) until she started her retirement home living at the Waterford and Hunters Pointe.

Peg is preceded in death by her husband, Andy; her three children, David, Dick and infant daughter Andra Sue; and her grandson, Mike. Also all four of her brothers, Leonard, Mike, Don and Rudy Kaeding; her three sisters, Edna Kaeding, Gladys Robocker, and Betty White; and two nephews, Billy Kavulla and Randy White. She said Andy and her grew up together but didn’t get to grow old together.

She survived by her granddaughter, the light of her life, Tammy Lynn Kavulla in Wisconsin Rapids and her mother, Marie. When Dick brought Marie into the family, Peg was gifted with three more grandchildren, Tara, Andy and Krissy Brandl. Peg loved them all and has so enjoyed Marie and those three grandchildren and since has added their spouses and children. Peg is also survived by her very special nieces and nephews, Val and Frank Castle, Lorraine and Woody Ekegren, Jim and Sharon Lencionni, Carol Kavulla, Jim Ferguson, and Paulette, Marlene and Larry McEwenn, Billie Jo and Jerry Fullmer, Frank and Gloria Kaeding and Yvonne and Steve Steckel. She is survived by three sisters-in-law, Erma and Louise Kaeding and Edith Kavulla. Peg marveled at the wonderful friends she had met and cherished in her life and wondered how the world could be in such a mess when the people were so great.
After Dick’s death, she and Dave established a scholarship in Dick’s name in Port Edward, WI for high school students who attend a trade school. After Mike’s death, they established the Mike Kavulla Memorial Fund where the interest goes to buy birthday gifts for the children at the Watkins Children’s Shelter in Missoula. After Dave’s death, she established memorials in Andra Sue, Dave’s and Andy’s name at the Shodair Hospital in Helena. All of the memorials disperse only the interest every year except Andy’s which made the exercise pirate ship at Shodairs possible.

Peg loved people and especially children. She really felt we were put in this world to help one another. She lived by that and was always willing to lend a hand and offer a prayer. Until her eyes failed, Peg was an avid reader and often read a book an evening. She liked doing crafts and pottery and ceramics-which she said was fun but not very productive. But the best times were with her family camping, hunting and fishing, (she graduated to an automatic reel and a 6 mm Remington—still open sights) but also playing games and just the good old family fun. Peg really loved teaching and “all those little third graders that became those sophisticated fourth graders in such a short time”. Those were what her memories were built on!

Peg’s kitchen table was the place of much laughter, and many joys, along with many, many tears. But through it all, Peg, who thought she had been born happy. She said she had the happiness of faith, joy, love and knowing that her God knew best. She felt she had lived a full life and had such great times with her family and now with God at her side she was ready to be with them again. She felt she had lived through the best of times and was proud of her country and also very worried about her country. Although she always voted Democrat and believed them to be the party of choice, with Hillary’s failure she had to switch. But, she claimed the Green Bay Packers THE TEAM. When Peg was diagnosed with kidney cancer in late 2006, she thought she’d be going home soon. She said she just kept stumbling along through life and God was always there to pick her up, but He never took her home. Now He has.

A viewing for Peg will be held today, Friday, January 21 from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. at Retz Funeral Home. A celebration of Peg’s life is scheduled for 11:00 a.m., Saturday, January 22, 2011 at Retz Funeral Home Chapel with a reception to follow at the Montana City Bar and Grill. Memorials may be sent in Peg’s name to the Shodair Children’s Hospital, 2755 Colonial Dr., Helena, MT 59601.To offer condolences or share a memory of Peg, please visit: www.retzfuneralhome.com.

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