Margaret Weiser

Margaret Weiser of Helena passed away peacefully at the Cooney Home on Thursday evening, Jan. 27, 2011, after a protracted struggle with dementia (Alzheimer’s). She was 94 years of age.

Margaret was born in Missoula on Jan. 21, 1917, to George and Alice Matteson. She attended Sacred Heart Academy and business college in Missoula. During World War II she worked at the Army Air Depot in Spokane, Wash. Following the war, she returned to Missoula and began working at the office of Sears Roebuck & Co. She later accepted a transfer to Helena with that company.

In 1947, she began working for Fligelman’s Department Store, and on June 28 of that year she married John T. Weiser. They were married for 49 years until his death in 1996. Margaret was also preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Leah Rover, Marie Skahan, Edith Tuxbury and Grace Matteson; brothers, George, Paul, Calvin and (infant) Joseph Matteson.

She is survived by her son, Douglas Weiser of Helena; stepson, Jack Weiser (Bernie) of Eugene, Ore.; sister, Agnes Morgan of Redding, Calif.; nieces, Colleen Tuxbury/Tripp and Ginger Hogan (Jim) of Missoula and Mary Reynolds (Dave) of Florence; and also by nephews, James Wilkins of Helena and Howard F. Wilkins Jr. of Kalispell.

We will remember her as a dedicated wife and mother, a “homemaker” in the truest sense of the term, and as a loyal “Army wife” who left home many times to accompany her husband on tours of duty to military bases in Virginia and to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Cremation has taken place. A Mass of Christian burial will be scheduled in the spring. We would like to thank the staff at the Cooney Home for their kindness and concern during Margaret’s final days.

To offer condolences to the family, please visit: www.retzfuneralhome.com.