YuVonne “Dee” Hoovestal, age 80, of Helena

THE SCHEDULED BURIAL FOR 12/21 IN HYSHAM, MT HAS BEEN POST PONED DUE TO WEATHER.

GRAVESIDE SERVICE DATES AND TIMES WILL BE ANNOUNCED WHEN THEY’RE RESCHEDULED.

On December 7, 2022, YuVonne “Dee” Hoovestal passed from this life to the next after a long and valiant battle with cancer. She was in her own home, laying in her own bed, and was surrounded by a multitude of friends and family when she passed.

Dee was born on March 8, 1942, in Custer, South Dakota, to Charles (Charlie) William Parker and Katherine (Katie) Emily Berry. Charlie had worked as a blaster on Mount Rushmore; specifically, Thomas Jefferson’s nose. When Dee turned two years of age Charlie was drafted into the United States Army and deployed to Europe to participate in the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Dee’s mother was a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe of Indians and the family moved to the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Harlem, Montana, when Dee turned the age of ten. Dee grew up riding horses and living a life steeped in Native American culture and heritage. Upon his return from the war, Charlie worked for the Ft. Belknap Tribal Police and then transferred to Crow Agency where he remained employed as a tribal police officer while Dee attended school in Hardin.

After high school Dee moved to Billings to attend cosmetology school. It was at this time that she met a handsome young cowboy from Sanders, Montana, named “Gary” who had just been honorably discharged from the Army and was going to school at Eastern Montana College. Dee would spend the rest of her days on earth with this handsome young cowboy, having countless adventures and traveling to the ends of the earth with him, but always returning to her beloved Montana and her humble beginnings. In their early years Dee and Gary moved to California where Gary finished his studies at Fresno State, and then to Lovell, Wyoming, and Wolf Point where Gary taught high school Spanish and coached sports. They finally settled in Helena where Gary worked as a Spanish professor and football coach at Carroll College, with a year sabbatical in Pamplona, Spain. Over the next 53 years, Dee and Gary became Carroll Saints, raised a family, built an international construction company, and created a sizeable herd of high-quality quarter horses upon their ranch in the Helena valley.

Dee and Gary formed a landscaping company in 1978 to keep Gary occupied during the summer months. This endeavor eventually persuaded Gary to resign his position at Carroll College to pursue other opportunities and the company became Greenway Enterprises, Inc. Today Greenway performs construction contracts all over the world.

Dee was profiled in June of 1992 as one of Entrepreneur magazine’s “51 American Success Stories” which culminated in an invitation from then President-elect Bill Clinton to a conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, to discuss the “best ways to deal with both the short term and structural economic issues facing our nation.” Dee accepted the invitation and delivered a summary of her thoughts on these issues to the members of the conference, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and some members of President-elect Clinton’s proposed cabinet.

From countries such as Spain, Morocco, and France, to Romania, New Guinea, and Australia, just to name few, Gary and Dee explored the world together. Dee’s true love, however, was being at home in Helena and enjoying time with her friends, family, dogs, horses, and plants. Both Dee and Gary thoroughly enjoyed quarter horse racing, with Dee and her ranch manager, Missy, training the youngsters and caring for the herd while Gary picked the genetics of each horse bred and raised. She loved to ride her mare, Peachy Keen, and travel with her dog, Toi.

Dee was preceded in death by her parents and her brother William “Squeaky” Parker. Dee was survived briefly by her husband, Gary, before he decided to follow her to the next world. She is survived by her sons Palmer (Shelley), Jon (Molly), and Lance (Carol), numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, brother Joe Parker (Patsy) and sister Jackie Roberts, sisters-in-law Myrna Van Luvanee (Omer), Janice Brown (Harold), brother-in-law Dennis Hoovestal (Michelle), and numerous nieces and nephews.

A special thanks goes out to Missy Quigley, Dee’s sidekick and constant companion, as well as Heather Wenzel, Stephanie Lavinder, Michelle Lavinder, Marie Lavinder, and Marieta Smith.

A joint celebration of Dee’s and Gary’s lives is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Monday, December 19, 2022, at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home, 3750 N. Montana Ave., with food and refreshments to follow the service at the funeral home.

Dee and Gary will be buried next to each other at the cemetery in Hysham, Montana. A joint burial service will be held graveside on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at 10:30 a.m.

Service Schedule

Celebration of Her Life

10:30 a.m.

Monday December 19, 2022

Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home

3750 N Montana Ave.

Helena, Montana 59602

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Reception

Following the service

Monday December 19, 2022

Social Hall of Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home

3750 N Montana Ave.

Helena, Montana 59602

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Burial

TO BE RESCHEDULED

Hysham Cemetery

Hysham, Montana 59038

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