Ethel Bender

Visitation: will be held on Sunday, January 7, 2007 at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home.

Funeral Service: will be held on Monday, January 8, 2007 at the First United Methodist Church in Miles City.

Interment: will be held on Monday, January 8, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. at the Mountain View Cemetery in Columbus, MT.

Ethel B. Bender, age 96 of Miles City, Montana, passed away on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at the Holy Rosary Health Care Center in Miles City.

Ethel was born on March 5, 1910 at Nye, Montana, the daughter of William and Isabel Stewart Guthrie. She grew up on her parents farm four miles north of Absarokee, Montana and graduated from the Absarokee High School. She decided to become a teacher and graduated from Eastern Montana College in Billings. She taught rural schools in Stillwater County, including the Dean School where she had 35 students and all eight grades. Later she taught at Lavina,Byam, Sumatra, and Park City, Montana. On Aug. 23, 1941 she married Albert R. Bender, who was principal of the North School in Laurel, Montana at that time.

For two years during World War II she was a timekeeper at Boeing Aircraft Co. in Renton, Washington. Some interesting events of her lifetime are as follows. She rode her horse the four miles to Absarokee High School each day during the four years. She successfully taught the most challenging school in the county. In 1939 she and her friend traveled by train to both World Fairs, in San Francisco and New York City, covering many states of the U.S. She enjoyed the Scottish programs in Miles City, and for many continuous years she and Albert attended the Robby Burns celebrations and Caledonian Society programs. She corresponded quite often with her cousins in Scotland and England. Several of them came to visit with us as a result. She had a strong urge and desire to travel to her parents place at Absarokee about four times a year. She loved the outdoors and the countryside. She enjoyed the church circle meetings and the Retired Teachers Association meetings, and also, the Christian Women meetings. At the age of 9 she and her 3 brothers and parents traveled to Scotland to visit relatives, staying almost a year. She admired her nephew, Raymond Guthrie and wife, Virginia, and their children,Colter and Aspen, of Absarokee, Montana. She is survived by her husband, Albert Bender of Miles City, MT and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents and her 3 brothers. Her brothers were all younger than she.