Vigil Services: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City
Funeral Services: Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Miles City
Interment: Calvary Cemetery
Gertrude (Rogers) Grimes Madler passed away Thanksgiving morning in the home of her daughter in Bozeman, Montana. Present with her were her daughters Patsy Hookey and Sue Thompson and her sons in law, Bill Hookey and Phil Thompson.
Gertrude, who later used the name Trudy, was born of Irish immigrants. Her father, Bernard Rogers, a stone mason from Ballymartin,County Down, came to the United States to seek a better life in 1906. He homesteaded a half section of land near the town ofOlanda (no longer there) north of Terry, close to the present day Peabody Ranch. In 1916 his sweetheart, Rose AnneMcKeown, from Ireland joined him and they were married. Trudy was born on July 18, 1917. From 1917 to 1931 Trudy lived in a 2 room sod roofed basement structure with her family, including her brother, Patrick Rogers. A fire burned down the barn destroying all of the equipment her father needed to bring in the crops. The bank foreclosed on them and they were forced off the land and moved to Terry.
They lived in Terry for two years,then moved to Miles City where her father got a job on the Milwaukee Railroad. Trudy was always writing poetry, even at a very early age. One of her poems Elegy to the Unknown Soldier was lauded by President Roosevelt on the 17th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice and she received a letter signed by him in 1935. Trudy graduated from Custer County High School in 1937. In the early days in eastern Montana Trudy taught school in Carterville (no longer there), Plevna, Baker,Ismay and later in Miles City. She married William Louis Grimes in 1943 and daughters Janna Sue and Patricia May were born. Trudy eventually raised her daughters as a single parent. She received a full scholarship to attend summer classes at Vassar College, Pougkeepsie, NY., in 1952; Trudy was one of the few women in the US to have received such a scholarship to that institution. She attended Eastern Montana College; Billings, and in 1958, graduated with a BS in education. In 1959 she became a Fulbright exchange teacher and taught school in Cardiff, Wales. While there she and other Fulbright scholars had tea with Elisabeth, the Queen Mother. A
t the completion of the exchange teaching program Trudy moved with her daughters to Sparks, Nevada, where she taught in the Reno School system. She continued with her education and received her Master of Education Degree from University of Nevada in 1967. In 1985 she married BobMadler from Baker, Montana. Trudy continued to be active in the community with public speaking and at 71 years old she was voted Mrs. Senior Washoe County, Nevada. After 40 years of teaching she retired. In 1999, Trudy and her husband moved to Bozeman, Montana where she could be close to her daughter, Patsy and grand children.
She is survived by her husband, her daughter Sue Thompson and son-in-law Phil Thompson and grand daughters Catherine and Sarah Thompson of Alexandria, VA and her daughter Patsy Hookey and her son-in-law Bill Hookey and grand children Bobby Hookey and Barbrie Silberman all of Bozeman, Montana.
Trudy will be buried next to her parents in Miles City. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. A Vigil service will be held Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Miles City. Rite of Committal will follow in the family lot of the Calvary Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.stevensonandsons.com. In lieu of flowers, please make any remembrances to the Bozeman Gallatin Valley Animal Humane Society or the Bozeman Deaconess Hospice.
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