Pauline Bolton, age 83, of Miles City.

Pauline Mary Delaurenti Bolton, 83, of Miles City, Montana passed away of a broken heart on June 30th, at the Holy Rosary Extended Care Unit after losing her beloved husband of 59.5 years, Claire, on May 20th, 2016.

Pauline was born on March 6th, 1933 to Italian immigrants, Joseph Bartholomew Delaurenti and Rosie Mary Zan Delaurenti in Polson, Montana. Pauline was the first of three children growing up on the farm at Pablo. Italian was spoken exclusively in the home up until when she started first grade in at Pablo in 1939, where she was unable to speak English and had to learn the English language. Pauline attended her first eight years of schooling in Pablo. Her first year of high school was in Polson and Pauline attended her last three years of high school in Ronan from which she graduated with the class of 1951. During the summers when she was not working on the farm, Pauline did odd jobs to earn money to attend Carroll College where she attended for two years in the nursing program. In 1953 Pauline moved to Terry, Montana where she was employed as clerk for the A.F.C. office, and eventually she also worked at the Prairie Community Hospital as a nurse’s aide with the training and skills sets she had acquired at Carroll College.

In 1955 Pauline met the young man and dream of her life, Claire, that she would marry on October 27, 1956 to begin her new life adventure. To this marriage Pauline and Claire started and raised a household of children which was an accomplishment. As the family came early on, Pauline’s life as a homemaker and caretaker of the children took off as the family moved from location to location from within Montana, West Virginia, Wyoming, back to MT in 1972 and back into Wyoming in 1976 for Claire’s life in construction.

In 1974 while the family was living in Miles City, she worked at the former Custer Inn (now the Econo Lodge) as a house keeping maid and began her love hate affair with Kirby vacuums. After her employment with the Custer Inn, she worked as a nurses’ aide at Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City. Pauline was always a crafty person, as she would sew a lot of the clothes that we wore and destroyed when her children were all little. In 1976, after the school season let out in Miles City, Pauline and three of the youngest children moved to Gillette Wyoming to begin a new chapter in life as Claire was working on building much of the coal industry in Gillette Wyoming while the two eldest stayed in Miles City to finish out their high school years and begin their adult life. In the fall of 1976, Pauline hired on with the Campbell County School District in the school food program, where she excelled in cooking for the kids of Campbell County School District from 1976 through 1994. During this tenure at the Campbell County School District School Lunch program, she was highly involved in the Wyoming School Food Association Program, thus becoming an officer of the program from 1985 through 1989 and President of the program from 1989 through 1992, which took her to many school food programs and association national conferences across the US.

While in Gillette and living out at the place at Nicholson’s, Pauline excelled in her gardening, canning skills and baking skills. She produced canned food products that endured the test of time as canned products were given to friends and family. Upon honing her gardening skills, Pauline continued her crafts of crocheting, and provided crocheted products from rugs to couch pillow covers and other crocheted products of which all family and many friends were recipients of. Pauline enjoyed baking pies and cakes to which she provided all her children, children’s spouses, grandkids and many friends their favorite birthday cakes throughout the years. All of these cakes and pies were provided and or shipped to their destination with love and best wishes for the year from Pauline.

Prior to retirement from the Campbell County School District in 1994, as part of Pauline and Claire’s retirement plan, they purchased Barney’s (Klamm’s Bar) in Miles City in 1989 and became part of the Montana Taverns Association. The bar was not the retirement plan that mom and dad had hoped for and sold all rights to it in 1996 and built a new home out in the east valley of Miles City to which she continued honing her gardening skills and baking skills with the 10 acres of land and the new kitchen. Mom continued these skills and hobbies of cooking, canning, crocheting, and volunteering. She along with dad became avid participants in the Farmers Market with produce and craft products that she canned or produced in terms of crocheted crafts.  Pauline volunteered graciously at the VA and local Senior Center assisting in cooking meals and volunteering for playing Bingo, volunteering at Holy Rosary Hospital Gift Shop, and the American Legion, which was greatly appreciated by all. She was involved in the Alter Society of the Sacred Heart Parish. She would bake cakes, pies or other baked goods for special events and provide them at the Senior Center, the VA, the American Legion, and the Sacred Heart Parish Fair Booth over the years. Even after retirement and away from Campbell County School district, she would always cook for family and friends like she was cooking for the Campbell County School District school population.

During retirement mom and dad traveled passionately throughout the state of Montana and throughout the North Central part of the United States, living life as life should be in retirement.

Pauline and Claire traveled to Italy with Pauline’s family in 1997 to connect with Pauline’s relatives. This was the second time Pauline had been over to the Old Country with her Family since traveling over in 1978. During retirement Pauline and Claire hosted many family gatherings at their home on Valley Drive East on mainly Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day weekends where she totally out did herself with baked goods and salads for the events. This became very common for these two weekends of the last 19 years.

Pauline is survived by her children, Daughter Juanita (Fred) Mace, Billings MT, Son James Bolton, Gillette, Wyoming; Daughter Jean, (George) Massick, Billings, MT; Son John (Brenda) Bolton, Great Falls, MT; and Son Joe (Cathy) Bolton, Gillette Wyoming. Immediate family survivors include a sister Florence Ely, Mount Lake Terrace Washington, and brother John (Peggy) Delaurenti, Ronan MT, Brother in Law, Bill (Connie) Bolton, Miles City; Sister-in-Law Doris Arlene Bolton Mitchell, Titusville, Florida and Forsyth; 6 grandchildren, John Mace, Casey Rhoads, Sara Mace, Levi Rhoads, Lauren Bolton, Ashlee Bolton; and two great grand-daughters, Paisley and Mikah. Survivors also include three nieces and nephews, many great nieces and nephews, many cousins and friends also survive.

Pauline has been preceded in death by her Husband Claire Bolton, an infant daughter and her parents Joseph and Rosie Delaurenti.

Mom was a very devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, homemaker and God serving woman. A significant memory was always Sunday, with Mass, then chicken or roast for the main meal for the afternoon. She would turn on the old statuesque AM radio of Grandpa Joes for us kids and we would listen to old Country music while she would be cooking, and it would still be playing when clean up time came and we all knew who her dishwashers were.

From all of Pauline’s Family and Friends, we will deeply miss you, we love you, the cooking, and all the life lessons you have taught us, while sharing our lives with you . Now that you are with Dad, your Mom and Dad and all that you have encountered and have passed on during this life on earth, we hope your journey is complete and we also hope to someday see you on the other side, as you will be there.   We will always have the memories; they will be cherished and not be forgotten.

Funeral arrangements being handled by Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home Miles City, Montana. July 14, Vigil, 4:00 to 6:00 PM and Rosary at 6:00 PM at Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home. Funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Church, 11:00 AM July 15, 2016, Internment at Eastern Montana Veterans Cemetery, immediately following Funeral Mass. Luncheon Reception Wake Celebration at Sacred Heart Community Center immediately following internment. Memorials may be made to the Miles City Senior Drop in Center, 17 South 11^th, St, Miles City Montana, 59301 or The Sacred Heart Parish Building fund, c/o Sacred Heart Church, 120 N Montana Avenue, Miles City, MT 59301. Condolences to the family may be sent by visiting www.stevensonandsons.com.

Service Schedule

Visitation

1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. with family receiving friends from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Thursday July 14, 2016

Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home

1717 Main Street

Miles City, MT 59301

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Vigil Service

6:00 p.m.

Thursday July 14, 2016

Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home

1717 Main Street

Miles City, MT 59301

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Mass of Christian Burial

11:00 a.m.

Friday July 15, 2016

Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Miles City, MT 59301

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