Barbara
Ruth Brockbank Markuson, 92, a longtime Shelby educator, mother and
caregiver of many, died Wednesday, March 4 at a Great Falls hospital. Services
will be Monday at 11:00 a.m. at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Shelby with Rev.
Dorothy Neilsen officiating; interment services will follow at Mountain View
Cemetery. Friends may call at the Whitted Funeral Chapel in Shelby from 1-7
p.m. Sunday.
Survivors include her sons, Leonard Eugene (Gene) Markuson and wife Carol of Circle, MT; Lyn Alan Markuson and wife Nancy of Shelby, MT; five grandchildren, Larry, Lori, Brent, Ryan and Renee; four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandson. Preceding her in death were her husband Leonard, her parents, brothers Richard and James, and sisters Kathleen, Margaret, Hazel and Mary.
Barbara was born September 13, 1916 to Albert and Ruth (Skelton) Brockbank at Stanford, Montana where she was raised and educated. Following her high school graduation at Stanford, she attended Montana State College at Bozeman for two years, later transferring to Western Montana College at Dillon where she graduated in 1939.
Her first teaching job was at Green Hill School north of Galata; she then taught two years at the Texas Antrim Camp School north of Cut Bank. She married Leonard Markuson on May 27, 1942 at Fairfield, MT. They returned to the Galata area where she taught an additional year at Green Hill School while Leonard was involved in farming.
Her sons Gene and Lynn were born in 1944 and 1949 respectively; during this time period, they moved to Shelby to send their children to school. Barbara did substitute teaching for several years before returning to college in Dillon to update her teaching certificate. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1964.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, she was hired as a fourth grade teacher at the Bitteroot School in Shelby; she taught grade four for one year before switching to first grade where she taught for 20 years, retiring in 1982.
Mom was a proud member and past president of Delta Kappa Gamma since 1964. She was named “Educator of the Year” by the Shelby Jaycees, the first woman to receive that honor. She spent the remainder of her years caring for her dear friend Agnes Ferdig and her sister Mary Conant. In her sister Hazel’s last years, mom had her up to stay for a few months at a time. Never thinking of herself first, mom was always concerned for others’ well-being and lived life accordingly till the very end.