Maria Lee Timm
POLSON — Maria Lee Timm, 87, died July 14, 2005, in her sleep at Evergreen extended care facility. She was born July 11, 1918, to Herman and Annie Viola (Brown) Rigal in Casper, Wyo. Her mother died when Maria was three and she was raised by her father. Maria attended Casper schools, graduating from St. Anthony Elementary Catholic School and Natrona County High School in 1936. Following graduation she was employed as a piano player and singer at a Casper radio station, on a dude ranch near Dubois, Wyo., and for Ma Bell as a telephone operator.
She later moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., where she eventually was employed as a long distance switchboard operator with the Army at Ft. Francis E. Warren. She well remembered being called into work on her day off, Dec. 7, 1941, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
She married her partner-in-life Philip E. Timm in Cheyenne Nov. 6, 1941. During the early war years she followed her husband around Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming where he was employed with several contractors performing flight training for the military. In 1944, Maria returned to Casper to live while Phil was on active duty in the Army Air Corps.
Following the war Phil and Maria came to the Flathead to help Maria's mother-in-law harvest her cherry crop. That was the first of many trips to the Polson area, which stimulated the couple to move the family of four to Polson Christmas 1955 and start a new family aviation business at the Polson Airport.
Whether as a wife, mother or business woman, Maria was her husband's partner in all things. In aviation, she ran the details of the business side of the operation, saw to and guided the educational and extracurricular development of their children, Glenn and Elizabeth, including designing and sewing costumes for Beth's Ballet dancers, accompanied her dancers on the piano and participated as a Scout leader and a leader in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program.
She organized the family vacations designed to impart geographical and historical education to the family as much as recreation. In later years she organized and orchestrated worldwide travel for her and Phil. These excursions included sailing the Caribbean on a schooner and a cruises on the Nile and through the Panama Canal.
In 2000, she and Phil moved into St. Joseph Assisted Living in Polson where for several years she participated in providing musical entertainment for the residents, travel slide shows and organ music for Mass and other church services held there. The Phil-Maria partnership ended after nearly 60 years with his death shortly after 9/11. Maria continued playing the piano and organ for religious services and for birthday celebrations at St. Joseph until failing health restricted her ability to get around. Shortly after moving to extended care in May, reviving spirits allowed her to take up playing the piano on a limited basis. This continued until a few days before her death.
She is survived by her daughter Beth and her husband Byron Christian of Polson and Las Vegas, Nev., her son, Glenn of Polson and grandson Pfc Colin Timm, U.S. Army, Ft. Lee, Va.
Rosary will be held at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Polson, at 7 p.m. Monday, July 18 followed by the funeral Mass 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 19, with Father Val Zdilla officiating. Interment is at Lakeview Cemetery followed by a reception in the church basement. Arrangements are by Grogan Funeral Home, Polson.