Erma Mae Otto (Panchot)

Erma Mae Otto (Panchot), 74, Pablo, died at home Saturday. She was born May 14, 1932, at St. Ignatius and attended Dixon schools. Erma traveled to the Philippines in 1949 when her father Harry Panchot was sent to build Voice of America broadcast stations. She also traveled to Greece and Europe and then returned to graduate from Ronan High School in 1950.

Erma attended Spokane's Kinman Business University and received a one-year business accounting degree. In May 1953, she joined the Air Force and was assigned to San Antonio and to Scott AFB, Ill. She went to the Missoula Vocational Technical Center to become a Licensed Practical Nurse on Nov. 27, 1981. While nursing in Portland, she met her Ronan High School sweetheart Kenneth Otto. They wed in October 1990. After his retirement from Freightliner, they purchased a Pablo home.

Erma Otto was a member of the Tribal Warrior Society and the Polson VFW Ladies Auxiliary. She loved nursing, camping and fishing, gambling, and puttering.

She is survived by Aunt Winogene Cheery; brother Maurice Panchot; brother-in-law Alf Salway; numerous cousins; three children, James Wilkinson of Salem, Ore., David Wilkinson of Sacramento, Calif., and Diane Milligan of Denver, Iowa, and by three grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Harry and Faye Panchot; sister Mary Alice Salway, and grandparents Maurice and Hattie Hastings.

Private services will be held Thursday, Dec. 21, at the Grogan Funeral Home in Polson. She will be buried with full military honors in the Polson Cemetery on March 13, 2007, at 10 a.m.