Dorothy Jean Tait Spannagel ~ September 24, 1913 - October 30, 2015

Dorothy Jean Tait Spannagel, 102, a longtime resident of the Howard Valley Place west of Forsyth, Montana, passed away peacefully in Jordan, at the home of her daughter, Janet Guptill, Jordan, Friday morning, October 30, 2015
Dorothy was the youngest child of Thomas and Maudeline McNeal Tait, a family of nine. She was born September 24, 1913, in a tent on the Tait homestead in central-west Rosebud County, located on Reservation Creek, with the nearest address being Finch, Montana.

Like many others of the era, at a young age, Dorothy became an accomplished horsewoman riding at home and to the Ash Grove, UM School, and Howard School in the valley. She often said she rode about 20 miles a day as it was nine miles to the Howard School. She did this from 7th grade through High School. She rode in the winter time the entire distance, if it was above zero, if colder, she stayed on the Yellowstone River with neighbors who only lived five miles from the school.

At 11, following her mother’s death from diabetes, she and her father moved to Roundup, Montana, where he worked in the mines and she attended school, but she missed the homestead and they moved back after a year. She studied the usual high school course of study and at that time it included two years of Latin and two years of Spanish, which she said helped her with her writing later in life. She enjoyed her young life in the hills and the freedom to ride her horse and take along the dogs. She became very responsible and “though not rich, she always said, she didn’t feel poor”.

Dorothy married John Spannagel, the youngest son of neighboring homesteaders, on March 26, 1932. The couple made their home on an irrigated farm in the upper Howard Valley near Finch. They purchased the Herb Wakefield place in the Howard Valley of 160 acres in March of 1934, a piece of property still owned by Dorothy at the time of her death.

Life was hard in the height of the depression. She remembered having only two dresses - one to wash and one to wear. The School District #13 of Rosebud County hired her as their clerk, a position she held for over 20 years. Her pay of $10.00 per month was welcomed as additional income. When she did the school books there were no adding machines, calculators or computers. She did the computations by manual labor and math.

Dorothy was artistic - in the selection of her clothes, hair styles, and room decorations, She was very saving and learned to purchase well made clothing and mix and match those items for many years. If she had to invent a new way to make something, she did. She was self taught to crochet, to sew, to cook, and she kept an excellent house and was a gracious host. She raised a large garden, as many did at the time, and canned the produce. She raised chickens and canned them, along with beef and pork. On the farm, a variety of crops could be raised, among them sugar beets. She enjoyed driving the beet truck in the field and being a part of the harvest every fall. She and John tackled many a project left undone by others. Although they were both steeped in old fashioned ways, they were also progressive, so new inventions, especially after electricity came to the valley, were purchased and used in the home and on the farm. She loved company and a good visit, not about people, but things in the community and the world. They were both interested in the community and became a part of it on a daily basis.

She was a member of the Howard Homemakers Club, a 4-H leader, participated and was a winner in the first Forsyth Horse Show a member of Eastern Star Bethlehem Chapter # 27, becoming Worthy Grand Matron. She was a member of the Federated Church, American Legion Auxiliary, belonged to the Daughters of American Revolution, wrote and proofread for the Forsyth Independent. She was also a bowling team member on a team that went to state several times. She was secretary to the Forsyth Public Schools. At age 55, she attended college for one year at Miles Community College taking accounting, and worked as secretary to the Howard TV Translator Club, the Montana TV Translator System and to the Tri-State (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) TV Translator Association to bring and to keep television for western rural America.

She co-authored a book, with her daughter, Janet, entitled “Trials and Triumphs”, based on the Howard Valley. She enjoyed classical music and dancing. Dorothy liked her animals, best of all her horses and her many German Shephard dogs, all of which had a gentle nature, much like her own. She also was known as a dead eye dick with her .22 while ridding the farm of varmints. In later years she enjoyed going to the Senior Center, playing cards, getting her hair done, a practice she had done for many years, and going out for ice cream and pie or just seeing people, to pass the time.

Dorothy liked a good, fast- responding car and never drove any other make than a Ford. Her favorite story about learning to drive was going with her dad to the creek to get a couple of barrels of wash water in the Model “T” and apparently when in reverse, the “wishbone” part of the steering sector would sometimes fall down. She would get under the vehicle and hold it in place while her Dad backed up a little and then they could get away from the creek.

She saw her first airplane at five years of age during World War I and marveled at Armstrong’s step on the moon some 50 years later - already 50 years ago. She too, liked to fly and flew with her son Morris and probably in a different time would have become a pilot; but traveling by car was her favorite as the scenery always caught her eye and the eye of her camera. She enjoyed studying rocks, uranium, and fossil formations, and stayed a conservative Republican. She seriously defended the ideals of America. She enjoyed writing whether news or her own philosophies done either in prose or poetry. She had many small excerpts among her things. One of her quotes is “God Gave You Today. It Is The Most Precious Gift You can Receive. May You Find Happiness In Its Contents.” Based on her early teachings, she had a set of definite principals and she lived by them.

She is survived by her daughter, Janet Guptill and her family: Stuart (Renee) Guptill of Buffalo, South Dakota, Scott (Audrey) Guptill of Havre, Montana, Grant G Guptill (Cheryl) of Joplin, Missouri; her son, Morris (Mae) Spannagel of Hysham, Montana, and his family: Tawni (Ted) Zier of Basin Wyoming and Tara (Dave) Nickoloff, of Culbertson, Montana. Her great- grandchildren are: Denise (Tom) McMillan, Woodinville, Washington, and Jeffery (Bobbi) Guptill, of Frenchtown, Montana, Kaleb Zier, of Fargo, North Dakota, Colton Zier, Pineview, Wyoming, Bailey Nickoloff, Jamestown, North Dakota, Erica Nickoloff of Bozeman, and Noah Nickoloff of the family home in Culbertson. Her great-great-grandchildren are Dakota, Trinity, and Ember Guptill, Kenny McMillan, and Kellen McMillan.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John, her parents, her brothers: Tennent, Thomas, Ralph, Paul (Mac), Fredrick, Jack, Howard and sister, Ruth, and son-in-law Lester (Leck) Guptill Jr. and grand-daughter, Cynthia Guptill.
Funeral services will be held at the VFW Hall in Jordan, Montana on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 2 p.m. and at the Federated Church, 1180 Cedar, Forsyth, Montana on Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 2 p.m., along with rites by the Bethlehem Chapter #27 of the Eastern Star. Burial will follow in the Forsyth Cemetery. Luncheons will follow both services.

Memorials may be given to The Garfield County Ambulance Service, P. O. Box115, Jordan, Montana 59337, The Howard Community Club, 1584 Old Highway #10, Forsyth, Montana 59327, the Rosebud County Museum, Heritage Fund P. O. Box 88, Forsyth, Montana, 59327 or the charity of one’s choice. Print this post