Fay L. Ranard passed away peacefully in her sleep on June 1, 2011. Fay was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado on April 29, 1922.<\/p>\n
She was one of seven children born to R.J. and Grace Della Frey. In that same year the family moved to a farm in the Twin Bridges, MT area. Mom spent her school years in Butte, graduating from Butte High in 1940. She married A.W. (Bill) Ranard, a Butte miner on April 20, 1940. Soon after, they moved to Helena where their first son Arlee Wayne was born in January 1941. Arlee\u2019s death from cancer in December 1943 was devastating. However, her second son came along just a month later, followed by a third son a year later so she had little time to mourn. A.W. joined the Navy and went off to war in June of 1944 which kept her busy providing for her children. Upon his return to Helena, Bill went into road construction, which kept the family following his jobs around the state. They lived in Helena, Jefferson City, Drummond, Clinton, White Sulphur Springs, and Bozeman. Finally, in 1953, Fay gave birth to her only daughter, which declared the end of nomadic living. They bought a home in Helena and settled down to raise the family. Bill died in a semi-truck accident in January 1971.<\/p>\n
Fay worked nearly all of her life and excelled at many occupations. She was a waitress, a chef, an insurance agent, a grocery clerk and a head bookkeeper of a bank. She also managed a tavern and a retirement home. She was an excellent cook and loved serving the public.<\/p>\n
Preceding Fay in death were her parents, husband, eldest son and five of six siblings. Surviving are her sister, Shirley Miller of Mill Creek, WA; sons, William (Billie) Ranard of Bozeman; Robert Ranard of Woodinville, WA; and daughter, Della (Bob Johnson) Ranard of East Helena. She has six grandchildren, Arlene Ranard, Tom Ranard, Jerry Ranard; Bob Ranard, Jr., Bill (Michele) Ranard, Jr., Stacy (Brian) Foreman; ten great grandchildren, one great great grandchild and many nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n
For the past several years, Mom resided at the Cooney Convalescent Home in Helena suffering with Alzheimer\u2019s. The care given by the staff at Cooney and by Dr. Snider was superb. They tended to her ever increasing needs.<\/p>\n
Visitation will be held from 12:30-7p.m., Friday, June 3, 2011 with family receiving friends from 5:30-7p.m. at Retz Funeral Home. A funeral service is scheduled at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 4, 2011 at Retz Funeral Home Chapel with interment to follow at Forestvale Cemetery. A reception will follow the graveside service at the home of Bob Johnson and Della Ranard, 5 W. Riggs, East Helena.<\/p>\n
Please send memorial contributions in Fay\u2019s name to the Cooney Home Memorial Board, 2555 E. Broadway St., Helena, MT 59601. To offer condolences to the family or share a memory of Fay, please visit: www.retzfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/381902_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/23331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}