On a cold day in January Ewald and Myrtle (Imsland) Lebahn were patiently waiting for the birth of their 4th child. Would it be another boy after 3 older sons, Sidney, Kenneth and Maynard or would they finally have their first daughter so their family could be complete?\u00a0 Then a blizzard started\u00a0on the 29th.\u00a0 Ewald decided it was time to bundle the family up and take them to his sister’s house – Amanda Abraham in Ramona, South Dakota seven miles from the dairy\/small grain farm where Ewald was born and lived his whole life.\u00a0 He had to leave his little family in Ramona and returned to milk the cows while his first daughter Lois Inger Lebahn was born under the care of the local doctor.\u00a0 The blizzard\u00a0lasted three days and on the 4th day, Ewald shoveled his way out of the farm to retrieve his family.\u00a0 Years later the little family grew with the birth of yet another boy, Douglas, and later another girl, Le Ann.<\/p>\n
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On March 25, 2026, Lois would lose her courageous battle\u00a0 \u00a0with cancer at St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, Montana after 10 years of treatment.<\/p>\n
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Lois went to\u00a0a one\u00a0room schoolhouse\u00a0for her elementary\u00a0years.\u00a0 She was an A student and loved to learn and went on to Graduate\u00a0from Ramona High School where she continued receiving mostly A’s throughout her 4 years attendance. She began her long career at Bethel\u00a0Lutheran Home and then at the Madison Hospital as a Nurse’s Aide and even delivered a baby all by herself when the doctor couldn’t get there in time. When her parents died she and\u00a0Le Ann embarked on a multi-state trip to decide where to live.\u00a0 Finally, landing in Helena, Montana where brother Sid invited them to live with him and his family until they found an apartment\u00a0of their own and jobs to begin her second career.<\/p>\n
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First, she worked at a clinic and then after taking secretarial classes,\u00a0including shorthand\u00a0from the State of Montana Learning\u00a0Center.\u00a0 After completing the courses, she went to work for the Department of Health for the State of Montana and subsequently\u00a0went to work for the Administration\u00a0Department as a secretary and Security Officer for the next 30 plus years.<\/p>\n
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She loved to work but her vacation time was spent traveling with her sister and\/or a friend from South Dakota or friends from Montana and a local travel club. Her travels took her to 16 European countries by\u00a0bus, and a cruise to the Caribbean.\u00a0 Her sister traveled with her to Spain, Norway, Australia, German and Austria\u00a0a couple of times, the last time she crossed\u00a0off her bucket list with the Passion Play in Germany live performance.\u00a0 Before that\u00a0she traveled to Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Croatia and the other Yugoslavia former states, Iceland and Canada.\u00a0 She traveled to almost every\u00a0state\u00a0in the lower 48 but also went to Hawaii numerous\u00a0times.<\/p>\n
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Summers would find her gardening with her sister and Le Ann’s husband when\u00a0they lived with her canning and freezing all types of vegetables.\u00a0 Crossword puzzles were saved for evenings and when she retired, she added daily\u00a0walks to her weight training exercise and jogging regime ending her walks with Neighbor Donna Hoffman for a cup or 2 of coffee and gossip. This continued until she was too weak to walk very far.<\/p>\n
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She was a long-time member\u00a0of First Lutheran Church in Helena, Montana attending almost every Sunday singing in the\u00a0choir until she lost her singing voice due to cancer\u00a0radiation.\u00a0 While the Big Sky Singers existed, she loved singing with them.<\/p>\n
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She is preceded\u00a0in death by her parents, brothers Maynard Lebahn and Douglas Lebahn of South Dakota, Kenneth Lebahn of Missouri, brother-in-law James Ferron, Sisters-in-law Mary Ann, Karen, Delores and Flora and Donna Hoffman friend and D’et Miskneman.<\/p>\n
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She is survived by her brother Sidney of Helena, and sister Le Ann of East Helena. Nieces and nephews – Nita, SD, Tim (Pat), Wes (Amy) of Missouri, Dean (Marian) Louisiana, Sheila (Steve) Texas, Dawn Poirier AZ, Cathy (Jeff) Dillon, Rob (Dawn) Helena, Lori, Diane, Eugene, Melanie, Mike and Angie SD.\u00a0 Best friends Dorothy and Tim Cail.\u00a0 Dorothy\u00a0drove her to most of her cancer treatments\u00a0and medical appointments she is more\u00a0like a sister than just a friend and we are forever grateful for her support. Other people supportive in her cancer journey are Robin and Tom Steber, Bonnie Nelson and Lory Morrow.<\/p>\n
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Cremation has taken place and\u00a0burial will be at St John\u2019s Lutheran Church in rural SD near Ramona where she was confirmed and\u00a0began her Christian journey.<\/p>\n
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Memorial will take place at a later date.\u00a0 Memorials can be sent to First Lutheran Church on Broadway or the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Lebahn-Lois-e1775512820661.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","service_status":"pending","event_title1":"","event_date1":"","start_time1":"","end_time1":"","location1":"","address1":"","city1":"","state1":"","zipcode1":"","event_title2":"","event_date2":"","start_time2":"","end_time2":"","location2":"","address2":"","city2":"","state2":"","zipcode2":"","event_title3":"","event_date3":"","start_time3":"","end_time3":"","location3":"","address3":"","city3":"","state3":"","zipcode3":"","event_title4":"","event_date4":"","start_time4":"","end_time4":"","location4":"","address4":"","city4":"","state4":"","zipcode4":"","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/32932","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=32932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}