Garnet Ann Dietrich passed away at the age of 83 on Saturday, May 14th at St. Peter\u2019s hospital surrounded by her family after a courageous battle with lymphoma. <\/p>\n
Garnet was born on December 24, 1927 to Steve and Annie (Wagenbach) Petek. She lived a full and compassionate life in East Helena. <\/p>\n
She was a member of Sts. Cyril & Methodius Parish, attended St. Ann\u2019s grade school and graduated from Helena High School. <\/p>\n
She married Jack Dietrich on May 24, 1952. Jack and Garnet had four children, Dennis, Diane, Kathleen and Pat. <\/p>\n
In her youth, she enjoyed playing fast pitch softball and traveled to Arizona to play in the National Fastpitch Tournament as short stop. <\/p>\n
She cared for her children as a homemaker until they were in school and then went to work for the City of East Helena where she remained for 30 years until her retirement in 1999. During her time working for the city, she loved visiting with so many people who came and went each day. Garnet had very fond memories of her years spent with the city of East Helena and it always had a special place in her heart. <\/p>\n
She enjoyed going to ceramics classes with her friends and was involved in many activities with Sts. Cyril & Methodius Church and the VFW. Garnet always kept active and engaged with the youth of the community as a den mother, campfire leader and softball coach. She spent countless hours watching her kids and grandkids participate in numerous sports and school activities. <\/p>\n
She was an avid baseball fan and cherished watching her Atlanta Braves play on TV and even traveled to Atlanta to watch the Braves with her Daughter Kathleen and Granddaughter Danielle. <\/p>\n
She was a very proud grandma and great grandma and her grandkids brought her great happiness whenever they were around. Garnet treasured her grandchildren more than anything in her later years, always loved their weekend visits and hearing about all their activities. She always made sure they each had a special gift from her every birthday and holiday, and was famous for her homemade potato salad and baked beans. <\/p>\n
She is survived by her sister, Marie Moore; her four children and their spouses, Dennis Dietrich, Diane (Ray) Eby, Kathleen (Sam) Havens, and Pat (Carol) Dietrich; her four grandchildren, Danielle (Jason) Schilling, Brett (Amanda) Eby, Joe (Jessica) Havens and Nick Havens; her great-grandchildren, Olivia Eby, Claire and Jack Havens, Keeli and Josh Schilling; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. <\/p>\n
She was preceded in death by her parents; her loving husband, Jack of 46 years; brothers, Steve (Beverly) Petek and Jim (Bessie) Petek; sister, Ellen (Stan) East; brother-in-law, Larry Moore; and sisters-in-law, Francis Nasi, Dee Saulsberry, and Gloria Gargian. <\/p>\n
Garnet will be deeply missed and forever present in the hearts of all those she touched with her fun-loving and selfless personality. <\/p>\n
A special thanks to Dr. Weiner and to all the nurses in the cancer treatment center and the oncology ward. You took such wonderful care of her and always made her feel special. <\/p>\n
A visitation will begin at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 18, with a vigil service at 7:30 p.m. at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. A Funeral Mass will be noon Thursday, May 19th Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church with a burial service to follow at St. Ann\u2019s Cemetery. Please join the family for a luncheon to follow at the church. Memorials are suggested to Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church, P.O. Box 1110, East Helena, MT 59635, St. Ann\u2019s Cemetery, P.O. Box 525, East Helena, MT 59635, or to the charity of the donor\u2019s choice. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/384828_profile_pic.png","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/831","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=831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}