Ellen Rue Moe

Ellen R. Moe passed away on Saturday, September 14, 2019 at the age of 94. She passed peacefully in her own home in Bozeman with her son, David, at her bedside. Ellen was born on April 11, 1925 in Charles City, Iowa, to Kenneth and Beulah Brown. Her parents had begun farming near Lewistown in 1917, but Beulah elected to return to her native Iowa to deliver her only child. Kenneth, at home on the farm, was overjoyed to hear the news transmitted via neighbors; no telephone at the farm in those days. When Ellen was a bit older and found out that she had not been born in Montana, she was a little unhappy with her parents. Montana was always her true home and she wished that she had been born in Lewistown.



Ellen lived on the farm and enjoyed the company of dogs, cats, horses, cows, and even a fawn until she was six years old. When it was time for her to go to school, Kenneth and Beulah moved to a little house on Ninth Avenue in Lewistown so she could easily walk to Highland Park School. Ellen made many good friends at Highland Park including Patty Robinson (Johnson) of Helena and Phyllis Stoddard (Aitken) of Bozeman. She maintained her friendships with Pat and Phyllis throughout her life and Phyllis visited Ellen’s bedside only two days before she passed away. Ellen enjoyed Junior High and High School immensely and was a member of the “Dizzy Dozen,” twelve fun loving high school girls, and she maintained friendships with many of them for years.



In 1943, after completing her education in Lewistown, Ellen enrolled at Montana State College in Bozeman. She became a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, played in the band, and studied home economics for two years. In the fall of 1945, she transferred to the home economics department at the University of Minnesota. On February 1, 1947, she met the love of her life and future husband, Thomas C. Moe of Moose Lake, Minnesota. They met on a blind date and got married on June 22, 1947 at the Little Brown Church in Iowa after Ellen had completed her undergraduate degree. They were married for almost 68 years when Tom passed away in 2015.



Tom and Ellen moved to Montana that summer and Tom started working with his father-in-law, Kenneth, to learn the ropes of farming and ranching. In the fall, Tom enrolled in agricultural economics at Montana State College on the G.I. Bill. Their first home was a trailer with no running water parked behind the Student Union Building. Things got a little better the next spring when they found a place in married student housing. In 1950, they moved to Lewistown and bought a small ranch in Maiden Canyon. Ellen’s parents retired from farming in 1957, and Tom and Ellen took over the old home place and lived there for 55 years.



Ellen gave birth to three children, Tom, Dave, and Jeanne. She loved them all dearly and would have done anything for them including hauling horses in a flat-bed grain truck to 4-H events and bathing hogs for showing at the county fair. She was amazed that she could do all of that and often laughed about it. Rowdy, an enormous but gentle old horse, definitely did not like to take the bit. Ellen, all five feet two inches of her, would tie Rowdy’s head down and then scale the fence to get the bridle on so that her three small children could ride him.



In 1961, Ellen returned briefly to Montana State University; she completed a teaching degree through correspondence and one semester residence at MSU. To supplement the family income, she substituted at Fergus High School for a couple of years and landed a job as the Home Economics instructor in 1963. Ellen loved teaching and she was very good at it. Her former students still remember “Mrs. Moe” and some have said that hers was the best class they had had in high school. Ellen had to leave teaching after two years because she was needed at the farm; it was a hard decision and she really missed teaching.



Ellen had many friends in Lewistown and in Peoria, Arizona, where she and Tom spent their winters in their later years. She learned to play golf, was a good swimmer, loved to dance and sing, and remained active all her life. Ellen was a “Candy Striper” at Saint Joseph’s hospital, and supported the Lewistown Art Center, the Elk’s Club, and the Central Montana Community Foundation. Ellen was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Bozeman, Montana in her later years.



Ellen is predeceased by her parents and her husband, and by a grandson, Devin Moe. She is survived by her three children, Thomas (Susan) Moe, Dave (Barb) Moe, and Jeanne Moe; granddaughter Laurie (Matt) Edwards, and two great-grandchildren Trace and Mia Edwards (all of Bozeman); and grandson Brian (Sarah) Schlotfeldt of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is also survived by niece Sharon Nelson of Seattle, Washington, and nephew, Todd Nelson, Minneapolis, Minnesota; cousin Charles (Twyla) Slater, Bozeman, MT.



Memorial services and interment at the Lewistown City Cemetery will take place at a future time. In lieu of flowers, please make charitable contributions to the Lewistown Art Center, the Central Montana Community Foundation, or the charity of your choice.