Norma Rae Ardesson

Bozeman lost a genuine treasure on March 28, 2026, when Norma Rae (Batchelder) Ardesson passed away after a short illness. Norma knew and was loved by so many in our community. If you happened to see her for the first time in an elevator, you would be friends by the time it stopped. "That's just Norma."

She was born in Bozeman to Florence Gertrude Sievert and Ruben Leslie Batchelder on April 9, 1942. She lived most of her life in Bozeman, attending school here and in 1960 being part of the first graduating class from the new Bozeman High. Afterwards, she was off to Tinman's Business College in Spokane. Whatever formal business education she gained there would have paled compared to her "people skills." She loved talking with everyone she met, always entertaining them with frequently insightful and often hilarious stories.

She returned to Bozeman ready to take on the world, and she found no lack of employment opportunities. Among her many early jobs, she worked at the A & W Drive-Thru Root Beer Stand (not with roller skates), the Colonel's Restaurant on East Main, State Farm Insurance, the Mandeville Auction Company, and the Credit Bureau—where she dealt with angry clients who were usually laughing before leaving the office or hanging up the phone. In 1991, she was offered a job with Montana Public Broadcasting Service, where she remained for 30 years. Upon her retirement in 2021, she was selected by the president of Montana State University to receive the prestigious "Pure Gold" award.

Retirement had no place for a rocking chair in Norma's busy schedule. She had a passion for playing cards with friends, sight-seeing tucked-away places in her beloved home state, and taking friends to medical appointments. Often she drove one friend to Salt Lake City for a treatment which required radioactive infusions so powerful that the patient was barred from flying for a week after the treatment due to harmful exposure to others. Not wanting her friend to have to spend a week in a Salt Lake City hotel before being allowed to fly home, Norma would drive him to Salt Lake, then drive him home the following day. That's so Norma.

In the last few years, she also became a volunteer waitress at Betty's Cafe, to give Betty a chance to sit down during long days of food preparation and general cafe maintenance. Norma also loved volunteering at the Gallatin History Museum, where she sorted old photos of homes, then drove the streets to find the house's address. Somehow she still found time for her passion with genealogy, attending local meetings, serving on the board of the Gallatin County Genealogical Society, and attending the yearly state conference. Although she was born an only child, her parents provided her with 34 aunts and uncles, 36 first-cousins, and over 100 2nd-cousins. She knew and loved them all and was usually visiting and laughing with one or more of them. Two days after she slipped away from us, a message came to her computer: the large genealogy conference in Salt Lake City, RootsTech, wanted her to know they had found 35,644 cousins for her! Had she known, she would have started reaching out to all of them! That's Norma.

Norma was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Danny Ardesson, and dozens of dear cousins. Left to deeply mourn her loss are her daughter Sydney Michael Reimann and her son Corey Daniel Ardesson, along with cousins and friends comprising about 20 % of Bozeman's population, and her beloved cats Lucky, Trixie, and Sami.

An open house to celebrate Norma's life, to visit and share stories, will be held at the Story Mansion on Thursday, April 9th, 2026, from 11 am to 3 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to PBS, the Gallatin History Museum, or Heart of the Valley.