Darlene F. Sims

MALTA- Darlene F. Sims, 78, died of natural causes on Monday, May 4th, 2015 at Saint John's Lutheran Home in Billings, MT.

Cremation has taken place. Memorial service will be held at Kirkwood Funeral Home in Malta, Montana on May 16, 2015 at 1 p.m.

Darlene was born February 20, 1937 to Alfred and Florence (Dyrdahl) Charlton at McCone City, Montana. Darlene graduated from Malta High School in 1955. She spent a year in Denver going to business school and being a nanny.

On April 8, 1956 she married Philip Sims in Malta. In 1958 they bought the Hilltop Dairy along with Phil's father east of Malta and started raising sheep, alfalfa hay, and small grains. Darlene worked at the Phillips County Hospital, Equity Co-Op, Coast to Coast and Hi-Line Packing. She was involved in T.O.P.S.

She was also very involved in farming and ranching, she raised many bum lambs. She was an awesome cook and could feed a bunch of people and no one ever went away hungry!

Darlene moved to Big Timber in 2012 to be closer to her daughter. Phil and Darlene raised five children, Mike, Glen, Connie, Nick and Billi Jo.

Darlene is survived her children Mike (Karen) Sims of Billings, MT; Glen (Terri) Sims of Malta; Connie (Stan) Kendall of Round Mountain, NV; Nick Sims of Greenwich, CT; and Billi Jo Sims of Big Timber, MT . She is also survived by 7 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, her brother Dale (Darlene) Charlton of Helena; Vicki (Wes) Kroll of Helena and Kathy (Les) Bebee of Havre and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband Phil, her parents, and her sisters JoAnn Waters and Judy Korsbeck.

The family wants to thank all of her friends that have called, sent cards and stopped by to visit her during her stay in Big Timber and Billings.