Elaine Verdon

Elaine Verdon, a life-long Montana resident, died Wednesday (Oct. 13) at the Touchmark memory care unit in Helena after suffering with Alzheimer's disease. She was 91 years old.

She was born Iris Elaine Hendrickson on Dec. 1, 1929, in Malta in the middle of a brutal winter season. Her parents, Alfred and Alice Hendrickson, lived on a small farm about 14 miles to the south. Two weeks after her birth, Alfred built a shelter over the seat of his sleigh, loaded it with blankets and hot rocks and drove Alice and Elaine home over snow-drifted roads behind a two-horse team in sub-zero temperatures.

A...