Marie Bidegaray
Marie Lou Bidegaray, 80, of south Brockton died Jan. 7, 2021, at Billings Clinic.
She was born Marie Louise on Sept. 18, 1940, to Louis and Catherine Poutcou in Mendive, France, in the Basque region of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
She married Jean Pierre Bidegaray on April 1, 1964, and started her new life as a farmwife, mother and partner with her husband and later with her sons. They started farming and ranching in the Yellowstone Valley in Sidney and then moved to the Charlie Creek area south of Brockton farming and ranching along the Missouri River.
For the next 54 years, she raised six children, many a bum calf and harvested and shared the bounties of her orchards, gardens and her chickens.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 48 years, Jean Pierre in 2012; and siblings, in France, Jeanne, Jean, Jean Charles, Jean Louis.
She is survived by her children, Josy McLean of Great Falls, Jeanine Granada of south Brockton, Patrick Bidegaray of Culbertson, Gabriele Powell of Mount Pleasant, S.C., Claude Bidegaray of south Brockton and Remi Bidegaray of south Brockton; brothers, Jean Pierre, Joseph and Jean Baptiste, all of France; and youngest sister, Gracie of France.
Following her wishes, she has been cremated. A funeral mass will be held later this summer at St. Bernard’s in Charlie Creek. Clayton Stevenson Memorial in Wolf Point is handling funeral arrangements.
