Lillian Webster
Lillian Mae (Tlustosch) Webster, 96, died Nov. 30, 2021, at Hosanna Assisted Living Home of Great Falls.
She was born Sept. 18, 1925, in Dagmar to William and Edna Tlustosch, the oldest of three girls. After the death of her mother at a young age, she was raised by her father and his second wife, Mary, whom she recognized as her mom, and gained another sister and a brother.
At 18, she set out to Washington to find her way, working in TB sanitariums and as a “Rosie the Riveter” building military planes.
While in Tacoma, Wash., her childhood sweetheart, Wayne Webster, came calling and they were married June 9, 1945. The couple returned to the Webster family farm outside of Froid and welcomed daughter Georgia June 14, 1946, and son Wayne June 29, 1947.
She worked alongside her family on the farm, becoming a snowbirds in Arizona in the late 1960s, until Wayne’s death Jan. 15, 1975. Without her husband, Arizona was not the same and she returned only once, staying on the farm, caring for her mother-in-law until she moved to Great Falls in 1987 to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren.
In Great Falls, she found a calling as a live-in caretaker for the elderly and developed friendships with the women she cared for and their families.
She had a lifelong passion for reading and gardening and it was best to keep her far from a book or plant if she was needed anywhere else. She also loved to paint and would take her RV out to find new scenery, sometimes getting lost in the woods. When her eyesight wouldn't allow her to read printed books, she even learned to use an iPad to enjoy ebooks and audiobooks.
She was preceded in death by her sisters, Lucy Johnson and Dorothy Krueger; brother, Francis Tlustosch; and granddaughter, Sonya Davies. She is survived by daughter, Georgia Davies; son, Wayne Webster; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held June 9, at 9:30 a.m. at the Froid Community Center.
