Arthur Kenneth Buen, 94, formerly of Nashua died Oct. 28, 2022, in Great Falls. He was born on the Buen homestead Sept. 25, 1928, to Asle and Anna Buen. At that time, he already had four older sisters, Clara, Thelma, Agnes and Bernice. Later, Vivian and Harold were born. In 1933, he started Spring Valley Elementary Country School. All of his eight years, he was the only student in his grade level. In 1946, he graduated Nashua High School. He always started school two weeks late in the fall to help with harvest and two weeks early in the spring to help with seeding the crop. While going to high school, he stayed in the town of Nashua with his sister, Thelma and his brother-in-law, Marvin. In 1948, he started farming the Buen homestead on his own. On June 30, 1954, he married Eleanor Biem at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Poplar. Together, they had four daughters: Linda Lassila, Charlotte Tabacco, Ann Buen and Marjorie Hill. He was a very active leader in the community. Since birth, he was a member of Bethel Lutheran Church of Grain. He was elected to the church council in 1951, serving the roles of treasurer and president. He served continuously for 71 years. He was local Farmers Union president for three years, Montana Farmers Union director for one year, and Montana Farmers Union vice president for 12 years. He served on the Nashua Farmers Union Oil board as a director for 33 years and Nashua Farmers Union Elevator board for seven years. He was involved with the Democratic party, Thrivent, Lukes 100 member for 45 years and served as president for two years. He was an active member of Sons of Norway for 30-plus years. He used his talents of cooking lutefisk and organizing steak fries for various events. He was extremely proud of his Norwegian heritage and enjoyed speaking the language. He loved going dancing with his wife, Eleanor, almost every Saturday night in the winter months. He also loved to play games. He adored all of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and loved every moment he spent with them. He loved and truly cared for all people. He was the one you could always count on to lend a helping hand to others. Farming was his passion and he considered the cows his hobby. Once he reached his 80s, he realized it was too much to care for his cows so he sold them. Recently, he sold his farm to Kevin Tweten, a young neighbor, whom he and Eleanor greatly admired. He is survived by his four daughters, Linda Lassila, Charlotte Tabacco, Ann Buen and Marjorie Hill, all of Great Falls; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor Buen; five sisters, Clara Siewing, Thelma Garsjo, Agnes Garsjo, Bernice Kummerfeldt and Vivian Siewing; and one brother, Harold Buen. Funeral services will be held Saturday, Nov. 5, at 11 a.m. at First Lutheran Church in Glasgow. Burial will be at Highland Cemetery in Glasgow at noon.

Don Wilson Brown, 86, of Fort Peck died in Billings on Sept. 27, 2022. He was born Dec. 5, 1935, at the family ranch to Dalton and Astrid (Rorvick) Brown with his grandmother Gerda Rorvick as the midwife. He was born and raised on a rural homestead on Shade Creek in McCone County, the Quarter Circle DB. He attended grade school at Illmont School where his mother was the teacher. The two-room school house still stands, barely, as a reminder of an era gone by. To continue his education, he left the ranch to attend Wolf Point High School, graduating in 1953, while living in a boarding house under the care and supervision of Ruby and Melvin Lingle. Many an adventure came from his high school experiences and colorful stories of friendship, fly-ins, country school dances and late-night excursions with a fair amount of mischief mixed in. Over his life, he worked many different jobs including construction, spray pilot, aircraft mechanic, truck driver and cowboy/rancher. He strived to be an excellent “hand” at whatever job he performed, but his true passion was flying. He was granted his pilot’s license the day he turned 16 and proudly wore the badge of “youngest pilot in the state of Montana” for a time. He spent several years as a spray pilot before moving to Helena to attend aircraft mechanic school. This is where he met and married Carol in 1957 and where they lived and raised their family until 1991 when they relocated to Fort Peck to assist on the family ranch. The ranch is where he was truly the happiest — his heart was always in eastern Montana. He would marvel at the sunrises coming over the buttes and would end his day listening to the mourning doves while sitting on the bunkhouse porch. He considered Willis Butte to be his church and would climb to the top to talk to God. He was a naturalist and, while living at and managing the ranch, he strictly enforced a walk-in only policy for hunters and visitors. It was this philosophy that propelled his active opposition to the Keystone Pipeline since it would have crossed several miles of the ranch property. He often said “farmers and ranchers were environmentalists before environmentalists had a name.” He and Carol were best friends during their 64 years together, thoroughly enjoying each other’s sense of humor and engaging in fun-filled “Brown Banter.” They shared values of honesty, hard work, integrity, loyalty and commitment to family and friends. He will be forever remembered for his sense of humor, his storytelling and his kind and generous heart. He was rarely seen without his cowboy hat and distinctive beard. He was proud of his heritage and would celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with enthusiasm and recognition that the Brown’s shared an Irish independence and orneriness, as well as his Scandinavian traits of common sense and frugality. He was preceded in death by his wife, Carol Brown; and sister, Myrna Frye. He is survived by his daughter, Tammie Brown Butler; son, Tracy Brown; and three grandchildren. Memorial services and celebrations will be held in Glasgow and Fort Peck during the summer of 2023.

Howard Keith Wood was known to most as Keith Wood. However, he was known by many as Dad, Grandpa and Great-Grandpa. Keith was born in Poplar on Jan. 28, 1936, to Howard and Beth Wood. He graduated high school in Wolf Point, earned a journalism degree from Montana State University (now the University of Montana) in Missoula in 1960, and served two years in the Army. Keith launched his newspaper career at the Montana Standard in Butte before returning to Wolf Point to work for The Herald-News. It was there he met Faye Prevost, a feisty high-school P.E. teacher in short shorts that he couldn’t keep his eyes off. They were married in Sidney on June 15, 1962, and celebrated 60 years of marriage this past summer. The couple followed Keith’s journalism career to several towns, including Livingston, Billings and St. Joseph, Mich. After Keith served as editor of the Outdoors section at the Idaho Statesman in Boise, the couple returned to Wolf Point to help with his dad’s small, start-up manufacturing business. Starting in 1970, Keith helped run Wood’s Powr-Grip until his father asked him to take the helm as president of the growing company. Keith ran the business in Wolf Point until it outgrew the location. Keith and Faye made the difficult decision in 1990 to move Wood’s Powr-Grip to Laurel, Mont., where it is now. The business continues to grow under the leadership of his children. No matter where life took him, Keith had a love for all things outdoors. He was an avid hunter, fisherman, canoer, camper and motorcycle rider. A skilled photographer, he was able to capture many of his adventures with his camera. Anyone who was fortunate enough to know Keith recognized he was a quiet, humble and amazingly patient man who endured challenging times without complaining. He was known to be giving to a fault and not materialistic at all. He was known as a leader and a father figure to many. And, he was known for his wit. Despite his quiet demeanor, his unexpected one-liners would leave all those within earshot in tears of laughter. While his words were few, Keith’s great wisdom was obvious whenever he spoke. Keith passed away quietly with his wife and five children at his bedside on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. He devoted his life to serving his family and friends with his time and many talents, and there are so many stories to share about him. Keith leaves behind his bride, Faye; and their five children: Lee Ann Wood of Park City, Bryan (Lou Ann) Wood of Laurel, Barry (Dayana) Wood of Billings, Brad (Lesley) Wood of Laurel and Lisa (Mark) Wood-Miranda of Meridian, Idaho. Keith is also survived by his sister, Karen Workman of Anchorage, Alaska; 15 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. There will be a rosary at Smith's Funeral Chapel in Laurel on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. and his funeral will be at St. Anthony’s Church in Laurel at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4. The family would like to thank everyone for their love and support during these difficult times. Instead of flowers, please support the Laurel Little League. Keith loved the fact that he was able to help contribute to our youth having the facilities they needed for kids to just enjoy being kids. Checks can be made to Laurel Little League and mailed to PO Box 231, Laurel, MT 59044. Guests are welcome to bring a favorite picture or memory of Keith to put on the memory wall that will be at the reception after the funeral. (Paid Obituary)

Edwin Dale Cox, 70, of Conrad, formerly of Frazer, died Oct. 20, 2022. He was born Oct. 28, 1951, to Joseph Cox and Julia Grandchamp in Poplar. He was the youngest of 14. He grew up in Frazer. He married Marilyn Swanson on Feb. 10, 1977, in Bozeman. In 1991, they took in Johnny Cox to raise as theirs. He enjoyed the taking Johnny fishing, hunting and camping. Ed was proud of Johnny and all he achieved. He was known as Uncle Eddy to many nieces and nephews. He loved fishing, hunting, camping and spending time with family and friends at gathering. He loved to bead headdresses and breastplates. He would tan hides to make moccasins and give them away to family and friends. He loved to watch black and white westerns. He moved to Conrad in 2018 closer to his nephew James and family. In the last few years, James and Sean Cox took Ed on their hunting

Emily Joyce McConnell, 73, of Wolf Point died at the Billings Clinic Intermediate Care Center on Sunday, Oct 16, 2022. She was born at home in Frazer to Twila Marie Long Knife and James J. McConnell (aka Jimmy Skunk). She was the firstborn of 14 siblings. Her nickname was Apples. She was a member of the Mormon Church and was a devout and faithful Christian. She loved reading the Bible and daily Bible readings. She was always making donations to different ministries and save the children. She was very caring and loved to help others, as well as her family. She was raised by her grandmothers, Helen Attacks Four Eagle and Rosaline Long Knife, and her parents. She attended school up to the 8th grade at Frazer. She attended High School in Pierre, S.D., through the 11th grade and later earned her GED. She furthered her education the Job Corps in Clinton, Neb. She later returned home to Wolf Point where she lived all her life. She married Frank Birdsbill Jr. From this union, they had three sons. She worked at the Living Good Motel in Summers in the earlier years and later worked as a housekeeper at Faith Home in Wolf Point. She loved listening to the oldies, such as the Supremes,