GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE Wednesday, March 30, 2005

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Mary C. Johnson

Mary C. (McGillis) Lemere Johnson, 101, of 1130 17th Ave. S., died of natural causes Tuesday at a local nursing home.

Services are pending at O'Connor Funeral Home.

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Info Courtesy of Brenda Snider 31 Mar 2005

The following obit should have ran today, I sure hope it runs tomorrow! The rosary is this evening. She is the grandmother of my (half) sisters Stacy and Renee Snider. I wrote the rough draft for the obit so here it is.....
PS.. it says survived by sister Ella Hall - Ella is actually her step daughter from her marriage to Ed Lamere. I do not know who Ella's real mother is. The family all demanded this was correct so I left it alone. :o))
Thanks again for sending Flo's obit.

Brenda

the Rosary is this evening (31 Mar 2005),
at 7pm at O'Connors funeral home in Great Falls.
The Funeral is Friday (Apr 1), at 2pm at
Our Lady of Lourdes and burial at Mt Olivet Cemetery.
After, there will be a reception at the West Gate Mall Bingo hall.
(Oh, how Mary loved bingo!! They'll be playing 1 game in her honor).


Mary C. (McGillis) Johnson
02/13/1904 - 03/29/2005
101 years young


Mary Celina (McGillis-Lamere) Johnson, a long time Great Falls resident, passed away at the Missouri River Manor on March 29, 2005, of natural causes. She was 101 years young.

She was born on Feb. 13, 1904, in Poplar, Mt. to William John McGillis and Marie Rose Ouellette. She was raised in Malta, Mt. Later, she moved to Havre where she lived for several years, before moving to Great Falls in the 1950s.

Mary enjoyed playing cards, going to garage sales, and than having her own garage sales, playing bingo, and spending time with her family and friends.

At the time of her passing, she was the oldest living member of The Little Shell Chippewa Indians of Montana. She was always devoted to her heritage and supported her son Edward LaMere, Jr. when he ran The Native American Center in Great Falls. She would plan, and help cook at all the Indian Taco Sales held at the center. Her Chippewa and Metis (French and Indian) heritage was very important to her and was always delighted to talk about it. As well as English, Mary also spoke a mixture of French and Chippewa/Cree (Michif), the language of her ancestors. She was involved in the Catholic Church until her passing.

She married 3 times and has outlived all three of her husbands. Mary had eight children: Baby Ellery, died at birth. Marys children are: Joseph Ellery, Margaret Ellery, Edward LaMere Jr , Alvin LaMere Leroy LaMere, Lorraine (LaMere-Williams) Snider, and Yvonne LaMere (Lawrence-LaFromboise) .

Besides her parents, and three husbands, Pat Allary, Ed Lamere Sr and Edward Johnson, Mary was also preceded in death by sons; Joseph Ellery, Edward LaMere Jr., and Leroy LaMere; and daughters; Baby Berneda Ellery and Margaret Ellery.

Her survivors include her daughters Lorraine Snider and Yvonne Lawrence of Great Falls, Mt., a sister Ella Hall of Toppenish, Wa. In addition, 35 grandchildren, 70 great grand children, and 17 great-great grandchildren presently living all around the United States.

Mary was a very special woman. She will be greatly missed.

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GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE Thursday, March 31, 2005

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Mary C. Johnson

Homemaker and retired cook Mary C. (McGillis) Ellery LaMere Johnson, of 1130 17th Ave. S., who according to her family was the oldest living member of the Little Shell Chippewa Indians of Montana, died of natural causes Tuesday at a local nursing home. She was 101.

A vigil service is 7 this evening at O’Connor Memorial Chapel. A memorial service is 2 p.m. Friday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, with burial of ashes in Mount Olivet Cemetery. O’Connor Funeral Home is handling cremation and arrangements.
Survivors include her daughters Lorraine (LaMere-Williams) Snider and Yvonne (LaMere) Lawrence of Great Falls and Ella Hall of Toppenish, Wash.; 35 grandchildren, 70 great-grandchildren and 17 great-great-grandchildren across the states.

Mary Cecelia McGillis was born Feb. 13, 1904, in Poplar, Mont., and was raised in Malta. She later moved to Havre, where she lived for several years. She married twice and had nine children.

Mary enjoyed playing cards, going to garage sales and having her own garage sales, playing bingo and spending time with her family and friends.

She was completely devoted to her heritage and supported her son, Edward LaMere Sr., when he ran the Native American Center. She would help plan and cook at the Indian taco sales held at the Center. Her Native American/French Canadian heritage was very important to her, and she spoke a mixture of French and Cree. She was involved in the Catholic Church until her death.

She was preceded in death by her husbands Pat Ellery and Edward LaMere; six children, Berneda Ellery, Margaret Ellery, Joseph Ellery Sr., Edward LaMere Sr., Alvin LaMere and Leroy LaMere; and a grandson, Mike LaMere.

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