In the early morning hours of March 29, 2015, our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend quietly died. Her passing was as she wished, in her sleep and in her own bed, in her own home. While we are mourning her loss, we are profoundly grateful for the many years we were blessed with her presence. Viola Ruth Coulter was born, the middle child of five children, to Joseph Samuel Coulter and Eva May Miller Coulter on July 18, 1922 in Jamestown, N.D. At age 6, she and her siblings and mother returned to Montana, where they lived briefly with her maternal grandparents, George and Edith Miller, at Brusett. Later that year, her mother moved her family to Jordan. In 1930, Viola’s mother married Lawrence Swanser and the family moved back to the Brusett area. Viola inherited four step-siblings with that move and spent the remainder of her childhood growing up on the family ranch. She attended Garfield County High School and was salutatorian of her 1940 graduating class. After working as a bookkeeper for the Farmer’s Union in Jordan, she married Arthur Judson Ware on Dec. 16, 1942 at the Presbyterian Church in Jordan. They worked on area ranches until Art was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944. She then became an Army wife, following her husband to Madison, Wis., and later to March Field, Riverside, Calif., where she lived and worked while Art was deployed in the South Pacific. It was while she was at Riverside that her first child, Arthur Morris, was born in February of 1946. After Art’s service ended, the family moved to the Ware family homestead in the Missouri Breaks near Devil’s Creek and began a sheep ranching operation. In November of 1948, their second child, Brenda Lee, was born. The family left “The Breaks” in 1956 and moved south of Miles City where Art worked on various ranches. In 1958, Art and Viola purchased a ranch on Frazer Creek north of Jordan where they lived until 1994 when Art’s ill health forced them to move to Jordan to retire. After Art passed away in 1996, Viola became a very active widow, volunteering numerous hours to the VFW Auxiliary where she was a life member and as a guide at the museum. She was a frequent visitor to the Garfield County Care Center where she especially enjoyed their weekly senior dinners and monthly jam sessions. She was also an avid reader and regularly visited the county library. She continued to read and work crossword puzzles until the week of her death. She was a knowledgeable historian of Eastern Montana and Garfield County. Viola was a rare individual who was liked and appreciated by everyone who knew her. In addition to the many friends and extended family, she leaves behind her son and daughter, Morris and Mae Ware of Ingomar, her daughter, Brenda Lekse Brockett, of Billings, and Doha, Qatar, grandchildren Vicki, Kara, and Jason, and great-grandchildren, Cassandra, Katelynn, Kyle, Theresa Sage, Rayn, and CJ. She also leaves behind her sister, Lois Poulton, of Billings. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, April 2, at 1 p.m. at the VFW Hall in Jordan. A viewing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, from 1-6 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Jordan. Interment will follow in the Pioneer Cemetery. Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.stevensonandsons.com. Memorials may be sent in Viola’s name to the VFW Auxiliary, c/o Sylvia Trumbo, P.O. Box 315, Jordan, MT 59337 or to the Garfield County Library, P.O. Box 69, Jordan, MT 59337 or to the charity of one’s choice. The family is grateful to the local community for the many years of care and support they extended to Viola, which played a large role in her ability to live in her own home as she wished until her passing.

Source:  Billings Gazette, The (MT) – Wednesday, April 1, 2015