Athena Bauer, 94, passed away April 15, 2010 following a brief illness, after sharing her love with family and friends one last time. She was born Athena Arger, July 27, 1915 in American Fork, Utah. She spent her formative years in the Tacoma area. She had an adventurous early life, living for a time in Alaska and Butte, Montana before settling for good in the Flathead Valley.
She persevered through the early loss of her mother and then three husbands, Milton Valison, Pete Pike, and Art Bauer; taking every hurdle in stride and becoming the rock on which others leaned. She is survived by her three daughters, Catherine Mills, Becka Arnold, and Shirley Pleuss as well as eleven grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren in two more generations. In addition, she will be greatly missed by the families of LaVerne Fredenberg and Dorothy Frehse, which she often called her second family.
Athena was a hard worker who put in many years in the local potato fields, the Flathead Cherry Warehouse and Snowline Tree Company. In retirement she and Art loved to travel and attend Good Sam gatherings in the summer and ice fish at Duck Lake in the winter. She was an avid reader and produced beautiful crewel needlework wall hangings.
Her gardening skills were legendary and she still tended her large potato patch and dug her own spuds to the very end. She introduced many to the pursuit of wild asparagus and loved to pick huckleberries. Known as an expert at Greek cooking and canning, many memorable meals were served across her tables.
Her uncommon knack for dispensing wisdom mixed with wit led to accumulating many dear friends of all ages. While no shrinking violet, she had a way of giving good advice without preaching it. Her body finally gave out, but her mind and spirit never did.