Audrey died on Oct. 16, 2014, at the Immanuel Lutheran Skilled Care facility in Kalispell where she has resided and received loving care for the last two and a half years.
She was born in Great Falls on June 28, 1918 to James H. Daly and Mayme McDonald Daly. Audrey went to school in Miles City. When she graduated from high school in Miles City, the family moved to Fort Peck to help build the Fort Peck Dam and there she met and married Edward Fenske.
They had three children, JoAnne, John Edward and Mary Louise, who were raised in the Flathead Valley in Northwestern Montana. After her first husband’s death in 1954, Audrey went to work for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS), a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Audrey started in the position of clerk and retired 30 years later as district manager.
About a year before her retirement at the age of 65, she was contacted by her high school boyfriend, Richard C. Kiser and they were married on Aug. 24, 1984. They spent 26 years together enjoying their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They were able to travel many places throughout the United States with a stop every summer in Alaska to visit her children, John Fenske and Mary Bolin and their families.
Audrey was known for her cooking abilities, her generous nature and her love of children. Even into her late 80s, every Saturday night at promptly 6 p.m. those who gathered around her table were treated to a delicious and bountiful meal. In her mid-50s she became a Christian and her natural gifts were expanded as she took meals to the ailing, became grandma to children of other families, and served in her church in a variety of areas.
Audrey was preceded in death by her husbands, Edward Fenske and Richard Kiser; her father, James H. Daly; her mother, Mayme Daly Pierce; all of her siblings: sisters, Velva Elgin Bruyer and Beverly Triplett, and brother, James Daly; and her son-in-law of 53 years, Ernest Greig.
She is survived by her children, daughter, JoAnne Greig of Kila, daughter, Mary L. Bolin and husband, Max, of Anchorage, Alaska, and son, John and wife, Donna Fenske of Homer, Alaska; grandchildren, Gary and Connee Greig of Kila, and Christine Riebe and Steve McCIusky of Hot Springs; great-grandchildren, Michael and Amanda Greig of Los Angeles, Jacob Riebe of Billings, and Drew Riebe of Kalispell; great-great-grandson, Sebastian Brewster of Chula Vista, Calif.; step-grandchildren, Kristen and Jim Brown, Dina and Lou Marion of Homer, Craig and Diane Smith of Bozeman, and Kevin and Lynn Smith of Juneau, Alaska; step-great-grandchildren, Drew and Lindsay Brown, Colby and Ridge Marion, and Shannon Smith; nieces; nephews; her special friends, “adopted” son, Gary Gunderson; the “adopted” Jeager, Greene, Andriozzi and Kalstad families; numerous friends; and the many, many children who called her grandma.
Interment will be in the Glacier Memorial Gardens Cemetery, with graveside services to be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24.
A celebration of her life will be held in the summer of 2015. The date will be announced when arrangements have been made.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Coats for Kids, 8 First Ave. E., Kalispell, MT 59901; 406-752-1522