Donna Marjorie Hart Stone

Donna Marjorie Hart Stone passed peacefully into the arms of God on  May 15^th, after a brief illness. She was born in Dickinson, North Dakota on April 29^th, 1932, as the middle child of Donald and Evelyn Hart. When Donna was eleven years old, the family moved to a dairy farm near Gallatin Gateway, where she and her two brothers attended elementary school. Donna graduated from Bozeman High School and Montana State University.

The move from North Dakota came with the great loss of her favorite child’s wood cook stove due to its weight and the immense joy of bringing along her favorite horse, Nip. Nip remained in the family for thirty years and fondly lived on in Donna’s memory until a few weeks before she left us. In her heart, Nip was her best friend. 

Donna’s childhood was spent learning to cook, bake, sew, crochet, and knit on the family’s homestead near Killdeer, North Dakota. Her skills at baking and crocheting rag rugs were legendary as was her master gardening acumen. There were always cookies in the freezer, logs of lefsa when too many mashed potatoes were intentionally not eaten the night before. As many as twelve homemade pies assembled from apples picked off of the transparent apple tree she lovingly cared for were stacked in the freezer for gifting. 

Mom started our first family garden in the Eastern Montana town of Culbertson where she also taught school in Brockton, on the Fort Peck First Nation’s Reservation. After the final family moved to Belgrade, every summer was filled with soil turning, row making, seed sorting, weeks of planting, careful sprinkling, weed pulling, and a lifetime of disagreeable rock picking. Her huge garden was her church, the earth her bible, and the birds her choir. The choir chirped everything she needed to know about late springs and early winters. 

The root cellar was always full of a summer’s harvest of squash, potatoes, and onions. Rows of pickled beets, cucumbers, corn relish, and tomatoes filled quart jars that lined white shelves in the coolness of the basement. When the larder is brimming with Mom-grown vegetables, poverty sleeps outside.

Summers were also filled with her fiercely loved fire-engine red Ford Ranchero stacked to the brim with extraordinary produce, buckets of flowers, folding tables, price tags, and homemade chocolate chip cookies – all destined for the farmer’s markets at Bogart’s Grove or the Gallatin County Fair Grounds. Her Walla Walla sweets could be, and often were, eaten like apples and gleamed like piles of gigantic pearls on her market tables. People lined up early for her Early Girl carrots, which disappeared before they made it home. Her biggest marketing tool was her lovely smile she offered free to everyone.

During the off seasons, Donna taught school in Belgrade for thirty-three years. Decades after she retired, she still knew the names of almost all her students, how well they behaved (or not), and the kind of learner they were. She relished working with children and taught well beyond the required curricula emphasizing honesty, hard work, integrity, and kindness. She was a role model for what she taught and abundantly received what she gave. “Mrs. Stone” was loved deeply by all those who were nurtured by her.

Our loss is Heaven’s gain. We will miss her profoundly!

Donna Marjorie Hart Stone was predeceased by her parents, Donald and Evelyn (Neil) Hart of Gallatin Gateway, her older brother and his wife, Neil and Janice (Reardon) Hart of Kalispell, her sister-in-law, Sandra (Boylan) Hart of Gallatin Gateway, and former husband, Warren Stone of Forsyth.  

She is survived by her kid brother, Lee Ira Hart of Gallatin Gateway, children Sandy (Robert) Trapp of Selah, WA, Dana Hart-Stone (Brian Gross) of Santa Fe, NM, Laurie Stone of Augusta, Jeff (Kelly) Stone, of Belgrade, Tanner Stone of Belgrade, and Steve (Beth) Hermes of Clarkston, MI. Her many beloved grandkids include Briston and Brodie Trapp of Selah, WA, Toni (Gary) DeHaan of Spring Hill, Tucker (Hannah) Stone of Bozeman, Turner Stone of Bozeman, Teni (Josh) Stone of Belgrade, Tally (Dennis) Krack of Belgrade, Tracer Stone of Bozeman, Steven Jr. (Karlee) Hermes of Windsor, CT, Millissa (Mike) Magee of Waterford, MI, and Nicole (Matt) Jones of Muldrow, OK. Nieces include Kimberly (Stephen) Hart McCullough of Big Timber, Heather Hart (Neil Pringle) of Gallatin Gateway, Heidi Hart of Whitefish, Callie (Mike) Langohr of Kalispell, and Carrie (Pete) Bautzmann of Kalispell. Donna is also survived by numerous great grandchildren.

Please join us in a Celebration of Life on May 24^th, 11:00 am at Dahl Funeral & Cremation Service, 300 Highland Blvd., Bozeman, MT 59715. Private interment at Sunset Hills Cemetery will follow.  

In lieu of flowers, donations in Donna’s memory may be made to the Little Bear School House Museum (PO Box 439, Gallatin Gateway, MT, 59730, 406-763-5889, chamberscarol58@yahoo.com) in recognition that the history of education in and near Gallatin Gateway be preserved for future generations to discover and learn from. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.dahlcares.com.

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” -Socrates