Helen Cowles

Helen Dutton Cowles Helen Dutton Cowles, the last surviving member of the Dutton family raised on the Dutton Ranch, passed away Sunday February, 17, 2008 of natural causes at Spring Meadows Assisted Living Facility in Bozeman. Helen, the youngest of nine children, was born May 20, 1913 on the Dutton Ranch twelve miles south of Big Timber. Her father, William Dutton, had homesteaded the land after it was released from the Indian reservation. She attended the #8220;Dutton School#8221; on the ranch property. When she was a sophomore in high school she moved to San Bernardino, California to live with her sister, Beulah, for two years before returning to Big Timber her senior year. She moved to Livingston in 1931, where she married Don C. Cowles Jr. in 1939. They became partners in the Public Drug Store and later Western Photo Sales, a wholesale distributor of photographic film and cameras. They operated this business until they retired in 1979, after which they traveled extensively. She moved to Bozeman in 1988, where she was a member of the Montana Association for the Blind and attended their summer orientation programs and volunteered in the program for six years. She spent many winters in Oceanside, California where she attended the San Diego Center for the Blind, and the North County Rehabilitation Program where she had volunteered since 1990. She also attended rehab classes for the blind at the Braille Institute in La Jolla, California from 1991. She was preceded in death by her husband Don C. Cowles, her parents, and all of her brothers and sisters. Survivors include her son Don C. Cowles III and daughter-in-law Patty Cowles of Bozeman; daughter Linda Slack and son-in-law Bruce Slack of Pineville, Louisiana: grandchildren, Kalani K. Cowles a student at Bucknell University and Donald Carson Cowles IV, a student at Miami University of Ohio. Other survivors include her niece Donna Ronning Caruso (Dick) of Livingston and several grand nieces and nephews. Cremation has taken place and, according to her wishes, no services are planned. Memorials may be sent to the Montana Association for the Blind, PO Box 465, Helena, MT 59624 or the San Diego Center for the Blind, North County, 1385 Bonair St., Vista, California 92084. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.dahlcares.com