- Date Of Birth: September 14, 1927
- Date Of Death: August 24, 2019
- State: Montana
Shirley Matosich passed away peacefully in her sleep on Aug. 24, 2019, at the age of 91 at her home on Swan Lake after a brief and blessed relatively-pain-free battle with pancreatic cancer.
Shirley was born on Sept. 14, 1927, in Butte to Emile and Alma Nadeau, the third of their four children. Shirley spent her early years in Butte, and after the death of her mother when Shirley was 10 years old, the family moved to Anaconda where she attended junior high and high school.
On April 3, 1948, she married Steve Matosich, who had recently returned from World War II and was attending the University of Montana. The two had met years before in Anaconda while attending high school together.
Over their 59 years of marriage, Shirley and Steve lived in Missoula, Grass Range, Lewistown, Whitefish and Deer Lodge before retiring in 1981 to the home they built with their own hands on Swan Lake in Northwest Montana. Steve and Shirley enjoyed 26 years of retirement there together before Steve passed away in 2007.
Steve and Shirley were blessed with seven children, two boys and five girls, one of whom died tragically shortly after birth in the hospital in Whitefish. Shirley was an enthusiastic, devoted and caring mother and homemaker. She generously gave to those in need, liberally blessing others through her gift of hospitality. She enjoyed crafts, sewing, and baking, and — in the days before the internet — traced and documented her ancestry back to 15th century France. She was active in each town and faith community in which she and Steve lived. She was president of the Deanery and Women’s Guild in Whitefish. She was an active civic participant, teacher’s aide, and religious education teacher in Deer Lodge, and she was a devoted neighborhood organizer on Swan Lake. She was also very active in each Catholic parish in each community.
