Person:Katherine Dutton (8)

Grade school teacher Leah died of kidney failure and diabetes. She donated her body to the University of Minnesota medical school, which returned the cremated remains after a year. A memorial service was held then in Forsyth, Montana. The following was told to Gary Jensen by Ardis Robertson: After one summer in Normal School following her graduation from high school, Leah taught in a one room country school in Nebraska. One of the eighth grade boys was over six feet tall and only three years younger than the teacher. Leah handled them all and taught them well. She went to summer shcool at Kearney in order to earn a teaching certificate. During her two years of teaching there, one of her pupils was Rita Robertson, whose father, Gavin, was on the school board. Leah and Gavin were married in 1915. In 1918 Leah and Gavin went to Montana to visit Leah's brother, Ray, who was there homesteading. During their stay Gavin's severe stomach ulcers were cured by artesian water at Ray's place, so they decided to stay in Montana. At first they lived in a sod house in the Rosebud Buttes south of Rosebud, then on the Rosebud Creek. Later they moved to an irrigated beet farm on the north side of the Yellowstone River at Thurlow. After two years they bought an irrigated farm about three miles east of Thurlow. When consolidation of country schools became popular, Leah worked to get three small school districts merged into a single district with one large school. She helped to get busing established throughout these rural school districts. Leah spend many hours getting a rural mail route of cover our community. When she finally got the approval for the route from the Postmaster General, a central post office was established. Despite all her hard work, she did not get the position of Postmaster in the new office, as it was considered a man's job. In Montana, Leah taught school at Cartersville, Sheffield and Angela. Through correspondence courses and summer courses she managed to earn her Associate of Arts degree in 1959 at Eastern Montana College of Education in Billings. When she retired at age 71, two school districts tried to hire her again. That was her retirement medal. In 1956 Leah and Gavin sold the farm and moved to Forsyth where they bought a trailer park. They moved to Miles City in 1958 to live with Ardis during the school year while Leah taught at Angela. After Gavin died Leah sold the trailer court and moved to Miles City. In 1975 Leah moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in order to be closer to her daughter, Ardis. Leah was a charter member of the Rebeccah Lodge of Rosebud.