Gail Mercelle Boveng

Gail Mercelle Boveng “completed her final chapter of life” Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, surrounded by family and friends.

Gail had a radiant smile that lit up like sunshine. When she flashed it, spirits soared.

She was born in Rugby, North Dakota, on June 21, 1935, to Alma and Sigurd Torgerson. She grew up with two wonderful sisters, Bonnie and Karen, in McVille, North Dakota, and graduated from high school there.  She furthered her education at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where she graduated with an associate’s degree.

In 1955, she came to Kalispell and went to work for the superintendent of schools, Del P. Langbell, using her well-honed clerical abilities. Here she fell in with an adventurous group who dated, skied and hiked all over the valley and Glacier Park. Many of those became lifelong friends, but out of that vibrant scene was one Norwegian kid she chose to make a long ski run with.

So it was she married Oystein Boveng that summer of ‘57. Together they made a perfect picture and raised a family. First came Peter, in 1958. Two years later they packed their bags and the young family moved to Norway. Gail fit right in, quickly learning the language and dressing her little boy in her hand-knit Norwegian sweaters. They spent weekends visiting family and places of Oystein’s childhood, as well as her own relatives and the farms of her ancestors.

On their return to the U.S., a son Arne was born in 1962, and two years later she got the girl she wanted, in Kirsten. Now she had her flock in order and set about becoming the "World's Greatest Mom." She hauled them all up to Big Mountain on weekends and helped teach them Oystein’s native sport. She helped launch the Kalispell Ski Club in 1959 and raced through the gates once in awhile, too. Not bad for a flatlander from Dakota!

Satisfied her children had their training wheels off, she went back to work, first at Immanuel Lutheran Home in 1976 as dietary manager and later, in 1989, she became the first director of the Buffalo Hill Terrace, independent and assisted living center. For 22 years she served Immanuel Corporation, beloved by her employees, residents and superiors alike, retiring at the end of 1998.

How fitting it was, as she entered her last stage as a resident herself of Buffalo Hill Terrace, that she still had admirers in former staff members who had worked for her. Accounts of the impact she had on people's lives gave her a great deal of satisfaction and pride.

After tending to kids, keeping house and working a full-time job, she still had some time left over, so she devoted herself to several causes in which she strongly believed. She was a member of the committee that orchestrated the unification of three Lutheran Church branches into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Locally, she was a key member of the group that founded Northridge Lutheran Church, where she and Oystein gave their support and found fellowship until the end of their days. In the 1980s, she worked to establish Hospice care in the Flathead Valley, and later she devoted much energy expressing her opposition to the death penalty.

Gail had lots of friendships that lasted a lifetime. One group of girls she gathered with started the infamous Sewing Club more than 50 years ago and still meets monthly today. She had numerous hiking groups over the years and skied with another group of friends until very recently. At around 70 years of age, she donned a climbing harness and went rock climbing and also scrambled to the top of Mount Reynolds in Glacier Park, sort of a lifelong dream. To say that Gail was active in the outdoors is quite an understatement.

Gail was preceded in death by her sister Karen and her beloved husband Oystein.

She is survived by her sister, Bonnie Olsgaard, and husband Orin, of Missoula; three children, Peter and wife Lisa of Seattle, Arne and wife April of Kalispell, and Kirsten Purdy and husband Jim of Seattle; grandchildren, Nicole Randall and husband James, Karl, Sydney, Hanne, Maia Purdy and Lars Purdy; and great-grandson, Orry Randall; as well as her cherished nieces and nephews.

The family suggests memorial donations be made to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation (http://www.alzinfo.org), the Samaritan House, or Northridge Lutheran Church.

A service and afternoon luncheon in celebration of Gail's life will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22, at Northridge Lutheran Church.