Mary Finnicum Roberts Parkins, 84, of Culbertson, passed away at the Roosevelt Medical Center In Culbertson on Thursday morning, Aug. 20, 2015.
A memorial service celebrating Mary’s life will be held on Friday morning, Oct. 2, 2015, at 10 a.m. at the Community of Christ Church in Culbertson, MT. Pastor Jack Scotson will officiate and private interment of the cremains will follow in the Crane Cemetery in Crane, MT.
Mary Lucille Finnicum (Roberts) Parkins was born Nov. 3, 1930, the tenth and last child to Bernie and May (Holt) Finnicum. She began her education at the little country school at Mona. She attended high school at Culbertson and graduated from Bainville. She was in her fifties when she graduated from Vo-Tech in Butte and later a two year community college in Spokane.
After high school graduation, she moved to Spokane, where she did waitress work for some time. Upon returning to Culbertson, MT, she met and married Roland Roberts and together they raised six children. She worked alongside Roland at the bee yards until she became deathly allergic to bee stings.
With six children, she still found time to be den mother to several Boy Scout troops and a Girl Skylark group from church. She grew and canned a huge garden every year for family and friends. She was an excellent cook and gathered all her family, friends and neighbors on holidays, birthdays, fish frys, and BBQs as well as having cards, bunko, swim parties and back yard circuses. Mary was artistic, an excellent seamstress, crocheted, quilted and was a good carpenter too. Mary enjoyed crossword puzzles and loved pizza and religious programs in her later life.
Throughout her lifetime, she moved fifty times and lived from Kodiak, AK, to Dallas, TX. She had many different types of jobs such as waitressing, clerk, sales, receptionist, house-mother and apartment manager for mentally impaired residents. She was last employed in her late fifties as a flagman for the Washington Highway Department.
In the last years of her life, she was married to Don Parkins of Spokane, WA, who preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her oldest son Patrick W. Roberts and granddaughter, Heather.
Mary tried hard to be a good servant to the Lord and to bring others to know and serve him too. Mary went to our Heavenly Father the morning of Aug. 20, 2015. She was loved by many and will be missed greatly.
She is survived by her children: daughters, Vonnie (Richard) Lambert of Fairview, MT; Miki Chessmore of Butte, MT; sons, Jim (Cindy) Roberts; Tom Roberts, Ward Roberts, all of KY; daughter in law, Carmen Roberts of Sidney, MT; nineteen grandchildren, many great-grand-children; sister in law, Montana Finnicum; and many nieces and nephews.
A special thank-you to her nieces Diane, LaVonne and Nancy for all their visits, love and prayers, and special help throughout her ordeal from the family of Mary Roberts Parkins.
Friends are welcome to visit http://www.eversoncoughlin.com to share memories of Mary or leave condolences for her family.
The Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home of Williston is caring for the family.
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