Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service
Joanne Roberts Borgeson, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away on July 25, 2021, at the age of 86.
Joanne was an amazing cook and always found a seat at the table for unexpected guests. She loved reading, a passion she passed on to her brother and daughter, and she made beautiful ceramics for many years. Joanne was an incredibly decent person, and her kindness and love have enriched the lives of all who knew her. She gave us the highest of standards by which to live. To the world she may have been just another person but to her family she was our world.
Joanne was a remarkable woman, who overcame a difficult early life to raise four children, maintain a career outside the home, and build a good life for her family. She was a great wife, mother, grandmother, and matriarch to the extended family. She cared for others her entire life, and her children tried their best to take care of her in her last years. The family is also grateful to Stillwater Hospice for helping ease Joanne's passing.
Joanne was born June 11, 1935, in Swampscott, MA to Rita and Chester Roberts. After the death of her father in 1945, she lived with a great-aunt and great-uncle for a year, then moved to Boston, MA in 1946 after her mother's remarriage. She graduated from Girls' Latin School in 1953, then went on to attend Strayer College in Washington. DC, graduating with honors in 1955.
After graduation, she moved West with her grandmother and settled in the in the Bay Area of Northern California, where she worked at Marchant Calculator as a payroll clerk.
Joanne met her future husband, Don Borgeson, in a local Bay Area bowling league, and they wed in 1957. Joanne and Don had four children over the next 10 years, Kevin, Paul, Linda, and Janet.
Following a series of job transfers for Don's job with the USDA, they moved the family to Bozeman-Belgrade, MT in 1964, then to Ames, Iowa in 1968, followed by Bryan, Texas in 1971. In addition to handling all these moves with four young children in tow, Joanne also worked as a bookkeeper at a Cadillac-Olds dealership in Iowa, and then a Toyota dealership in Texas.
In 1979, Don was transferred for the last time, back to Bozeman, where he and Joanne had always wanted to return. Janet went with him to start school in Montana, and Joanne stayed in Texas one more year to allow Linda to graduate high school there and sell the house. in 1980, she and Linda joined Don and Janet in Bozeman, and Paul joined them several years later. Joanne worked at Bridger Bowl as an accountant until her retirement in 1998, a job she loved, though she wasn't fond of the canyon drive in winter.
She is survived by her children, Paul Borgeson and Janet Argrew (Jim Anderson) of Bozeman, Linda (Jeff Leake) of La Crescenta, CA; grandchildren, Kevin and Kim Argrew, Flanna (Mike Munoz) Borgeson-Leake, Teagan (Daniel Rojas) Borgeson-Leake; great-grandson, Theo Rojas; her brother, Robert Luscomb of Massachusetts; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Joanne is preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Don, in 2011; her son, Kevin in 1984; and her sister, Deborah in 1996.
A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held at 1:00 P.M. this Sunday, August 1, at Dokken-Nelson Sunset Chapel.
For those who wish to honor Joanne's life, memorial donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association or a charity of your choice.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com
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