Beverly Lucille Garver Siddoway - A beloved and caring wife, mother, sister and friend passed away at her home in Belgrade on September 25, 2021, under the care of her son Tom. Bev’s three other sons were in the home visiting just hours prior to her passing. Due to a twist of fate Beverly was born March 6, 1929, in Los Angeles, California while her mother was visiting one of her brothers. The family home was in St. Anthony, Idaho. Bev was born to Bessie Sara (Clark) Garver and Earl Raymond Garver and was raised in St. Anthony. She attended school in St. Anthony, graduating from South Fremont High School. She then attended nurses training at St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden, Utah and graduated as a registered nurse in 1953.
She later met Francis “John” Holley Siddoway of Teton, Idaho, fell in love and married in December of 1953. They started their married life in St. Anthony where sons Jon, Michael and Paul were born and then moved to Manhattan, Kansas where their youngest child, Tom, was born. After John completely graduate school at Kansas State University the family moved to Sidney, Montana in 1963 where John was named the Director of the newly created USDA-ARS Research Center. Beverly was not only a homemaker but worked many years at the Community Hospital in Sidney even during the years when the boys were young. Bev made sure that her husband and boys always had delicious and bountiful meals, she was an excellent cook. She was especially judicious in making sure that her home was always clean, she had learned this, at least in part from her years as a young girl cleaning homes in St. Anthony and her time at nurses training under the tutelage of the nuns of St. Benedict’s. As a registered nurse she held duties as a floor nurse, and Ob/Gyn nurse and spent many years as a surgical nurse at the Sidney hospital. She was well known in the community as a caring and hard-working nurse at the hospital and was recognized for her care with special awards from the hospital staff. The nuns at St. Benedict’s Hospital taught their students to treat their patients “as if they were Christ in person”. Bev held to this principle with everyone in her life.
After her husband, John, died in 1984, she moved to Belgrade, Montana to be closer to family and her childhood home in southeastern Idaho. Bev worked as a nurse at the Churchill Retirement home for many years providing quality care to patients at the end of their lives. She also took a great deal of pride in her yard at the home. Bev had planted Blue spruce, Honey locust, Mountain ash, a Cotoneaster shrub and a variety of Rose bushes. She also made sure that she had many ornamental flowering plants scattered about the property. And she definitely had a green thumb because she had successfully planted Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine and Lodgepole pine on the north side of the house that flourished over time. She loved seeing and feeding all of the different birds that came into the yard and loved visits by the occasional cottontail rabbit. Bev had several dogs she cared for and loved over the years, all Labrador retrievers that she either owned or was dog-sitting for her boys. She also became very attached to Feck, Tom’s parrot, who was with her for the last several years of her life. Feck and all of the Labradors loved Bev as much as she loved them.
Her four boys thought she was the best Mom in the world and carry her mighty lessons of kindness and love into all of their days!
She was preceded in her death by her husband, John; infant brother, Earl Jr. Garver; a brother, Paddy Ryan Garver; and a sister, Connie Marie Van Hook.
Survivors include her sons, Jon Garver (Ennis), Michael Frank (Colorado Springs, CO), Paul Ryan (Butte), and Tom Benedict (Belgrade). Bev is also survived by her sisters, Joan Clark Thornton (Douglasville, GA) and Madeline Carol Garver (Denver, CO). She is also survived by daughters-in-law, Christine Smith Siddoway (Colorado Springs, CO) and Mary Ellen Schabdach Siddoway (Butte). Survivors also include grandsons Jacob, Nicholas and granddaughters Megan (Paul and Marry Ellen) and Britt (Jon). Bev had 3 great-grandchildren, Ryan River, Hunter Beverly and Millie Mae. Newly born Millie Mae had just visited her great-grandmother for the first time just days before her passing. Bev is also survived by numerous loving nieces and nephews.
Bev’s primary caregiver, her son Tom, spent the last years caring for her at her home. Tom is a professional nurse who was especially attentive to all of her needs at this time of her life. Tom had just recently taken Bev for a weekend trip to a rented cabin along the upper Gallatin River. Bev loved the outdoors, especially the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons which she could see on the horizon from her family home in Idaho. A special thanks to Colleen Gibbs for all her love and care for Beverly all these last years.
Bev has donated her body to the WWAMI medical school program at Montana State University where it will be used to educate first-year Montana medical students.
Rest in peace dear wife, mother, sister and friend!
Bev will have a Catholic mass celebrated in her name in the near future.
A memorial service for Beverly will take place in the coming weeks.
A memorial donation in the name of Beverly Siddoway can be made to the Montana Audubon Society at the following email address: mtaudubon.org or by mail to: Montana Audubon, PO Box 595, Helena, Montana 59624.
