Elva Hall Augare

Elva A. "Pugs" Augare was born Jan. 6, 1925, and passed away on March 20. The wake was held Saturday, March 23. Rosary was held Monday, March 25, at the Heart Butte Community Center. Funeral was held on Tuesday, March 26, at St. Anne's Church in Heart Butte with burial following at the Hall Cemetery on Badger Creek. Father Rod officiated the services.

Elva was born Jan. 6, 1925, to William Hall and Minnie Whiteman Hall. Her siblings were Gertrude Hall Running Fisher, Rita Hall Spotted Eagle, Johnny Hall, Alvin Hall, William Hall, Lorraine Hall Runmey, Merlin Hall, Truman Hall, Virgil Hall, and a baby brother who passed away in 1944. She was the last child that was born at Badger Creek, delivered by her grandmother Hannah.

She was the third daughter of Bill and Minnie. It was said that Bill was hoping for a son when Pugs was born. He did get a tomboy who loved being outside with the boys riding horses, raising Cain, and doing chores around the Hall Ranch. Pugs loved her country life, riding in a horse-drawn carriage or taking off horseback to Two Medicine dances. The musicians were plentiful and could get together anywhere and have a square dance.

Pugs was survived by her siblings Lorraine Rumney and Mouse Hall; her children Linda Lunak, Elaine Blomquist, Alvin Lunak, Gerald Lunak, James Augare, Marlene Augare; and many grand, great, and great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, parents, her spouses, her siblings, her son Marvin, her grandsons, twin Lunak brothers and a great-granddaughter.

Her education started in small classrooms at the reservation mission and boarding schools. She continued her high school education at Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas, where she met her first husband, Alfred Lunak. He was called away to war while in Kansas.

After Elva graduated from Haskell, she made her way to California and worked as a Rosey Riveter: she would put the fuel filters together and welded the manifolds on the Black Widow planes going to battle in WWII. After Alfred was discharged, he found his favorite dance partner back in Browning and married her in Cut Bank. They started their family two years later with Linda and Elaine being born in Kansas, and they returned to California for a bit then moved on to Devils Lake, North Dakota, and grew their legacy with Alvin and Gerald in Browning.

After Alfred passed away, Elva was raising her small family in her hometown when she and her childhood friend became reacquainted with one another. Elva could always count on James Augare to lead her horses home when she was young, and at the request of her father Bill was reintroduced to Elva's life as a helping hand. He became a part of the small family, later marrying Elva in Cardston, Alberta, alongside her brother, Alvin Hall, and his childhood sweetheart, Ardis Hall.

Elva added three more children to the family - James, Marlene, and Marvin. They unfortunately lost Marvin three weeks after he was born due to kidney failure.

She worked at most of the restaurants in Browning and then went on to be the first head dietitian at the Blackfeet Indian Health Service Hospital. She took on a position at the newly built Blackfeet Nursing Home. Then she was hired back at the IHS kitchen to be their head cook where she finished her career and retired after many years of service and having received two prestigious awards from the Billings Area Office.

She was voted Mother of the Year at the Hell's Half Acre Rodeo in Two Medicine. This should come as no surprise to those who saw her cheering in the crowd or stopped by her car for a bite to eat. A cowgirl at heart, Elva attended rodeos her whole life, including many National Finals Rodeos in Albuquerque, NM, and Las Vegas, NV. When not attending a rodeo, she was traveling to visit her grandchildren. This included many adventures following the Blomquist's around the country. Her wanderlust brought her to the Grand Ole' Opry and Virginia Island, which Elva described as the most beautiful place on earth. While home in her 70s she would spend summers at her camp at Mitten Lake with her best friends, Les, and Barb. Her final years were lived out in Browning where she bought a small home in the middle of town and built it into her beautiful home with a nice yard and fence and loved to spend many hours gardening. Pugs was the gathering place in town. Elva welcomed every knock at the door with fried chicken or brownies or meatballs or fruit cocktail cake or any number of dishes she put together from scratch.

This humble spirit will be missed and is a testament that even 99 years with such a loving soul is not enough.

The family of Elva Hall Lunak Augare would like to take this time to thank everyone who brought food, cards, flowers, the casket spray, came and gathered with us, or gave us a call - thank you. To those who were not able to attend but kept us in prayers thank you.

May God bless each of you.