Belle "Dolly" Chaffin

Belle (Dolly) Margaret Chaffin, 75, died peacefully at home with her family by her side November 20, 2020 after a two-year struggle with multiple myeloma.

She was born December 9, 1944 in Glasgow Montana to Chris and Ida Drogitis. She was the youngest of five, and they lived on a farm in Opheim.  They grew rye and other grains and raised chickens.  Dolly loved animals and her dad would always get a lamb or two to keep down the weeds. These would always become her pets. She attended school in town, and after her parents sold the farm, they relocated to Hamilton where she graduated from Hamilton High School and later attended the University of Montana.

Dolly met Robert (Bob) Chaffin in the early spring of 1966 at a dance at the Eagles Club in Hamilton. He then started seeing her more often at the bank where she worked.   On November 2, 1966 they were married at the Hamilton Wesleyan Church. They made their home in nearby Florence, raising their children Susan, Shawn, and Ricky. Bob and Dolly always put in a large garden where they grew strawberries, raspberries, corn, potatoes, pumpkins, peas, and beans. She volunteered at the kids’ school and brought cookies and other treats for the classroom.  She was known as the Fluoride lady, distributing little cups of mouthwash to students when the school introduced a healthy teeth campaign. Family was important to her and she always tried to be at all the games, concerts and programs her children and grandchildren were in.

After Ricky turned two, she went back to work in the banking industry in Missoula until she retired to take care of Bob in his battle with cancer. They were married for fifty-one years.

After Bob died in December 2017, Dolly moved to Everett Washington to live with Susan and her family.  She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and Susan and her family became her caregivers.

Dolly was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her parents Chris and Ida Drogitis, sisters Kathleen Westby and Phillis Crum and brother Dennis (Buddy) Drogitis.  She is survived by children Susan Riker (Ken), Shawn Chaffin, and Ricky Chaffin (Corrie); grandchildren Andrew Riker, Neil Riker, Molly Riker, Katerina Chaffin and Zoe Chaffin; and sister Loraine Darlow.

She was a loving wife, mother, and grandmother. We will miss you and love you forever.

We want thank Dr. Andrew Yang and all the nurses in the oncology department at Providence Cancer Center and Providence Hospice for all the love and care you have shown Mom in the past two years. We want to thank Peggy Eylers for the care you provided to mom in our home.  We also want to thank William, Myra, Sydney, and April for the loving care you gave to mom in her final months of life.

Funeral services will be held Saturday November 28 at 11:00 am at Mountain View Wesleyan Church, 184 Golf Course Rd. in Hamilton.  Due to Covid-19 restrictions, masks must be worn, and reservations are required.  Please call Ricky Chaffin at (406)381-0727 or Susan Riker at (425)879-1489 for reservations.

Memorials can be made to Mountain View Wesleyan Church.