Jamie Lee Emerson Grant

Jamie Emerson Grant died of metastatic breast cancer on December 28, 2014 with family and friends by her side. Jamie was born in Kalispell, Montana, the eldest of four children to John and Marian Bell Emerson on August 17, 1951. She was 63.
Jamie was a Hamilton resident for 25 years, and was an active member of the community, through the WIC program, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Bitterroot Public Library, the PEO sisterhood and the Bitterroot Quilters' Guild. In 1995, Jamie and three friends began a quilting business, In Good Company. This art quilt business lasted until 2013 and, through its sponsorship of the TART groups, the annual Affair of the Heart art quilt show, and many other community quilt shows and fairs, is one of Jamie's most lasting legacies. Making art quilts and teaching others gave Jamie much enjoyment, and her gifts of creative and beautiful art quilts enriched her community.
In addition to creating works of art, Jamie loved to travel. She and her husband Roy traveled to Europe, Hawaii, Australia, the Caribbean, South America, New Zealand and throughout the United States. During the past year, they RV'd across the Southern and eastern US. Several weeks each summer were spent at Flathead Lake, where Jamie directed operations of the annual cherry harvest on her parents' orchard.
Jamie's life was influenced by her father's career in the US Forest Service, as Jamie experienced many moves and schools in Montana, Idaho, and California, where she graduated from high school. During her college years, she belonged to the Chi Omega sorority and spent summers as a fire lookout on Banner Mountain Lookout, near Nevada City, California. She received her BS degree in Foods and Nutrition from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon in 1973, and after graduation, Jamie worked for Steel Memorial Hospital as the Kitchen and Housekeeping Manager in Salmon, Idaho. It was in Salmon that she met Roy Grant. They were married September 7, 1974. Roy's career in the US Forest Service led to a series of homes in the northwest, and their two daughters were born in Jackson, Wyoming, and Great Falls, Montana. Before moving to Libby, Montana, in 1979, the family spent one academic year in the San Francisco area where Roy attended graduate school at U. of California, Berkely. It was in Libby that Jamie became involved in St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Domestic Violence Prevention, the PEO sisterhood, the WIC program and where she opened a fabric store. In 1990, the family moved to Hamilton.
Jamie is survived by her husband of 40 years, Roy Grant; their daughters Melissa Cole and husband Jason of Laurel, Montana, and Ellyn Grant Persicke of Liberty Lake, Washington; her grandchildren, Jasmyn Persicke, Anna Cole, Jillian Persicke, Logan Cole, and Brady Cole. She is also survived by her parents, John and Marian Emerson of Kalispell; her siblings, Nancy Emerson, Judy Emerson and John Emerson, and their families; her Uncle Jim Emerson, and many cousins.
Memorials may be left to the PEO Foundation, contact Jocelyn Snider at P.O. Box 247, Hamilton, MT 59840; or St. Paul's Episcopal Church at P.O. Box 758, Hamilton, MT 59840.