Letha Teeple Roper

Letha Teeple Roper, 94 of Hamilton (formerly of Cut Bank) passed away of natural causes, Thursday February 17, 2011 at Valley View Estates Nursing Home in Hamilton.
- Letha was born June 15, 1916 in Harlem, MT to the late L.D. and Hattie Smith Teeple. She completed two years of college at Northern Montana College.
She married Bill Roper in June 1935 in Ft. Benton, Montana. Letha worked as a secretary bookkeeper but her primary occupation was that of a homemaker. She was secretary of St. Margaret's Women's Church League. She enjoyed Bowling, Pinochle, needlework, painting and ceramics. She was secretary of her Bowling and Pinochle Leagues.
Letha was preceded in death by her husband, Bill C. Roper; daughters, Jackie Olson and Ronnalie Roper.
Surviving include her daughters, Dyan Bessette of Sitka, AK., Rise' Staufer of Superior, CO; 9 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Our Memories of Letha Roper:
Beloved Mother, Mother-in-Law and Grandmother

Cut Bank Memories
RisAC. Staufer, Daughter:

"I love that Mom never did anything half-heartedly. Whatever she did, she did with great passion--whether it was 20 fish tanks or birdcages, or a closet full of gorgeous crocheted afghans. When she took on a project, she completed it masterfully--from a delicious dinner to a mosaic picture, even the tiles handmade with local clay. She was endlessly patient in passing on her skills to me, and her joy in creating lives on in her daughters and grandkids."

Dyan Besette, Daughter:

"The smell of popcorn and out petite, little mother eating a heaping bowl of popcorn out of the huge, yellow bowl she held in her lap.

At Thanksgiving we always had lots of relatives: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. Mom was a wonderful cook and she prepared the entire meal for two dozen people.

Mom was an explorer and an adventurer. She was always lots of fun."

Camille McCollum, Granddaughter:
"One of my favorite memories of Grandma is walking the dogs out on the prairie which ultimately turned into rock collecting outings. Grandma loved to gather interesting rocks and add them to her collection. We would find rocks with fossils in them, rocks that were interestingly shaped, rocks that were a pretty color, etc. By the time our walks were finished our coat pockets were all full and weighed a ton. I still have many of the rocks we collected and will remember those times fondly."
Annie Binion, Granddaughter:

"Grandma wanted me to be a crafter. As a child, I so wanted to please, but I was not good. I lacked both the patience and the skill. And yet, each trip to Grandma's house included a subsequent trip to the craft store. Each year, she would pick me up another little something, a rug making kit, a plastic disk on which I could "sew," cross stitch when I got older, and finally yarn with which to crochet. Most projects ended up unfinished and soon discarded, but Grandma never gave up on me. It wasn't until years later that my mom taught me to crochet and I never pick up my hook and yarn without thinking of Grandma and each afghan is, in a way, a tribute to her patience and persistence."

Cody Mutchler, Grandson:

"My fondest memory of Grandma was the hours we would spend playing cards, just the two of us, at her table in Cut Bank. Even though I was very young she would patiently teach me the rules to her favorite games like Poker, Pinochle, and Gin Rummy and then once I had the mechanics of the game down she would thoroughly crush me at every hand we played. She made it more entertaining by treating me like an adult and always playing to win. Grandma also had the kind of luck that could have gotten her kicked out of Vegas. Once every couple of years I get out a deck of cards, play a little Idiots Delight, and reminisce on how great those games were."

Rick Staufer, Son-in-Law:
"Grandma LOVED her Pinochle... boy did she love it. There were the rules and then there were HER rules. You DO NOT SHUFFLE MORE THAN THREE TIMES!!! You DO NOT OVERBID YOUR HAND!!! She HATED new cards... they were too slippery. If you were winning, it had something to do with the way the bathtub drained. She was sassy and fun to play cards with... ESPECIALLY when I bent her rules. Love you Letha... now you can play cards again with your friends."
Justen Staufer, Grandson:

"I have many fond memories of Grandma, besides pinochle, food and griping about Grandpa. The one that was most personal to me was going with her to run errands when I was very young. I loved going with her to Ben Franklin's and the grocery store. I had not so exotic tastes in toy snakes and lizards. She would always let me pick out an inexpensive little kids toy on our travels around Cut Bank, usually little rubber snakes and plastic dinosaurs. Mom would get really upset and tell her not to spoil us, but she was stubborn and would do it anyways. I loved that about her! That was when she felt most like Grandma to me. She was the only woman more powerful than Mom in my young eyes."

Jed Staufer, Grandson:

"I have so many memories of Grandma Letha to choose from, which I think is a testament to what a strong spirit she had. Perhaps my favorite memory about Grandma, though, was her and the "damn ham." Eating breakfast in grandma's kitchen in Cut Bank, I was pushing the ham on my plate around and around trying to avoid eating it. My mom was prodding me to eat it. Back and forth we went.
"Eat your breakfast."
"I don't want to."
"Just eat the ham."
"I'm not hungry."
"Eat your ham, Jed. Eat the ham."
Grandma was sitting between us, and decided she had had enough. She raised her voice, "I'll eat the DAMN HAM!" She stabbed the slab of ham with her fork, shoved it in her mouth, and bit it defiantly - jutting her chin out at my mother. In that moment, she became one of my heroes. Grandma Letha to the rescue.
To this day, ham is one of my favorite foods and I always clear my plate."

Aaron Staufer, Grandson:

"You know those stories that are a mainstay at the family dinner table?

Well, one of those that is always told around our table is about a dinner when I was just a kid.

Apparently I had been sitting across from Grandma when she politely asked me to push a glass of milk over to her. As she had requested, I literally "pushed the glass over there" and milk went spilling all over the table. In a completely natural reaction my mom jumped from the table to clean it up and asking me what I was doing. Grandma simply replied, "He was just doing what I asked him to do." I think about this story pretty often because I honestly wish I could go with the flow like that more often."


Addie Staufer, Granddaughter:
"I'll never forget how much she loved to cook... Her kitchen always smelled like food and she never seemed to mind the time and energy it took to cook for all of us. She took real pride in her home and her recipes and she loved to provide for her family. She was a beautiful, strong, and kind woman, and she'll be deeply missed and remembered forever. I love you, Grandma."

Lake Memories

Butch Mutchler, Son-in-Law:

"I remembered something that makes me laugh even today.

Dyan and Letha made Kahlua one day at the lake, and proceeded to get very tipsy drinking it that night. It wasn't till the next day that they discovered that they had forgotten to include the vodka in the mix."

Tamara Walsh, Granddaughter:

"I think my favorite memories are at the lake, when she would send me to the store and let me keep the change. Or playing cutthroat Michigan. Or floating in the lake on inner tubes, she used to float with Chang in her lap. Getting up at the lake in the mornings, it was cold from the night before, but just beginning to warm up. The smell of coffee and grandma sitting at the table in her red bathrobe. Picking raspberries in the "u-pick" fields. Rise, my mom and grandma canning cherries and June Berry Jelly. The summer everyone went crazy for ceramics. Mom and grandma sitting on the porch at the lake with paper napkins on their heads to keep the bats from getting tangled in their hair."

Hamilton Memories

Bob Olson, Son-in-Law:

"I have many great memories of Letha as a wonderful mother-in-law. In recent years, after she was in the nursing home, her reaction to my music was always so neat. While I was playing in the nursing home, she would clap, tap her foot and sing along. When I would ask her if she enjoyed the song, she would say, "I loved it!" She will be missed and remembered by many."

Todd McCollum, Grandson-in-Law:

"Grandma Letha was your classic strong-willed grandma that told it like it is. She was a lot like my grandmother in that respect so she and I clicked in a good way from the first time I met her in Cut Bank. Visiting with her was always an adventure. Her thoughts would jump around but looking back, that kept the conversation at times unpredictably interesting. Her sense of humor brought a sparkle to her eyes that will be greatly missed. My most treasured memories that I will carry with me for years to come is the look on her face when she saw Cassidy and Carina. The smile on her face was so genuine and pure. It made the girls feel good inside and left them with the desire to visit again sometime soon. There were a few rough visits on her down days but even those days had a bit of twisted humor to them and left us with a smile. She will be missed as her chapter here with us comes to a close but the day will come when we meet again."