Rooney Family Tree

From Great Falls Tribune 12-18-2009:

Gertrude Theresa (Rooney) Lindgren, 93, a longtime Great Falls resident and civic leader, died of natural causes Tuesday at a local hospital .

A vigil is 5 p.m. Sunday at O'Connor Funeral Home. Funeral Mass is 10 a.m. Monday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, with burial in Manchester Cemetery.

Gert was born May 5, 1916, in Hobson, Mont., to Frank and Mary Jane (Nicholson) Rooney. The third of 12 children, she grew up on a ranch near Hobson. Her father and grandfather were early Montana homesteaders. Her grandfather, Michael Rooney, built the first permanent building in Billings.

Gertrude graduated from Fergus County High School in Lewistown in 1934. She attended Western Montana College for two years, stopping to teach in a rural school for a year before completing her BA in economics and sociology at the University of Montana in 1939. At the University, she earned a varsity letter in swimming. She taught in Basin and Helena prior to working as a social caseworker, which took her to Valley County.

Upon arrival in Circle, Mont., Gert met George Lindgren, who had just opened his radio electronics shop. They were married on Valentine's Day 1942, in Great Falls, during a driving blizzard. They started their family of six children in Glasgow. While George served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Gertrude managed their radio parts business. In 1946, they relocated to Great Falls, where they founded George Lindgren Co., a radio and TV parts distributorship. Initially they lived and worked at their store on Central Avenue. They moved to their present home on 1st Avenue Northwest in 1950.

While raising her family, Gertrude was very active in local politics and numerous civic and professional organizations. She was a lifelong advocate for social consciousness, religious tolerance and equality, especially for minorities and women.

In 1948, she founded the Cascade County Community Council, which functioned for 18 years. She was past president of several organizations, including BPW, AAUW, the Montana Conference of Social Welfare and the Great Falls PTA Council. She was chosen Woman of the Year by BPW (1949) and Phi Sigma Alpha (1972), and she later received several lifetime achievement awards.

Her community service included work with the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and as the Red Cross chairperson of blood drawings for many years. She was project director for Women in Community Service and helped send girls to Job Corps for more than 25 years. She was an active member of St. Joseph Parish.

In her 50s, she returned to college and earned a master's degree in educational counseling from Montana State University. In 1973 and 1976, she ran for the Montana Legislature. She returned to teaching as as ubstitute in the Great Falls schools until her retirement.

Gertrude is survived by five children, Marilyn Lindgren of Austin, Texas, Douglas Lindgren (Kathy) of Austin, Henry Lindgren (Nancy) of Great Falls, Tom Lindgren (Norma) of Springfield, Mo., and Frank Lindgren (Barbara Warriner) of Philadelphia, Pa.; three grandchildren, Alan Lindgren (Kathy) of Memphis, Tenn., Marcela Perez-Abreu (Dave Tersteeg) of Grand Marais, Minn., and Linsey Kallestad (Sage) of Manhattan, Mont.; one great-grandchild, Rio Perez-Abreu of Grand Marais; four sisters, Kay Lane (Ed) of Carson City, Nev., Esther Parker (Al) of Great Falls, Betty Saxbury (Bob) of Laurel, Mont., and Hilma Stone (Howard) of Anaconda, Mont.; and numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, Gert was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, George Lindgren, on Nov. 27, 2009; a son, Richard Lindgren of Great Falls; her brothers, Frank Rooney (Nona) of Anaconda, George Rooney of Hobson, and Russell Rooney (Pauline) of Great Falls; and by her sisters, Agatha Funston (Marvin) and Bernice Rooney of Anaconda, Vivian Shaw (Bill) of Tacoma, Wash., and Eileen Waite (Walter) of Utica, Mont.

The family wishes to express gratitude to Marie Hall for Gertrude's home care and to the staff of Benefis East Hospital for their compassionate care.