Ethel Gentry

April 4, 1922 - May 4, 2021

Ethel Brown Gentry, age 99, of Glendive, Montana, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at Prairie Community Hospital in Terry, Montana. Private family services were held. Silha Funeral Home of Glendive has been entrusted with the arrangements. Ethel was born on April 4, 1922, in Lodge Grass, Montana, the third of four children born to Jim H. and Lola (McCreery) Brown. As a newborn, Ethel was very frail and not expected to live. She received her elementary and high school education at Lodge Grass. A highlight of her young life was an adventurous trail drive in 1941. The month-long drive trailed 400 head of cattle from the ranch at Lodge Grass to a ranch in the Bull Mountains near Delphia, Montana. Ethel attended Montana State College where she majored in Interior Design. It was at a freshman mixer where she met her future husband, Roy Gentry, of Crow Agency, Montana. Roy was in the US Navy when they were married on November 27, 1944. Ethel moved with him to Providence, RI, and Chicago, IL, during that time. When he was deployed, she helped her dad and mother at the ranch at Lodge Grass until she and Roy moved to the Bull Mountains with their two daughters, Sue and Nina. These years at the Bull Mountains were some of her favorites. In 1955, a ranch near Glendive on the Yellowstone River was purchased at great risk and expense for the time, and the family moved there. Twin sons Bill and Jim were born in 1957; having twins was a wonderful and unexpected surprise. Ethel was involved in many worthy causes and always spoke for the rural people. Some of her roles were as director of the Glendive Chamber of Commerce, planning board, Alert Citizens, Cowbells, and Belle Prairie Homemakers. She worked side by side with Roy on the ranch. Ethel had a love of poetry, vegetable and flower gardening, sewing, music, interior decorating, horses, nature, and always an eye for the unique. She was a member of the Baptist Church. Survivors include sons, Jim (Hallee) Gentry of Glendive, Bill (Donna)Gentry of Glendive, daughters Sue (Steve) Tibbetts of Terry, MT, Nina (Chuck) Weinreis of Scottsbluff, NE, and grandchildren Todd (Elizabeth) Tibbetts of Glendive, Cody (Abbie) Tibbetts of Terry, Brock (Raimee) Tibbetts of Terry, Shane Weinreis (Tanya) of Billings, MT, Celeste Weinreis of Hot Springs, SD, Garrett (Marissa) Weinreis of Edgemont, SD, Lola Weinreis of Scottsbluff, NE, Brittany (Mark) Heyn of Hot Springs, SD, Jasmin (Alex) Winchell, Jewel Gentry, and Jace Gentry, all of Glendive, Shawn Miner, Misty Miner, also sister-in-law Velma Gentry of Hardin, MT. Also surviving are 17 great-grandchildren and 11 nieces and nephews. Ethel was preceded in death by her parents, husband Roy (2002), brothers Francis (1964) and Murry Brown (2001) and sister Maxine Newkirk (2009). Happy trails to you…. Until we meet again! Remembrances and condolences can be shared with the family at www.silhafuneralhomes.com.