Margaret A. Deering, age 90, passed away just before noon on August 3, 2010. Margaret was born December 18, 1919, in Waska, Montana, the fifth of six children born to Knute and Anna (Hoversland) Kolden and was the last living sibling. She was born on “The Cottonwood” north of Wolf Point, Montana and graduated from High School in Wolf Point in 1938 with her cousins, Reuben and Reinert Hoversland.
Margaret heard the Gospel and decided to dedicate her life to Jesus at age 13, when two homeless preachers had meetings in their neighborhood. Her mother Anna, brother Harold, Uncle Andrew, Aunt Marie and many of her cousins also accepted Christ in those meetings. Margaret often said that Living for Christ was the most important thing in her life and remained faithful until the very end.
Margaret worked for “Ma Bell” as a telephone operator and met her future husband, Eugene “Gene” Bunker, on the phone, where he proposed before he had even met her. They were married August 14, 1941.
Margaret and Gene moved to Great Falls, where their four children were born. She was a very talented artist who specialized in oil, acrylics and water color painting. Margaret could do anything she set her hand to: painting, pottery, woodcarving, basket making, stained glass, bobbin lace, spinning, rosemaling, wood turning on a lathe, storytelling and she even did all the arc welding for a house trailer that she and Gene built. She wrote an autobiography called “The M.A.D. Story” which was a very interesting read but never made the New York Times best seller list.
She was preceded in death by her husband Gene Bunker, second husband Fred Deering, her parents and all of her siblings: her sister Aagot, and her brothers Harold, Leif, Einar and Leslie. Margaret is survived by her daughters, Margie (Bill) Padgett of Kalispell, Montana, Alice (Cecil) Benjamin of Shelby, Montana, sons Ben (Julie) Bunker of Los Molinos, California, John (Roxanne) Bunker of Pocatello, Idaho, and stepchildren Glen, Linda, Judy, Kay and Wayne, as well as numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren