Roxanne Thompson was born in Minot, North Dakota, on Oct. 5, 1938, and died peacefully on Nov. 18, 2025, in Idaho. In between those dates was quite a ride.

Roxanne's father Lyle died when she was 2. Her mother Hazella raised Lolly (Alice), Totie (Helen), Jim and baby Roxanne on the slim wages of a practical nurse. They gradually migrated West while Hazella worked as a nurse on Indian reservations and in small towns in North Dakota and Eastern Montana. The kids spent workdays at a Catholic convent/orphanage while mom worked. At one point they lived in a cardboard house. Totie was told at age 16 that there wasn't room for her in the latest apartment. Roxanne graduated from Flathead High School in Kalispell in 1956. She worked at the local movie theatre and packed cherries during the summer.

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