Mary Ann Batch Whitham

Mary Ann lived in Idaho Falls for over 50 years. She moved here with her husband, Kirby, in the spring of 1951 when he was assigned to work on the first Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR 1). She and Kirby bought a house a few years later and settled in to raise their family of three children. They lived in the same house until they moved into the Morning Star retirement community.

Mary Ann was born and raised in Montana. She grew up in a “world” that no longer exists. She remembered running after the ice wagon as a child. The wagon drove through the neighborhood once a week delivering ice for residential ice boxes, and the driver would give the ice chips to waiting children. While living in a small town in South Dakota, she and her siblings strapped roller skates to their shoes and skated on the boardwalks in the town. They moved back to Bozeman a few years later when her father got a job running a creamery. She helped out by cutting butter and wrapping it in paper, then she and her brother delivered it around town.

Born in Bozeman, Montana in 1921 to Otto and Leah (Hartman) Batch, Mary Ann was the oldest of 4 children: Katherine (Sprague), John Martin Batch and Rachel (Wheeler). After moving several times during her early years, the family settled back in Bozeman where Mary Ann attended junior high, high school and college. She pledged the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority and graduated from Montana State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Home Economics in 1943.

She married Kirby Whitham whom she had known since junior high. They both graduated from Montana State College in 1943 and were married in 1944. The newlyweds moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the war, then to Chicago where Kirby went to work for Argonne National Laboratory. They moved to Idaho Falls in 1951 so Kirby could work on EBR 1.

Her life was devoted to caring for her family and raising her 3 children, Joan, Jim and Mark. She was of the generation of women who mastered the many homemaking skills of cooking from scratch, sewing, needle crafts, gardening and putting up the harvest. Her long life is a testimony to the health and wellbeing that she nurtured for her family and her value of an active lifestyle.

She loved being outdoors and with family as much as possible. Family outings included picnicking, camping or skiing almost every weekend. The family enjoyed visiting the Oregon coast, collecting shells while walking on the beach, or watching the waves of a winter storm. There were trips to the Tetons, Glacier National Park, the Grand Canyon and countless other hiking trips throughout Idaho and the West.

Mary Ann was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church, serving on the altar guild for many years, and a member of the League of Women Voters, and P.E.O.

Mary Ann was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Kirby. She is survived by her sister, Rachel Wheeler; her children Joan (Don) Veach, Jim (Vickie) Whitham, Mark (Donna) Whitham; her grandchildren, Luke Veach, Christy (Justin) Kangas, Chris (Leah) Whitham, Patrick Whitham; and her great grandchildren, Abby, Josiah, Camden and David.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, September 11 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 270 N. Placer Ave. in Idaho Falls, with the Rev. Susan Elizabeth Speir officiating. A reception will follow the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church or, Montana State University, Shakespeare in the Parks, PO Box 174120, MSU-Bozeman Bozeman, MT 59717-4120, http://shakespeareintheparks.org/support.php