Irene 'Lynn' Aderhold

Irene “Lynn” (Patten) Aderhold, age 74, passed peacefully at her home Saturday afternoon, Jan. 4, 2020, of liver complications due to diabetes.

An impromptu, informal, living, memorial gathering was held at the West Yellowstone Ward building, Sunday, Dec. 30. Lynn has been cremated. There will be no funeral and no internment at this time.

Lynn was born at the end of WWII, between the atomic bombs, Aug. 7, 1945, in Morton, Wash. She was the oldest child of Grant and Margaret Patten and the first granddaughter of Ralph and Irene Whiting.

Lynn grew up in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley near Hamilton, Mont., and outside Missoula, Mont., where she graduated from Sentinal High School in 1964. Four years later she received a B.A. degree with honors and a teaching certificate from the University of Montana.

Lynn lived for extended periods in Missoula (1956-1968), Glasgow (1973-1980), Kalispell (1980-1990), Great Falls (1991-2012), and West Yellowstone (2012-2020) - all Montana.

June 9, 1967, Lynn married Mike Aderhold in Missoula. The two met while working summer jobs for the U.S. Forest Service on the then isolated Powell Ranger District in central Idaho. She worked as a lookout and he was a trail crew foreman.

For four years, Lynn followed Mike on his military assignments as a wildlife biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers. They served at Fort Belvoir, Va.; Palatka, Fla. (Cross Florida Barge Canal Project), and Clewiston, Fla. (South Central Florida Flood Control Project). Near Clewiston, in 1970, Lynn was the first white teacher to integrate an all-black school in a satellite community called Harlem. There she and another teacher taught 52 first-graders how to read.

Following their military experience, Lynn nurtured three children and supported her husband’s 42-year career as a wildlife biologist, information officer and regional supervisor, mostly (36 plus years) with the Montana’s Fish & Game Department. They knew every mile of the Hi-Line and eventually explored every township and visited every community in the northern half of Montana.

Lynn was a faithful and devoted seventh-generation member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her ancestors on both sides came west in 1849. Lynn’s father, Grant K. Patten was, starting in 1957, the first Stake President in western Montana and she was the granddaughter of Willian N. Patten, the first President of Idaho’s Lost River Stake (1919). Lynn served as a Primary instructor for over 25 years and was a Relief Society President in four different areas. Lynn and Mike served a three-year “service mission” on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation, 2009-2012.

Lynn chose her college majors of art and home economics wisely. Those interests became life-long passions. Everywhere she lived, Lynn found and celebrated the beauty of the surrounding country and made friends easily. She was, at times, a potter, sketch artist and photographer. She was also into the needle arts of quilting, knitting, crocheting and needlepoint.

Most of all, Lynn loved being around children - her own and others. She followed and promoted their interest in literature, athletics and exploring the great outdoors. She was involved in numerous workshops, camps, youth conferences and scouting activities.

For 10 years, 1996-2005, to help fund her children’s college education and her boys' missions, Lynn worked as a cook for the Great Falls School District. She helped unionize the kitchen workers and they elected her a steward with the Teamster’s Union. She observed children who got their best meals, and sometimes their only meals, at school and became a strong supporter and eventually Montana’s lobbyist for the School Lunch Program. Senator Baucus supported her cause and honored her on the floor of the Senate for her advocacy.

Lynn is survived by her husband, Mike; three children, Kerry and Cole Parker, West Yellowstone, Mont., Brian and Katie Aderhold, Eagle Mountain, Utah, and Jonathan and Katy Aderhold, Tukwila, Wash.; two sisters, Rhonda Grow and Becky Detro, of Meridian and Boise, Idaho; three brothers, Courtney Patten, Blackfoot, Idaho. and David and Ralph Patten, of Nampa, Idaho; three beloved grandchildren, Sage, Bailee and Averi Parker; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to thank the community of West Yellowstone and the LDS Church for their many acts of kindness and concern. They would also like to thank Hospice of Bozeman Health for 41 days of tender care - particularly, the ministrations of nurse Debbie Butz, Big Sky. Also, the family is grateful for doctors: Paul Hendrix, gastroenterologist, and Carl Vance, diabetes specialist, of Idaho Falls, for their excellent care the last eight years.