Elizabeth Ann "Liz" (Ugrin) Ciba, 91, a homemaker and waitress formerly of Black Eagle, died of natural causes Saturday at a Kalispell nursing home.
A vigil service is 5 p.m. Friday at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Black Eagle. Funeral Mass is 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Blessed Sacrament, with burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery. A lunch will take place at the church after the burial. O'Connor Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Liz was born April 5, 1918, in on a farm in Winifred, where her immigrant Croatian parents, George and Katarina Ugrin, had a homestead. Her family moved to Black Eagle when she was 2 years old.
She attended Catholic schools and graduated from St. Mary's High School in Great Falls in 1936. She was the high school class secretary and was known by friends and family her entire life as an ambitious person, who was committed to her faith and always ready for fun and pranks.
Liz married Julian "Zip" Ciba on Oct. 2, 1940, in Blessed Sacrament Church in Black Eagle.
After high school, Liz worked for Woolworth's and later worked for many years as a waitress in Black Eagle at the 3D Supper Club, and then at Borrie's. Liz catered weddings and made everything from wedding and attendant gowns to decorations and mints.
Liz and Zip bowled on city teams for years. She also helped organize the Black Eagle bicentennial celebration in 1976. In her earlier years, Liz played softball, playing on the state championship team in 1937, which went on to the national tournament in Chicago.
Liz was a longtime member of the Blessed Sacrament Altar Society. She was a member of the Black Eagle Sewing Club for more than 60 years, meeting to sew and mend, and in later years to have lunch and play cards with her friends. Liz enjoyed sewing, any and all crafts, gardening and canning food for her family.
Survivors include daughters Jan (Tom) Mohler of Bigfork, and Trish (Larry) Ingvalson of Kalispell; sons Gary (Helen) Ciba of Phoenix, and Rob Ciba of Olivet, Mich.; 11 grandchildren and four great-grandsons. She also is survived by a sister, Kay Albright of Great Falls; and a sister-in-law, Genevieve Gervais of Seattle; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Julian "Zip" Ciba, in 1988.
Memorials in Liz's honor may be made to the Blessed Sacrament Altar Society at Black Eagle Blessed Sacrament Church, Black Eagle, MT 59414; or to Immanuel Lutheran Home Recreation Fund at Immanuel Lutheran Home, 185 Crestline Ave., Kalispell, MT 59901.
"As Liz took her final journey home, she would bid farewell to everyone by saying one last time, 'Boy, Boy!'"
Condolences may be posted online at www.oconnorfuneralhome.com