Joan Frances Albers, age 92, a retired Registered Nurse and home maker, passed away on Saturday, February 1, 2020. Services will be held at the Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Benton with Father Mohan Raj Arockia conducting the vigil Services at 7:00 PM on February 11, and the funeral Mass being offered at 10:00 AM February 12. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery. Benton Funeral Home will be in charge of funeral services. Please visit Joan's online memorial page at www.bentonfh.com to leave a message of condolence for her family.

Joan F. Albers was born on July 30, 1927 to George & Anna (Bahr) Ritter in Grand Forks, North Dakota. This new family lived in Grand Forks until 1929 when Joan's father lost his job at Armour and Company. With no work available for her father, she moved with her parents to a homestead north of Timber Lake, South Dakota. Joan attended Miscol Country School for five years, and St. Joseph Boarding School in Timber Lake for one year. In 1939 the family moved to the Deer Lodge Valley where her Dad had gotten a job through Montana State College.

Joan graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Deer Lodge in 1941. Because of the shortage of farm workers in the war years, her first job was picking potatoes for a commercial grower. In the fall and early winter, she worked in the potato cellar sorting potatoes for market. She also operated a horse drawn hay rack. All through her high school years, she also worked as a baby sitter and as a hired girl for $1.00 a day for neighbors. Her dad encouraged her to invest all her earnings in US Savings Bonds. In 1945, Joan graduated from Powell County High School in Deer Lodge where she was a member of the Home Economics Club and the National Honor Society. She was also active in the 4-H Club

In 1945, Joan entered nurses training under the US Government sponsored Cadet Nurse Program at Columbus Hospital in Great Falls. She graduated in 1948 with a 3-year diploma. Her first job was working the night shift at St. Joseph's hospital in Deer Lodge where her mother worked the evening shift. With little night life for her there, after a few months Joan took the bus to Fort Benton where a job was waiting for her at the 1 ^st St. Clare Hospital and where she had classmates.

Shortly after moving to Fort Benton, she met Eddie Albers at a dance. Nine months later, on November 26, 1949, they were married at the Immaculate Conception Church. To this union were born 5 children; Dione (John) Meinhardt, Severn, MD; Barb (Lee) Boling, Spokane, WA; Joseph (Alessandra) Coral Springs, FL; Patricia Abell, Los Gatos, CA; and David (Susan) Fair Oaks, CA. She is also survived by 8 grandchildren, and 14 great grandchildren, and a sister-in-law, Pam Ritter, Alice, TX. She was preceded in death by Eddie, her husband of 55 years, her parents, her brother (George), and a great grandchild (Vaya).

During her 43 year nursing career at the local hospital, Joan came to know many people and had many friends. She also knew many people in the surrounding countryside because of Eddie's company, Albers Construction, and the earthwork jobs he did for them.

Joan enjoyed life, which was not always easy, but she persevered until the day she died. Fort Benton was "Home" even to her last day on earth