Jeane Higgins Knox, 94, of Denton, passed away Friday, November 27 at Valle Vista Manor surrounded by her children.     She was born to Edward and Helen (Donisthorpe) Higgins in Lewistown, Montana on December 6, 1925.  The youngest of four children, Jeane grew up a few miles out of Christina on a small ranch.  Her dad was a coal miner and Jeane loved going down inside what she described as “beautiful black, blue and very damp mine”.  She spoke often about the dirty 30’s when the grasshoppers came in swarms resembling a black cloud, they ate the crops, pastures, garden and even the tar paper off of the chicken house.  They lost their farm and moved into Christina where they worked on a dairy.  In 1931 they moved into Lewistown.     Jeane and her brother Pat got jobs delivering papers when she was only 9 years old.  They saved up for bicycles making the job so much faster.  She also babysat at the Weymouth Symmes Home for 5 years and got a taste of good chocolates, fancy perfumes, and the finer things in life.    After 8th grade graduation she answered an ad for a potato peeler & kitchen helper at the Roy Ayers Ranch near Grass Range.  Roy was the governor of Montana living in Lewistown and would drive Jeane to the ranch where she spent the summer cooking and cleaning for sheep herders and cowboys. This wasn’t work to her as it was what she loved to do.     At 15 years of age, while working as a switch board operator at Mountain Bell Telephone Co., Jeane filled in one night on the Lewistown mens baseball team when they just happened to be playing a team from Kolin.  She was the only girl on the team when a handsome, blue eyed kid named Bud Knox put her out on first base, which did not make her very happy.   She met up with him again at a dance and married him a few years later in Helena.     In 1944, Bud headed to boot camp at Ferragat, Idaho and Jeane continued to work at the telephone office.  When she got word that Bud’s ship was to come into Long Beach, CA Jeane got on a plane and took a job as a riveter working on C-47s at Douglas Aircraft.  All of the rooms reserved for military wives were taken so she took a room in Anaheim owned by Lina Lovestein, a German woman who threatened her if she answered the phone, looked at the mail or opened the basement door.  Many nights limousines would pull up and men in long trench coats and dark glasses would come into the house and go to the basement.  One night they forgot to lock the door and Jeane listened at the door and could hear Hitler and Tokyo Rose on a two way radio.   The police later warned her that Lina was a german spy but Jeane didn’t want to move for fear that Bud would not know where to find her when his ship came in.  She lived in fear and pretended to always be sleeping until one night Bud knocked at the door.  They packed her things and left in the middle of the night with the help of the police.    Jeane’s next job was when the Lewistown Safeway store sent her to Butte for 5 days to learn the trade of cutting up meat.  She wore her white apron and cut meat until the war ended.    Winning the war was also a day that Jeane spoke of often as cars were honking and bells were ringing!  She took a job at Woolworth as the floor manager until Bud was discharged in February, 1946. After that they moved to “The Mess House,” as it was called at the Moccasin Experiment Station, where Bud was foreman and Jeane cooked and cleaned for agronomists, workers, and gardeners while raising two little kids.  She finally had electricity and running water so life was good.    In 1955, they bought a farm in Bear Springs, 25 miles north of Denton where they had two more children. They farmed and ranched there for over 40 years.  Jeane worked hard as a farm wife and also spent 15 years working at her daughter Linda’s Denton Café and her son Bob’s Riverfront Restaurant in Fort Benton.  She loved visiting with people, helping her kids any way that she could and keeping her home and the restaurants shiny clean.    She continued making French Silk Pies, cookies, yarn covered hangers and table napkins well into her 90’s.  We all cherish these keepsakes as well as many memories of this hard working, wise and kind woman who loved Jesus and her family so much.    Jeane is survived by her son, Jim Knox of Billings, daughter, Linda Gluth and son, Terry Knox of Denton.  She was preceded in death by her parents; siblings, Eva Mae, Margie & Pat (George); her husband, James (Bud) in 2000; and her son, Bob in 2010.  Her family includes:  Jim (Shirley), Shawn (Adrienne) Hayden, Chelsea, Baiely, Caileigh, Braden and Tatum Knox of Brighten, CO.   Dan (Jen) Bryar, Brekkin, Alexander, Gabriel, Celilia, Ashlyn & Jude Knox of Billings.      Linda (Virgil) Gluth; Wade (Meagan) Brianne & James Malchow of Shephard.  Nichole (Cliff) Taylor of Gillette, WY.  Joe (Tonya) Shane, Kolbie and Bradie Gluth of Crawford, NE.  Brandy, Austin, Alex, Annabelle Hauer of Tabernacle, NJ.   Terry (Coke), Carlee Knox, Tegan and Blaine Petzak of Lewistown.  Sam (Ashley) of Denton.   Dana (Rhiannon), Adan, Rory, Nickolas of Lewistown.    Javan (Dan), Gavin Knox Jeppesen of Beaverton, OR.  Patti Knox of Fort Benton.  A family graveside service will be held at Hillcrest Cemetery in Denton, Thursday, Friday, December 4th, 2:00 p.m.; where Jeane will rest beside her husband Bud.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Denton Ambulance Fund at gofundme or:  PO Box 914 or to the Denton Library at PO Box 986, Denton MT 59430.     Arrangements are under the care of Creel Funeral Home.  Jeane’s family and friends can share memories and condolences at www.creelfuneralhome.com