Claudia Kay Montague Widmer
February 25, 1949 ~ June 13, 2021
Claudia Kay Montague Widmer, 72, cherished wife, mother, Nana and friend died at her home in Ontario, Oregon, on June 13, 2021 after a short battle with metastatic breast cancer and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Claudia was born February 25, 1949 in Tacoma, Washington, to Lloyd Montague and Blanche Peterson. She was the only child of their union. Her early years were spent in Washington and Alaska as Lloyd was stationed there. Blanche and Claudia moved to Vale, Oregon, in the mid 1950s to care for Blanche’s aging parents. She graduated from Vale Union High School in 1967, then went to Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario before transferring to Oregon College of Education in Monmouth, Oregon, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in English with her teaching certificate in 1971. She completed her student teaching at North Salem High School in Salem, Oregon, then taught her first full year 1971-1972 at North Marion High School in Aurora, Oregon, where she taught English, drama, and speech. She obtained her master’s degree in English and creative writing from Lewis and Clark College in Portland in 1973. She then came back home to Vale and taught at Adrian High School while caring for her mother Blanche. While visiting Corvallis, Oregon, in 1976 she met her future husband James. She came home the summer of 1977 to be closer to her mother and worked at the Vale Bureau of Land Management office. She was re-introduced to James that summer.
Jim and Claudia married at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Ontario on March 18th, 1978. While waiting for the perfect teaching job, Claudia had a short stint in banking and worked at both First Interstate and US National Bank in Ontario. Claudia had her two children, Erin Blaynne in 1979 and Brett John in 1980. Claudia then spent the next 33 years at TVCC helping her many students excel at writing and speech. She was awarded the Teacher of the Year in 1990 by her students. She retired in 2015.
Claudia is survived by her devoted husband of 43 years, James; daughter Erin (Jeff) Denker of Meridian, Idaho; and son Brett (Summer) Widmer of Idaho Falls. She is the loving Nana to Aubree, Jace, and Kaden Denker as well as Micaiah, Alorah, Caleb, and Lucas Widmer. She is also survived by brothers-in-law Michael (Kay) Widmer of Ontario, and Thomas (Carol) Widmer of Junction City, Oregon; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and dear family friends. She was preceded in death by her grandparents, parents, in-laws, and sister-in-law Kathleen.
A private family committal will take place at a later date. Memorials to be made to the Constance McCollough Cat Project, TVCC Foundation, or the American Cancer Society. A special thanks to Heart and Home Hospice for their care of Claudia.