Lila Gay Langel, 75, of Great Falls, Montana, passed away at her home peacefully in her sleep on December 6th, 2024.
Lila was born in Chester to Larry and Maude Bassett on August 9th, 1949. She was the youngest of two sisters. The family grew up in Chester, where Lila graduated in 1967 from Chester High School. Lila made sure to stay close and active with her graduating class from Chester up until her death.
After graduating high school in Chester, in the Summer of 1967, Lila married Roger Langel with whom she had raised two beautiful children that she loved very much. As a young woman and dedicated military wife, Lila made several trips from Virginia to Chester, MT to help her family and raised Amy for the first 18 months. She was proud to help her husband at that time serve in the military and advocate for her family. They then moved to Great Falls where they continued to raise Amy and Adam and later divorced.
In November of 1985, Lila chose a life of sobriety and lived that way up until the day she died. Lila was very passionate about the 12 step program and made sure to regularly attend AA sessions at the Club here in Great Falls. When asked about her sobriety birthdate, her response was always “the day after Thanksgiving, it’s a time of being thankful.”
Throughout Lila’s life she loved to keep herself educated and found herself completing several areas of study. In 1994, she graduated with her Masters degree in Mental Health and Addictions at the University of Providence. Lila valued her education as it helped her throughout her life and helped others within their recovery and mental health.
Lila loved to work with people and she had many jobs throughout her lifetime that helped with their home life, financial well being, mental health and abuse. One of her most favorite jobs was where she worked at Great Falls Job Service in the workforce department. During her time at Job Service she helped the local community of Great Falls with employment opportunities, job interviews, applications and resume building. In 2020, Lila retired from the Great Falls Job Service.
During Lila’s free time you could often find her curled up reading a good book, spending time with her kids, grandkids and great grands, getting a chocolate brownie extreme blizzard, having lunch at the Amigo or finding a new treasure that she probably shouldn’t have taken home from the thrift store.
Lila will be greatly missed by all of her family and close friends. Lila had a heart of gold that was well known by all who loved her. Though this is something that was unexpected, we hope to keep her memory very close.
Lila is survived by her sisters Linda (Lyle) Eveland of Seattle, WA, Bonnie Greenland of Seattle, WA. Her children Amy (Paul Cutlip) and Adam Langel of Great Falls, MT. Grandchildren Katie (Bryce) Zbinden of Great Falls, Logan (Ashley) Braulick of Great Falls, Chloe Hayes of Great Falls, Zachary Langel, Kayla (Brody) Dahlman of Great Falls and Shailyn Braulick of Great Falls. Her great grandchildren Karson, Mason and Jaxson Braulick of Great Falls.
Lila is preceded in death by her father and mother Larry and Maude, her daughter-in-law Val Langel, grandson Nick Rowton and great granddaughter Ruby Lynn.
Author: Staff
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