Margaret Sofie Beatty passed away peacefully in Great Falls, MT on September 13, 2025, after having final farewells with everyone in her immediate family. She is survived by two sons and two daughters-in-law – Mark and Petrine Beatty of Renton, WA and Rick and Lori Beatty of Highwood, MT – as well as her two grandchildren and five nieces and nephews.
Margaret was born on May 5, 1933, in the Bronx, NY to Bernhard and Sofie Panzenhagen. She graduated from Teaneck High School and then from Trenton State Teachers College with a BS in Elementary Education. She taught in New Jersey until 1958 when she accepted an opportunity to teach the children of service members as a civilian employee of the US Army in Germany. She had requested posting to Germany as both of her parents were born there. A major storyline in family lore is that Margaret’s parents met and fell in love aboard the ship while sailing from Europe to the USA on their immigration voyage. Mrs. Beatty enjoyed honing her German language skills and visiting relatives while there.
While in Germany, Margaret met her future husband, Donald Beatty, and they were married for 56 years and lived in Great Falls. She was a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church for over 50 years and enjoyed serving on the church council, teaching Vacation Bible School, and being involved in many other aspects of church life while worshipping with many lifelong friends.
Margaret and Don began vacationing in Hawai’i in the 1960s and became so enamored of the island paradise for its beauty, climate, history, culture and language that they eventually bought a second home in Kona on the Big Island. The two of them were part of a large group of parishioners that built the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in the late 1980s. While in Hawai’i, Margaret began collecting seashells and amassed a sizable collection of rare and beautiful shells.
Among her many hobbies, calligraphy was probably the dearest to her. The art of beautiful, elegant, and stylized handwriting was a natural fit for her, given her penmanship and creativity. Mrs. Beatty began taking calligraphy classes in 1977 and soon thereafter joined the local trade group Big Sky Scribes. She won multiple ribbons at the Montana State Fair, delighted visitors at craft fairs with free name cards in her stylized writing, attended numerous workshops to hone her abilities, and eventually became an instructor herself. She created commissioned work as well as gifts. So many people were blessed over the years with carefully crafted and customized birthday and Christmas cards. Her signature piece is a rendition of the Lord’s Prayer – eight unique versions in six different languages, and a copy hangs on the walls of numerous churches and homes throughout America.
Mrs. Beatty also was an aficionado of bridge. She played in many groups in both Montana and Hawai’i. She enjoyed the strategy and friendly competition as well as the camaraderie. She learned the game at a young age as her parents and older sister Eleonore recruited her to fill the family’s four-person bridge table.
Margaret was a voracious reader. She enjoyed fiction for the storylines, characters, settings, and plots. But she also regularly challenged herself by reading a wide variety of nonfiction, particularly in the history genre, so as to satisfy her love of learning.
Per her wishes, a memorial service and celebration of life will be held at Redeemer Lutheran Church in 2026.
Author: Staff
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