Julia ERICKSON

Notes:

In the 1930 census, she and her children lived in Winnett in Petroleum County, Montana. She was a laundress.

Died:
Lewistown

Julia married William Murray (Tex) STOCKTON, Sr in 1913. William was born on 30 Sep 1871 in Texas; died in Nov 1920 in Fergus County, Montana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Unmarried at the time of her sister Ruth’s death.

She graduated from the University of Montana at Missoula in 1937.

She survived all of her siblings.

Died:
Marcus Daily Hospice and Palliative Care Center

Patience married Arnold Lewis HILLIUS in 1943 in Montana. Arnold was born on 27 Oct 1913 in Fergus County, Montana; died on 24 May 1998 in Fergus County, Montana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was Mrs. J M King of Billings at the time her sister Ruth died in 1936.

Her obit in the Great Falls Tribune only mentions her survivors as Patience and William so apparently she had no children.

Birth:
Winnett

Buried:
cremated

Mary married Jack Melbourne KING on 16 Jun 1935 in Montana, and was divorced. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Christopher HANSEN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In the 1950 census, he was a rancher in Grass Range in Fergus County, Montana.

GRASS RANGE - William Murray Stockton died Oct. 29, 2002, after a 12-month battle with lung cancer.

Bill, born in 1921, was raised in Winnett along with his three sisters, Patience, Mary and Ruth, by his widowed mother, Julia Stockton. In 1935, the family moved to Grass Range, where Bill graduated from Grass Range High School in 1938. In 1942, he enlisted in the army, where he was first assigned to the military police patrolling the troop trains crossing the nation. Later, he was assigned to the 239th General Hospital Unit as a medic and sign painter. In 1944, the 239th was stationed near Paris, France, where he met his future wife, Elvia Angelo Cirefice. They were married in the base chapel on the 30th of June, 1945.

In 1946, the family, now joined by their first son Gilles, lived in Billings, where Bill worked as a sign painter. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, the family moved to Minneapolis, where Bill studied art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. They then returned to France, where Bill continued to study art at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.

In 1950, the family moved back to Grass Range, where Bill took over operation of the family ranch from his mother. Their second son, Charles, was born in 1951. During this period, Bill continued to explore his passion for art while actively ranching. Along with a small group of friends, he is credited with having introduced the modern movement of art to Montana. For his entire career, he continued to blend the work and life of a rancher with the creative energy he poured into art.

During his life as an artist, he experimented with many different styles and techniques. Over the half a century of his art career, he worked with oil paints, watercolors, cattle markers, line drawings, and concrete, bronze and steel sculptures. His styles ranged from pure abstracts to pure representational works and most everything in between. Bill also wrote and illustrated a book on sheep and the life of a sheep rancher, entitled "Today I Baled Some Hay to Feed the Sheep the Coyotes Eat." This book is still in print. For many years, he gave art classes in Lewistown, seminars at many different locations, and in 1969, he was a visiting professor of art at Montana State University.

For the last 25 years of his life, he devoted his art to depicting the changing landscape of his home on MacDonald Creek west of Grass Range. This series of landscapes concentrated on the patterns of brush, rocks, trees, hills, snow and grass. The focus was most often on small and intimate areas instead of the vast vistas. He continued this line of work into the last year of his life.

His work is represented in hundreds of private and public collections across the nation and Europe. The Yellowstone Art Museum has acquired a collection of more than 75 pieces that cover the entire range of his career as an artist. In 2000, he was awarded the Yellowstone Art Museum's Presidents Award and just before his death, he was presented with the 2003 Governor's Award for the Arts. His fans, friends and family are grateful for the many beautiful examples of his unique vision that he has given to inspire us.

Bill is survived by his wife, Elvia of Grass Range; son, Gilles along with his wife Joan of Grass Range; son, Charles and his wife Sue Ann of Arkansas; and grandchildren, Antoine, Jeremy and Brittany. He is also survived by a sister, Patience Hillius of Hamilton and her daughters, Judy and Mary Ann. He was very close with his French family by marriage including brother-in-law, Lucien Cirefice and family; sisters-in-law, Marie Bagary, Antoinette Bognon, Angel Nardonne and Jeanette Cirefice; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, William and Julia; and his sisters, Ruth and Mary.

The family would like to thank the staff of the Central Montana Hospice Program for their wonderful spirit, support and care that helped Bill and his family through these difficult final weeks.

Funeral services for William M. Stockton will be held at the Grass Range United Methodist Church on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Grass Range Cemetery.

William married Elvia Angelo CIREFICE on 30 Jun 1945 in France. Elvia was born on 22 Jul 1922 in France; died on 25 Jun 2018 in Fergus County, Montana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]