Billings Gazette Billings, MT 6 Sep 2007 CHENEY, Wash. - Elsie E. (Kinsfather) Chapman died on Monday, Sept. 4, 2007, in Cheney, nested in the love of her beloved family. Born on Nov. 5, 1912, in Billings, Elsie was a lifelong Montanan, spending her formative years on the family farm (the Evergreen Farm) west of Billings. She was the surviving child of the six children of John and Helena Kinsfather. Brothers Harry, Walter, Johnny and Earl and sister Julia preceded her in death. During the '40s, '50s, and early '60s, she and her husband Jack Chapman operated first the Pitchfork Bar Dude Ranch outside of Cody, Wyo., and then the 4K Dude Ranch in Dean, Mont. She was the ultimate hostess, winning friends and admirers nationwide. Mom never finished the book she was "always going to write" - a book on dude ranching - most especially an extended chapter on "cooks I have known." Knowing her sense of humor, it would have been a rib buster. Her lifelong gifts to her children Skip, Brad and Candy, niece/daughter Joyce Cernohlavek and to her extended family included her sense of humor, love of family, sense of responsibility and an acute sensitivity for the feelings of others, not to mention her fantastic recipes and love of flowers. In her later years, she was a homemaker living in Absarokee and Billings, spending many hours as a Pink Lady volunteer in local hospitals, card player and tireless gardener at her home. Following in the tradition of her much-loved father John, Elsie was an extraordinary gardener who willingly shared her knowledge and her flower gardens with family and friends. She anticipated every spring to once again work the soil and nurture a bountiful, colorful garden. Her last years were spent with her family in Spokane. Her cherished grandchildren are Erika Chapman, Jennifer Hall, Kyle Strauch, Kathleen Sliger and Lara Chapman; and six great-grandchildren, John Henry Sliger, Brandon Hall, Kristina Duncan, Kimberly Duncan, Michael Strauch and Pruedence Strauch. A viewing will be held on Friday, Sept. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Dahl Funeral Home. A graveside service will be conducted at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Sunset Memorial Gardens. Interment will immediately follow the service. Published in the Billings Gazette on 9/6/2007.