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- FORT BENTON - Joan Stewart, 59, of Fort Benton, former owner of River Press, died of brain cancer Friday at a Fort Benton medical facility.
Her memorial service is 4 p.m. Friday at United Methodist Church in Fort Benton. Benton Funeral Home of Fort Benton is handling ar-rangements.
Survivors include her husband, John Stewart, whom she married June 10, 1976; sons David (Karen) Stewart, Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, Wes (Wendy) Stewart of Helena and Dan (Ruth) Stewart of Fort Benton; and granddaughters Lauren and Kaitlyn Stewart, both of Helena.
Joan was born Oct. 5, 1947, in Fort Benton to Leland and Doris Nelson Overholser. She attended the Dorner school through sixth grade, then Fort Benton schools. She graduated from Fort Benton High School in 1965.
She went on to attend the University of Missouri and transferred to University of Montana but left college to care for her mother. She had done correspondence courses through Indiana University.
In 1966, she married Phil Schriver in Harrow-on-the-Hill, England. They divorced in 1973.
She worked at the River Press from the time she was in high school, becoming editor and co-owner of the newspaper. The newspaper was sold after Joan was dignosed with two forms of cancer and histoplasmosis in 1992. She worked in disaster reponse in Missouri in 1994 for the Salvation Army and in Arab, Ala., after a tornado for the United Methodist Church. In 1996, she became a local pastor and served churches in Grass Range and Winnett for four years.
Joan was active in her community as the Fort Benton city magistrate, secretary of the Lewis and Clark Memorial Committee, Chouteau County Jail Committee member and a charter member of Chouteau County Crimestoppers, where she also served as secretary and presi-dent. She was also a two-term president of the Chouteau County Homemakers Council, served in the EMS district committee and was involved many other capacities with the community.
She enjoyed spending time at the Stewart cabin near Glacier Park, camping, traveling, reading and crafts.
She was preceded in death by her mother in 1966; her father in 1998; her brother, Bob, in 2001; and her sister, Elaine, in 2005.
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1947 - 2007 (59 years)