EMMA QUAST RITES IN MISSOULA THURSDAY
    Corvallis, June 19 - Funeral services for Miss Emma Quast, 42, who died about 6:45 p.m. Monday in a Missoula hospital where she had been a patient since April, will be held Thursday in Missoula. Interment will be beside a twin sister, who died in 1908, and the parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. Otto Quast, in the family plot in Missoula.
    Miss Quast was born July 26, 1902 in Missoula and came to the valley with her parents in 1915. She graduated from Corvallis high school and the Montana State University in Missoula. At the university, she was a member of Alpha Phi sorority and also of a science honorary. She later attended summer school at the University of Washington and a research school at Marshfield, Oregon.
    She taught science and mathematics at Grandview, Washington and Baker, Oregon, before joining the Corvallis faculty four years ago. She also directed the Corvallis high school girls glee club for a couple of years. She obtained a leave of absence from the faculty in the spring to 1944 because of ill health.
    She spent much time at her hobby of collecting and mounting various species of flowers. She was a member of the Corvallis chapter No. 59, O.E.S.
    Three sisters, Mrs. Ray Morris, Corvallis; Mrs. F.O. Burrell, Hamilton; Mrs. W.J. McCormick, Stevensville; two brothers, Otto and Harry Quast, Corvallis, and three nieces and one nephew, survive.
    The body is at the Lucy mortuary in Missoula.
Ravalli Republican, June 19, 1945
Contributed by Karolyn Simpson


MRS. HELENA QUAST, CORVALLIS MATRON, DIES IN MISSOULA
    Corvallis, April 14 - Mrs. Helena Quast, 66, for more than 25 years a leader in social and community life here, died late this afternoon at a Missoula hospital of complications following an emergency operation Friday. She had been in ill health for several months.
    Coming to Montana from Brooklyn, N.Y., where she was born and reared, at the age of 16, the young city girl met and fell in love with Otto Quast, a young rancher in the Rattlesnake valley out of Missoula. they were married in Missoula, June 26, 1891. Together they built the Quast place into an 1,100-acre stock and dairy ranch, and reared a family of seven children there. They lived there until 1915, when they sold their ranch and moved to a ranch near Corvallis.
    Enthralled with the natural beauties of the surrounding countryside, the young bride immediately became interested in cultivating the wild flowers and native shrubs, transplanting them to the yard around the ranch house. Successful in this, her interest in floral landscaping grew, and she became a crusading pioneer in the decorative landscaping of country homes, an art until then almost entirely without practice in the western states. Her natural ability and work transformed the country home into a rural garden of almost nursery like appearance. Soon neighbors began seeking her advice and assistance, and from her enthusiasm was founded such organizations as the Montana Rock Garden society and state and valley garden clubs.
    Following the death of her husband in 1931, the ranch duties were turned over to her sons, Harry and Otto, Jr., and Mrs. Quast devoted almost her entire time to her yard and flower gardens, creating one of the scenic landmarks of the Bitter Root valley. An authority on annuals and perennial shrubs, as well as a good neighbor, her large home became the meeting place for garden clubs from all over the valley and other cities of Western Montana. Proving the value of personal hand-care, three spruce trees of the Blue and Black Hills variety in the yard of the Quast ranch home here are declared by forestry and nursery authorities to be among the most nearly perfect specimens in the West.
    Until her recent illness, Mrs. Quast was active in club and social work, being a member of the Corvallis chapter of Eastern Star, Corvallis Woman's club, Owego division of the Central Valley Garden club, Alpha Phi Mothers' club in Missoula, Royal Neighbors of Missoula, and state chairman of the Montana Rock Garden society. Active also in religious work, she was a member of the Episcopal church.
    Mrs. Helena Quast was born Helena Ziesing, October 5, 1874. She is survived by four daughters, Mrs. Washington J. McCormick of Stevensville, Mrs. Ray Morris of Corvallis, Mrs. Fay Burrell of Hamilton, and Miss Emma Quast, a teacher at Grandview, Washington; two sons, Harry and Otto, Jr. of Corvallis; four grandchildren, Jack and Gene Morris and Karolyn and Rosemary Quast of Corvallis; two sisters, Mrs. Frank Engles, Seattle and Mrs. Charles Babb, Alberta, Canada; a brother, Robert Ziesing of Seattle, and a nephew, Frank Ziesing of Missoula. Another daughter, Mrs. Earl Gilleland, died three years ago.
    Lucy funeral home in Missoula is in charge of funeral arrangements.
Ravalli Republican, April 17, 1841
Contributed by Karolyn Simpson



    Otto Quast, 61, well-known dairyman and resident of Corvallis and a Montanan for nearly 50 years, died at Missoula Tuesday night following a year of failing health. A year ago, he spent some time in a hospital and was taken to a hospital again from his home at Corvallis Monday.
    Mr. Quast came to Montana in 1887, when he brought a load of baled hay from the Mouse river country of North Dakota, 125 miles to Fort Buford, during the construction of the Great Northern railroad line.
    He came to Missoula in 1899 and located in the Rattlesnake district, where he was employed on the dairy ranch of Pete Fedderson. After a few years, he engaged in the dairy business for himself on the east side of the Rattlesnake valley and operated the business until 1915, when he went to the Bitter Root valley and purchased the Summers ranch, near Corvallis, which he developed into one of the substantial dairy ranches of the state, and where he maintained a herd of about 150 Holstein cattle. He also maintained a herd of Hereford beef cattle.
    Surviving are his wife and seven children: 2 sons, Harry and Otto Quast, Jr, on the ranch at Corvallis, and five daughters, Mrs. F.O. Burrell, Woodside; Mrs. Ray Morris, Corvallis; Miss Emma Quast, Corvallis; Miss Cora Quast, a vocalist, now in concert work in New York City, and Mrs. Della Gilleland of Seattle, Washington.
The Western News, April 30, 1931
Contributed by Karolyn Simpson



HARRY W. QUAST DIED TUESDAY AFTER LONG ILLNESS
    Funeral services will be Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Dowling chapel for Harry W. Quast, 66, who died about noon Tuesday, August 11, at a Stevensville rest home where he had lived for the past ten years. Interment will be in the Corvallis cemetery. Father James Knicely will officiate at the rites. Pallbearers for Mr. Quast will be Gilbert Chaffin, Ed Bay, Roy Snell, Dudley Bowden, Maurice Holloron, and Hector Rasmussen.
    Harry William Quast was born at Missoula, October 7, 1893. He attended schools there until he family moved to Corvllis in 1914. He was active in farming with his father and brother, Otto, until sleeping sickness struck him, making him a semi-invalid. He was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal church.
    Survivors are the brother, Otto of Corvallis; sisters, Mrs. Fay (Helen) Burrell of Kalispell, and Mrs. Cora Quast McCormick of Corvallis, and three nieces and one nephew.
The Western News, August 13, 1959
Contributed by Karolyn Simpson