Brenda Lynch

Brenda Hyer Lynch passed away on the first day of Spring, 2025, three weeks shy of her 74th birthday, and one week shy of her 55th anniversary to her husband, Terry Lynch. She was born in Red Lodge, Montana, and moved to Deer Lodge when she was six. Her neighborhood on the westside of Deer Lodge was often called Cozzensville, or Cousinsville, because she had so many first cousins who lived nearby due to her grandparents, named Cozzens, who purchased the land on which her cousins lived. Needless to say it was a lively neighborhood. 

She was very pretty and well known back at PCHS, participating as a cheerleader, and had many friends, of whom she considered Karen Neubaur Porter and Becky Abrams her best. She also caught the eye of Terry back in high school and they were married in Missoula a year after she graduated. He was going to college then, and they lived there for most of their marriage. 

Brenda was very organized and skilled as an office assistant. She was recruited out of high school to work for the State Employment Division in Helena where she worked for a year. She took those office skills to Missoula where she worked for various employers who needed her organizational skills. They included doctors, dentists, chiropractors, schools, lawyers, and insurance agents, as well as several different county positions, including justice court, motor vehicles, and the county commissioners office. The catch was, she was only interested in part time or short time because her top priority was to mother our three sons and oversee the household. She did work for Hellgate High School for eleven years while the boys got through high school, summers off of course. But she was not a career minded woman, yet had little problem hiring herself out to help with the household income. She did retire from Missoula County Partnership Health Center where she still only worked part time. She turned down office manager positions several times because it would have required full time. Her employers knew her value as a likeable and proficient worker. 

She was very proud to be a third generation Montanan, and of growing up in the blue collar town of Deer Lodge during the post war good times. She also enjoyed our cabin on the Blackfoot River, in which we hosted many friends and family; floating, tubing, the nightly campfire, sleeping under the stars and traveling the gravel backroads. So many memorable times were spent at the cabin with her being the head matriarch. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Elijah and Ruth Cozzens Hyer, as well as by three of her siblings, Sandy, Tim, and Marty. Survivors include her brother Randy (Vicki), her three sons Will, Derek (Lisa) , and Conor (Elisa), and her six grandchildren, Gavin, Aidyn, Tegan, Caeden, Clover, and Adalyn. She was the anchor of the family. A service will be held sometime this summer at the cemetery in Helmville, where many relatives reside.