Caryl Esther Ward aged 95, went to be with the Lord on Friday evening, September 25, 2022. Caryl was born on July 8, 1927, in Great Falls, Montana. She was the oldest of the four children of William Harrison and Esther Carolyn (Lindh) Hooker. Her mother’s family, the Lindh’s started their family in Sweden before coming to Great Falls to work at the smelter and to homestead. They raised their family on their homestead south of Stockett in the 1890s. She still enjoyed her trips to the family farm where she liked checking and feeding the cows. Her father’s family, the Hookers, dated back to the American Revolution. Caryl was raised on the Hooker family farm near Highwood. She loved riding horses and caring for farm animals and pets. When her family moved to Great Falls, she attended and graduated from Great Falls High School. After graduating from GFHS and secretarial college she worked as an executive secretary in Seattle and at Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle. She later worked at Osco in Great Falls. After her sister, Arlene, contracted Polio, Caryl accompanied her to the Warm Springs Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in Georgia for her medical treatment. It was there that Caryl met her future husband, Sidney F. Ward. Sidney and Caryl were married in 1949 at the United Brethren Church in Great Falls, Montana. After starting her family, she kept busy as a housewife and mother. She was a wonderful mother and helped her children in school, various clubs, music, sports and with pets and projects. She and Sidney enjoyed 56 years of marriage and had four children, Gregory Ward (deceased), Douglas (Marcia) Ward, Sydne (Joe) Urbani and Jeffrey Ward; six grandchildren, Nathan (Kate) Ward and Matthew (Kim) Ward, Lindsay Urbani (Jessie) Cash, Joey Urbani, Colter Urbani and Dylan Urbani; five great-grandchildren, David Ward, Rylee and Royce Cash, and Isabella and Emelia Urbani. She also leaves behind many wonderful nieces; nephews; and a brother-in-law. She was a Cub Scout leader, a Girl scout leader, and a 4-H leader. She was also a member of the Electric City Homemakers Club. She enjoyed entering things in the State Fair in both food and sewing for many years. At 95 she continued to live in her own home with the help of her children. She was preceded in death by her husband, Sidney Floyd Ward; her eldest son, Gregory Floyd Ward; grandson-in-law, Jessie Cash; and nephew, Michael Cordera. She was also predeceased by and missed very much her parents; her brother, Billy; and sisters, Arlene and Connie, all of whom passed away too soon. Graveside services will be held at Highland Cemetery at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 1, 2022. A reception will be held directly after the interment at Schnider Funeral home.
