Josephine "Josy"'s Obituary
Josephine “Josy” Mary (Spinler) Slaymaker, age 74, died at home on Sunday, January 29, 2023, in Great Falls, MT.
A funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Church (201 44th Street South).
Josy was born on August 10, 1948, in Havre, MT to Jay and Matilda Spinler. She attended Havre Central High School and completed her bachelor’s degree in business education at Northern Montana College. She taught at Centerville High School and Great Falls Central High School before starting at Great Falls High School in 1974. It was there she met the love of her life and fellow teacher across the hall, Donald Slaymaker. They were married on Friday, June 13, 1975, and considered 13 to be their lucky number ever since. Josy and Don had two children, Angela and Bradley.
In the mid-1980s, Josy began teaching at the Great Falls Vocational-Technical Center which later became MSU-Great Falls College of Technology, until she retired in 2004. She was actively involved in numerous organizations in the community, including the Big Sky Chapter of Association of Record Managers and Administrators, and held leadership positions in Junior League of Great Falls and Downtown Business and Professional Women. She and Don loved participating in their local Gourmet Club and dancing the night away with friends at Fortnightly.
On September 28, 2000, Josy suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. She was fortunate to survive and spent the rest of her life working tirelessly to regain and maintain strength, balance, and movement due to paralysis and other deficits resulting from the aneurysm. She continued to pursue her love of traveling, gardening, reading, cooking, and quilting, and gave back to others by ministering to those in prison and at the hospital.
More than anything though, Josy loved her family. She is survived by her husband, Donald Slaymaker; daughter, Angela (Dan) Casmier; son, Bradley (Catherine) Slaymaker; and grandchildren, Griffin and Lannon Casmier and Clara and Beckett Slaymaker, who gave her so much pride and joy. Nana delighted in playing countless games of hide and seek with them and pretending she was their “pit crew” as they ran around the “racetrack” in the house.
Josy is also survived by her two brothers, Eugene (Gloria) Spinler and Edward (Denise) Spinler; and three sisters, Germaine (Lonnie) Roberts, Bernadette (Ralph) Prosser, and Eulalie (Gary) Ophus. Her parents preceded her in death.
