Marjorie F. Kautzman

MISSOULA ~

Marjorie Lee Floyd Kautzman was born on October 24, 1925, in Butte, Montana to Opal Marguerite Bernier Floyd and Robert Lee Floyd. Her parents were also born in Butte. She joined her older sister, Dorothy, and later her little sister, Virginia, completed the family. Margie was very close to her sisters all her life and Ginny was her best friend, they talked on the phone for hours nearly every day. Margie passed away peacefully on May 13, 2026 at The Springs in Missoula with her children at her side.

Margie attended McKinley grade school and Butte High School and attended the University of Montana where she was a proud member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She loved her years at U of M, but she loved John Bernard “Barney” Kautzman more. She quit school when Barney returned from serving in the South Pacific during World War 2 and they were married at The First Presbyterian Church in Butte on September 8, 1946.

Margie and Barney loved their Butte community and had many, many good friends and were surrounded by loving family. Her parents built a cabin at Georgetown Lake in 1929 and family gatherings at the lake were a regular occurrence throughout her life. In her later years, the Leipheimer family included her in all their celebrations and they checked in on her regularly. Stacy Leipheimer in particular took great care of Margie and made it possible for her to live in the home she and Barney built until she was 96 years old.

Margie and Barney’s “bridge” club met regularly for happy hour, dinners, hunting season at the LeSage’s ranch in the Boulder Valley, summers at the Poore’s Island on Flathead Lake or Marie and Carl Daniel’s on Finley Point, and ski trips all over the state. They rarely played bridge.

Margie was a very social person and loved to participate in First Presbyterian Church activities, her regular walking group, Community Concert, Bridge Club, and Chapter X, P.E.O., where she was a 79-year member. She was an eligibility technician at the Welfare Department in Butte for over 25 years and found great fulfilment in her work.

Above all, Margie loved her family. She and Barney had four children, ten grandchildren, and ten great- grandchildren. Margie is survived by her son, John, his wife, Carol; her daughter, Kathy Kautzman; her son, Andy Kautzman,  his wife, Jeanne; and her daughter, Jane DeMarois, and her husband, Joe DeMarois. Her grandchildren, Dr. Michele Kautzman; Julene Grogan and husband, Jared; Christopher Sonnenberg; Jessica Marjorie DeMarois and husband, Mike Hekman; Jared Kautzman and wife, Jenny; Max Sonnenberg; Betsy DeMarois and husband, Chris Morgen; Brandon Kautzman; Kelsey Gale and husband, Dan; and Meredith DeMarois. She is survived by nine of her great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Opal and Robert; her beloved husband Barney; sisters and brothers-in-law, Dorothy and Ed Leipheimer and Virginia and Don Woodside; and her great grandson, Joey.

We extend our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the staff at The Springs in Missoula for making Mom’s last few years so comfortable. Every one of them treated her with dignity, compassion, and love. They truly became like another family.