Shirley Lynn Paynter

The life of our Mom, Gramma, Great Gramma, Sister, Aunt, Sister-in-law and friend has come full circle, with the angels taking her up to her eternal heavenly home on Friday, July 3rd with a barrage of fireworks announcing her arrival. We’re certain Dad had a hand in that, as she told us a while back that he had proposed to her on the 4th of July some 60+ years ago. Shirley Lynn Paynter (Kechter) was born June 5, 1936 in Butte, MT to John and Kathleen Kechter, attending local schools and graduating from Butte High School in 1954. She also attended The Butte Business School. She was working at the Montana Power Company in the secretarial pool when she met our Dad there while he was working as a desk clerk. They married June 3rd, 1956 in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Butte, and at the time of Dad’s death in 2019, were married almost 63 years. Shirley started working again when her children were in Junior High School. She worked retail at Buttrey Suburban, Woolworth’s, and then at K-Mart. She enjoyed her work and formed many friendships with her fellow employees. She also was on the various PTAs over the years, was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader for her daughter, Sandy, and helped Dad with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for her son, Wayne. She was a good cook and baker, and revealed a while ago that she always wanted to have her own catering business. That didn’t happen but she had almost every kitchen appliance, tool, gadget, cookbooks, etc. that a person would ever need for their own cooking/baking business! Mom and Dad took a Vo-Tech cake decorating class that enabled them to bake and artfully decorate birthday and other special occasion cakes for the grandkids. Until macular degeneration stole a good portion of her sight, she enjoyed reading, doing crossword puzzles, piecing together board puzzles, painting on various fabrics with Tri-Chem paints, doing cross stitch and knitting nice sweaters and slippers. We moved her out of her home of 60+ years in 2021 to The Springs Living and Assisted Living campus. She lived in a cute independent cottage there for a few years until it became necessary to move her into “the big house” as she called it. She had a cozy little studio apartment there until recently when she became very sick, needing to go to the Crest for more care. She dearly loved and enjoyed life at The Springs and had many dear friends there and enjoyed the food and many activities they offered. She was never in her apartment when family tried to call or visit. We always had to track her down if we wanted to visit with her! Needless to say, we never worried about her when she lived there. They took excellent care of her. That was her home and an extended part of our family. For her 90th birthday, we threw her a party at the Crest. She was able to visit with the entire family-some from UT, ID, CA, WA and of course MT. We’re very blessed that we did that for her because we knew that was her chance to say goodbye to everyone. Shirley is survived by her daughter, Sandy Vivian (Tom), Butte; son, Wayne Paynter (Sue), Butte; Grandchildren, Corey Hautzinger, Cle Elum, WA; Kristi May (Morgan), Lafayette, CA; Kerrie Berger (Brian), Anaconda, MT; Rob Vivian, Butte; Theresa Wright (Matthew), Puyallup, WA; Nicole Paynter (Thomas Southern), Roy, WA; Sister, Jackie Pitts, West Valley City, UT; niece, Debbie Leary (Mike), Butte; sister-in-law, Jean Paynter, Goleta, CA; and 10 great grandchildren. Services will be Monday, July 13, 2026 at Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home, 1800 Florence Avenue, Butte, MT 59701. Viewing at 11am and service at 1pm with Father Brian Miller officiating. Entombment will be in the Mountain View Mausoleum and a luncheon will follow at the funeral home’s hospitality center. In lieu of flowers, please consider memorials to the Butte Humane Society, the Butte Food Bank, Shriner’s Children’s Hospitals, Cure SMA or to a charity of the donor’s choice. Special thanks and recognition to everyone at The Springs and Crest Nursing Home for their dedicated care and concern for Shirley.

Tributes

Shirley Lynn Paynter

June 5, 1936 - July 3, 2026