In the early morning hours on Sunday April 6, 2025, Leona Nancy (Guidi) Yerkich very peacefully passed away in her sleep at her home of 66 years.

Born in Butte, MT on March 18th, 1924 to Domenic Guidi & Ines (Baldi) Guidi, Leona was the youngest of the four Guidi girls!
Her parents had both immigrated shortly after the turn of the century from Lucca, Italy's Tuscan region & spoke mainly Italian at home. Leona had to learn the English language when she attended first grade at Holy Savior school in 1930. She continued her education at Butte High School. She was dearingly called "Lovey" as a baby and then throughout her life by her family & close friends since childhood & later was known as Auntie Lovey by many fond nieces & nephews!

Sadly, in 1931, at the very tender age of 7, she lost her Mama Ines, due to a serious complication during surgery! Her sisters were 16, 17 & 18 years old & she was often lonely at home after her mom passed away. Her Dad always did his very best to raise & care for her with help from his brother, Alfredo & her two eldest sisters, Ann & Leda.  Sadly, her sister Eva was mute & somewhat disabled since early childhood due to spinal meningitis & she struggled longer & more emotionally from their maternal loss. Fortunately, Leona had a wonderful group of very dear friends from close-knit families in Meaderville. The Fontana, Sorini, Micheletti & Stefani families would often gather with the Guidi family alternately for Sunday dinners together & those were  very special memories & lifelong friends for Leona!
Her father, Domenic & her Uncle Alfredo Guidi owned & operated the well-known Guidi Brothers Market in Meaderville on Copper Street, where the Italian families & many other loyal customers in Butte & beyond could acquire specialty Italian food products, delicious deli meats, prepared by the brothers who were meticulous butchers! You could get the best cuts of meats & a wide variety of delicious cheeses & pastas for  larger meals as well as other products imported from Italy!
Everything from antipasti & giardiniere to panettone, amaretti cookies & dessert wines!
She learned to help out with the store, which was connected to the family home.  She also cleaned the boarding rooms above the store after school where many miners resided, but she hated having to clean the nasty spittoons!
The most fun she had at the store was assisting her sister Leda in the ice cream & gelato parlor! It was decorated with classic fancy white iron furniture & Leona had to get up on a chair to reach down to scoop the ice cream!

In 1941, she met her future husband at a dance when he spotted the very attractive Leona across the dance floor & told his close friend, Bob Koprivica, he would marry her & have many children!
In 1942, true to his word & wishes, Leona married Joseph Matthew Yerkich. They soon started their family in 1943 with the birth of their first child, Samuel Joseph! Susan Lee was born in 1945, Jolene Ann in 1949 & Daniel James in 1950. Leona was a full-time hands-on, dedicated Mom & a great cook of Italian inspired food! She enjoyed her rare free time occasionally at women's club, playing bridge & she often volunteered for church events and as a den mother with the Brownies & Cub Scouts.  She enjoyed reading, sewing, knitting crocheting & gardening as some of her interests & hobbies.

The young family traveled to places like San Francisco, where Leona had an uncle, aunt and two cousins, Rita (Baldi) Cremolini & Elena (Baldi) Vassallo from her Mom's side of the family! She also had  relatives on her Dad's side who owned the Guidi Bros Market in San Francisco as well as the currently ongoing Napa Valley Olive Oil Co. in St Helena that still sells the very popular Extra Virgin Guidi Olive Oil! Celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola & Lydia Bastianich, the very famous chef on PBS, are still very loyal customers!

In 1956, the start of their "second family" began when Nancy Marie was born, Michael Alfred in 1957, Mary Kathryn "Kathy" in 1958 & the youngest, Peter Joseph in 1960!
Leona was now a very proud, remarkable & busy mother with eight children! She was very capable with home economics & a wiz at preparing meals for ten, three times a day on a daily basis!
She was a devout Catholic & often gave most of the credit of raising a large family to the "Good Lord" whom she sought guidance through her faith & a multitude of prayers! There were many "good years" as she would say & there were some difficult times that followed as the years passed. As they grew, the older siblings helped out with the younger ones. Her father & her uncle relied on Leona for some tasks as they aged. She did their laundry & ironed their shirts weekly. She always did her very best to maintain a loving, warm & clean home! On family outings, Leona had a practice of counting heads to be certain she kept track of her children! Leona was fairly strict and taught all of her children to study school lessons, read books, learn chores, appreciate everything they were blessed with & to take good care of what they had & to always be grateful. Especially when income was limited during the tough times & required a very tight budget!
She always reminded  the importance of good manners & politeness & sharing of food, toys, gifts, clothing & personal gifts received on birthdays & most especially during the Christmas Season! She loved decorating the family home for all of the holidays & had a very artistic taste in collectables & created crafty decor!  She also had a beautiful sense of fashion & style on a budget.

As her family grew & started to leave the nest, she became an extremely proud grandmother in January of 1964 at the young age of 39! Her eldest son, Sam & his wife Shari, gave the family such a special gift when the much loved & adored  Dana Sue was born & Leona beamed as a grandmother! The excitement of another generation was so special for the entire family!
Daughter Susan had entered into the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth the summer of 1963 & now Leona had just six children living at home.
She involved herself in meetings with the other mothers of
daughters who had entered to serve in the community of the SCL. The family dearly missed our eldest sister Susie who was a big help at home caring for her younger siblings.
Years later, during the mid 70's, when her two youngest, Peter & Kathy were in high school, Leona went to work with Butte Public School system as an aide with the disabled.
It was a very challenging yet rewarding job & she was once again, very dedicated to her new role. Leona also enjoyed the annual reunion gatherings at the Meaderville luncheons & dinners. So many relatives & lifelong friends were able to reunite & rekindle friendships & share meals & stories of their past!
In 1990 & up until early 2000's, Leona cared for her youngest grandchildren Rachel & Marcus Yerkich as new babies, toddlers, preschoolers
& after school hours while their parents, Peter & Mary, were hard at work. She was always very active attending many sports & other special events of her numerous grandchildren!
Many more years would come to pass and bring so many more grandchildren, the next generation of
great grandchildren & eventually the great great grandchildren!
She attended more birthday parties & baby showers than most people would even imagine & remembered all the birthdays with beautiful cards & gifts, even though some of the grandchildren were across the miles in various states & managed to do some traveling & fun visits!
Having three & then four of her children living in San Francisco & Novato, she frequently visited the Bay Area into her mid-80's!
In 1997, Leona visited Italy for the first time with her daughter Nancy & her husband Rob & his delightful parents! Seeing the beautiful sites was a wonderful & eye opening experience for her.  Most of all, meeting her cousins for the first time & seeing where her parents were from was an absolute joy!

Leona was often a devoted volunteer. Whenever the voting polls required her help, she made herself available. She also assisted at numerous funeral receptions at St Ann's parish, where she was a parishioner for many decades!
Leona managed to drive her car up until her 95th birthday & was in excellent health!

In March 2023, at 99, Leona was asked to meet with Aubrey Japp, the Director of the Butte Archives at the suggestion of Brian Holland, longtime board member & friend & classmate of her daughter, Nancy. Being one of the very few surviving citizens who grew up in Meaderville, she had a wealth of knowledge to share of her early years in the very memorable, mostly Italian community. She fondly recalled & shared her early years and the sad story of the demise of the treasured & richly cultural community due to expanding open pit mining. The hard working settlers from Italy & parts of Central Europe were uprooted from their cherished homes & businesses! Her
conversation was captured on video & can be viewed at the very resourceful & treasured Butte Archives!

On March 18, 2024, her five surviving children proudly & happily honored their much-loved Mom for Leona's 100th well attended Birthday celebration!
Most of the three generations of grandchildren, close friends & family from across the miles & country included a total of over 100 guests! She was featured on the front page of the Montana Standard with her glowing smile, enjoying the love & respect of everyone who attended to share in her centennial milestone! It was truly an amazing evening & the well-deserved celebration of her long, full life that touched so many other lives with her love & affection.

This past year, shortly after her 100th birthday, Leona's physical health was in decline after she fell & had some gradual heart failure. Her long-held & admirable independence was now limited & she had to rely more on others for the first time. Her devoted & loving sons, Mike & Pete, living in Butte, were very caring & so extremely helpful with their Mom's daily needs!
Her daughters, Nancy & Kathy who live in California & her daughter Jolene in Massachusetts did their very best to visit & give care as often as possible in order to grant Leona her last & most important desire to remain in her home possible.

Initially, Enhabit Home Health gave her assistance with physical therapy & occasional home health care. Honeybee Hospice later provided the gentle comfort of palliative hospice care & support in her final months. We are all so very grateful to those caregivers who provided her with
their support and assistance.

She was aware & remarkably lucid up to the time of her last day & was still living at home where she raised her family! She still had a great appetite & was humorous, beautiful & still the strong, feisty Italian woman who was prayerful, grateful & certain of her needs, desires, thoughts & opinions!

At the time of her passing, Leona was the very proud 101 year old matriarch of four generations that included 49 grandchildren! She proudly displayed all of the framed photos in a special place in her living room where she could easily see all of them & share her pride with others!

Leona was preceded in death by her mother Ines & her father Domenic & uncles Michael & Alfredo Guidi.
Tragically, the family lost 11 year old & first granddaughter, Dana Sue, when she was fatally struck crossing Harrison Street at the ill-fated corner of Cobban Street. Ten years later, precious infant & first great granddaughter Renee Martin, heartbreakingly died from SIDS & her father Todd Martin in a fatal motorcycle accident just a few years later when his wife Jodi (Yerkich) Martin was pregnant with their third baby Jenna Martin. She miraculously & resiliently survived as a premature birth shortly after her father's tragic death. Jenna was in NICU in Salt Lake City for over two months. Leona's strength & faith was very evident in her descendants & she inspired the family not to ever forget how fragile life can be.

Very thankfully, Leona's prayers & hopefulness to see an end to the unbearable losses & terrible heartache of her much younger family members were answered for a short while.

Also preceding her in death was Joseph Yerkich, her husband of 50 years of  marriage at the age of 85. She then lost her first- born son Sam at only 60 years of age just 3 1/2 months after his father in 2003. Devoted daughter, Sister Susan of SCL passed away in 2015 & her son, Daniel in 2020. Her painful & difficult losses & the untimely deaths of her three children in their 60's did make her question why she outlived three of her children & two grandchildren.
Additional losses were her eldest sister Ann Sconfienza, brother in law John Sconfienza, sister Leda Connole & brother in law Harvey Connole & sister Eva Guidi. In laws Stana Yerkich-Pavlovich, Pete Yerkich, Stella Yerkich, George (Moose) Pavlovich, Bob & Kathy Pavlovich & nephew Bobby Pavlovich & daughter- in-law Shari Yerkich.
grandson-in-law David Carpenter.
Nephew John Sconfienza, great niece Susan Sconfienza, niece & goddaughter Rita Worring & her husband Tom Worring. Nephews Bob & Pat Connole & very recently nephew-in-law Leo Jense.

She is survived by Jolene (Ed) Dennehy of Fairhaven, MA,
Nancy (Rob) Chimsky of Santa Rosa, CA, Michael (Sheila St. Pierre) Yerkich, Kathy (Ricky) Morales, Peter & (Tana Wilcox).
Grandchildren Jodi (Brad) Hollamon, Chris Yerkich, Jeff Yerkich, Edward Dennehy, Nicole (Mike) Bourgault, and Sean Dennehy, Trista Yerkich (fiancé Adam Faul) Joseph (Kristen)
Yerkich, Kayla (Rob) Trythall, Curt St. Pierre, Matthew Morales, Rachel Carpenter (Nate Kendall) & Marcus Yerkich.
Great grandchildren,
Erica Martin (Matt) Hunt, Jenna Martin (Homer Thatcher),
Kevin (Keleigh) Hollamon. Levi Yerkich, Kiera Yerkich,
Trevon Schaeffer, Kyler Yerkich & also Fenmore Yerkich.
Flynn & Emerson Bourgault, Nolan & Arden Dennehy & Lena Dennehy.
Hanah, Jax & Colin Trythall, Coy & Charlee Carpenter,
Taylor & triplets Emma, Madison & Olivia St Pierre.
Great-great grandchildren Keegan, Easton, Sawyer & Parker Hunt. Kaitlyn Tenesch & Emersyn Lacey & Noah, Owen & Brodee Hollamon.

Nieces Joanne Jense,  her children, John Jense, Maria (Chris) Cline & Dino Jense. Lori (Neil) Brown & their son, Ian. Donna Connole, Debbie Connole & daughters, Heidi, Kelly & son Patrick, niece Jean Sconfienza, daughters Natalie (Mike) Gustafson, Nancy Sconfienza, nephew Neil (Barbie) Sconfienza & Mike (Angie) Sconfienza.
Lisa (Chris) Lewis, Gina (Jeff) McCauley, John (Tracy) Worring & Anna (Bob) Bentley.
There are also numerous great great nieces & nephews from this very large extended family!

On July 11, 2025, the family will share Leona's Celebration of Life at St Ann's Church. Visitation at 10 am & Funeral Mass at 11 am. Reception to follow at St Ann's Hall.