Karla West
Karla Joy Marcella (Nielsen) West died Nov. 30, 2024, at her daughter’s home in Whitefish.
She was born July 11, 1948, in Plentywood and was one of the first in her family to be born in the hospital. She was the ninth and youngest daughter of Niels Peter “Pete” Nielsen and Vita Marcella (Hansen) Nielsen, and sibling to Beatrice (died in infancy), Howard, Gloria, Jane, Marie, Mark, Paul and Jimmy. She enjoyed a fun-filled childhood on their family homestead in Westby, attending the local country school in which nine of the 11 students were cousins or siblings. She loved spending her days with the horses and playing basketball with her brother, Jimmy.
When she was 12, her parents moved from their country farm into the town of Plentywood. She was active in school, participating in student council, the trampoline team, Spanish Club, playing the trombone in band, singing in vocal ensembles and accompanying the choir on piano. She enjoyed spending time with her friends and watching her brother, Jimmy, compete in basketball. In her free time, she played the organ for Plentywood Lutheran Church every Sunday.
She graduated from Plentywood High School in 1966 and left Montana to attend Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., taking summer classes to graduate early in 1969.
Immediately following graduation, she took her first teaching job in Froid. Her brother, Jimmy, taught nearby and she enjoyed living close to him and his new family. She was offered a position teaching business and Spanish at Medicine Lake. It was there she met and married Don West. They took their passion for music to New England, N.D., teaching at St. Mary’s Catholic School. It was in New England that they welcomed daughter, Kelly.
Shortly after Kelly was born, the family left New England to start a new adventure in Fort Collins, Colo. Daughter Kimberly joined the family in Ft. Collins and Karla continued her teaching career at Poudre High School and Poudre Junior High. The couple parted ways but remained close friends over the decades.
She was involved in several music groups including the Colorado State University marching band and the Larimer Chorale. She met Chris Schatte during this time, and they married in 1983. The new family moved to San Jose, Calif., where he worked as scientific researcher for NASA. She fine-tuned her business skills with a job for a company managing retirement communities. While in California, daughters Erica and Jill were born only one year apart.
The Challenger tragedy gave Chris and Karla time to consider other career possibilities, and they decided to move back to Karla’s beloved state of Montana. In 1986, only a few weeks after Jill’s birth, the family chose Whitefish as their new hometown. The family bought the local restaurant “R” Place, later changing it to Sunnys. Chris and Karla eventually parted ways, but stayed friends over the years.
She returned to education two years later, working with the Flathead Job Service and FVCC to create the Word Processing/Clerical Program helping to prepare students with skills to be successful in the modern workplace. She loved helping people who were struggling and saw the program as a way for individuals to become self-sufficient. Students connected with her as recently as two weeks ago to talk and share their appreciation for her. More recently, she was instrumental in adding a music program to FVCC’s offerings and continued to teach business and accounting classes until just a few years ago.
In 2007, she married John Goodrich, a fellow musician, and music continued to be a major component of her life. She was the primary organist and musical director for St. Charles Catholic Church for 37 years, the musical director for Whitefish Theater Company for more than two decades, festival director of the Glacier Jazz Stampede for 20 years, and director for the youth Dixieland Jazz camp, Camp Heebie Jeebies.
In addition to the events she organized, she was an active member for the Cowboy Country & the Gold Dust Girls, the Shady Ladies, Rocky Mountain Rhythm Kings, Flathead Ragtimers, Good Tyme Jazz Band, Flathead Community Band, Hume Street Jazz Band, Montana Highlanders Bagpipe Band and many others. The last few years she partnered with her daughter, Kelly, to bring her passion for music and education to the seas with Dixieland Trad Jazz Cruises.
She also volunteered for NW Montana Arms Collectors Association at the Les Bauska Target Range and competed in Fast Draw events around western states. She became a very active piece of her daughter, Kimberly’s restaurant group in 2014 as a business partner with her granddaughters, Amber and Cassie. Together they opened a unique speakeasy style restaurant, The Jawbone, in White Sulphur Springs.
She was preceded in death by her husband, John; and siblings, Beatrice, Howard, Gloria, Jane and Jimmy.
She is survived by her four daughters, Kelly Haverlandt of Whitefish, Kimberly Durham of Missoula, Erica Schatte of Kalispell and Jill Lautaret of Whitefish; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A funeral mass was held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Plentywood on Saturday, Dec. 7. Burial was at Emmaus Cemetery in Westby.
