Beth Halmes Nicholls

Beth Halmes Nicholls passed peacefully on January 6, 2017 at Village Health Care in Missoula, Montana. Born Ellen Elizabeth Braaten in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 27, 1927 to Bernhardt Oswald and Margaret (Peg) Field Braaten, Beth was an only child. Favorite childhood memories were from summers spent at the Braaten cabin at Lake Mille Lacs north of Minneapolis. Beth attended college at theUniversity of Minnesotastudying science and literature and singing in the choir. Gifted with a distinctive, rich, low voice, Beth was the only female member of the tenor section. After graduating, Beth landed a teaching job in Westby, Montana in 1946. She wrote to her mother Westby is quite small, population 25, including cats and dogs. In order to pursue her dream to have a career as a country western singer, she spent every cent she had on a one way bus ticket to the big city of Great Falls to form a band. While auditioning musicians she met, hired, and married Raymond Halmes, a guitar and bass player. Beth wrote we were married on Jan 1, 1946 in Minneapolis, with a Congregational minister officiating. We drove back to Montana the next day. Ray taught me how to drive and the first thing I did was drive through a wire fence! . After arriving safely, Beth and Ray moved to Ray's parent ranch, 16 miles NE of Belt in the Highwood Mountain area. Son Rick was born in 1949. In 1950 they purchased their own place further up the valley: 560 acres of land and a two-room house with no running water and an outhouse. They tried to eke out a living raising cattle, grain and milking cows, along with their music gigs. Daughter Terry was born in 1950, second daughter Jan in 1953. Beth always said these were the best years of her life. In 1955 Beth and Ray moved to Belt when winter conditions got too severe. Third daughter Penny was born. There, Beth wrote a column for the Belt Valley Times under the pen name Barbara Benedict, and became involved with the Belt Methodist Church. Their fifth child Nona was born in 1958 and shortly thereafter Beth and Ray were divorced. Ray died in 1967. Beth and her five children moved to Great Falls in order to find enough work to support them. She worked multiple jobs at once to pay the bills. One of her most adored was counseling the girls at summer church camp, her favorite place. Beth's true passion was singing and performing. From soloist to church choir, to Big Band, to country western variety show, she loved it all. In 1964 with The Del Rose Trio, Beth performed at The World's Fair and traveled on the Montana Centennial Train and shook hands with President Lyndon B Johnson. A classy, stylish woman, always well dressed, she never met a sequin or rhinestone that she didn't like. She was a beautiful person inside and out, meeting everyone with a smile and a kind word. Always optimistic, always positive, generous to a fault. After Marrying Harold Nichols, Sr. in 1983, she became a partner in Nicholls Music Centre, and its business manager. She loved working in the music industry. Beth was preceded in death by her husband Harold Nicholls Sr., a daughter, Penny Halmes Walker, and a grandson, Brad Ray Brave. Surviving children are: Rick Halmes (Janet Schuh) Billings; Terry Brave (Dave Smail) Helena; Jan Halmes (Bill Warden Missoula, and Nona Coughlan (John Coughlan) Tiger Butte. Donations in Beth's memory may be made to Intermountain Children's Home, Helena, or the 1st United Methodist Church, Great Falls. A memorial service to celebrate Beth's life will be held at the 1st United Methodist Church at 1 pm Saturday, January 21 in Great Falls. Fellowship and food following the service, at the church.