Rose Marie (Kralich) Dorman a devoted mother and friend, passed peacefully at Benefis Hospital on Friday, February 27, 2026, at the age of 94.
Visitation will be held at 9:00 a.m. followed by the funeral service at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, 2026, both at O’Connor Memorial Chapel with burial to follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Rose was born in Great Falls, Montana on February 9, 1932, at the old Columbus Hospital to Matthew and Mary (Stanich) Kralich. She was the second eldest of 5 children: Eileen, John, James and Robert. They grew up in the brick house their grandfather, Gaspar Stanich, a stone mason from Bribir, Croatia, built at 122 16th Street in Black Eagle. Rose attended Collins School in Black Eagle while Fannie B. Collins was teaching there and later Great Falls Public Schools.
She married Gayle T. Dorman on March 5, 1957, in the Blessed Sacrament Church in Black Eagle. Gayle was stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base and was born and raised in Cambridge, Maryland. Together they had two children, Bryce and Brett.
As a teenager, she worked as a clerk at the Chicago Mercantile Store on 15th Street in Black Eagle during summer vacations. She later worked at the Anaconda Company on Smelter Hill as an IBM keypunch operator for five years until she became engaged. She retired from the Montana Air National Guard in 1992 where she had worked as an IBM keypunch operator for 26 years.
In 1980, Rose purchased her own home in Black Eagle across from the present-day park. She enjoyed gardening, square dancing, and traveling. She visited Bribir, Croatia in 2004, and visited relatives living in the house where her grandfather grew up. She also traveled to London in 2001 and 2004 and Paris in 2001.
She had an amazing memory and would frequently talk, in vivid detail, about events that had happened throughout her life. In 1953, at the age of 21, she raced a car at the Great Falls Speedway in a Powder Puff Derby of 15 cars. She was holding a half-lap lead in the seventh lap of the 10-lap event when she hit a hole and ended up crashing and rolling the vehicle.
Rose's family would like to thank some of the many people who helped her live in her own home in her final years. Those helpers include Mary Sensibaugh, Ruth Evans, Brigette Knapp, Margaret Onstad, Teresa Soncarty, and many others. Thank you for taking care of her and supporting her so much.
All who loved her dearly will never forget her. She is survived by her brother, Robert; two sons, Bryce and Brett; three grandchildren, Ryan, Rachel and Allison; and four great-grandchildren, Mack, Emmy, and Owen Kirland, and Meadow Duran.
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