Noma Loraine Giffin

Noma Loraine Scruggs Giffin, loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away on Thursday, June 30, 2022, at the age of 92. She was born in Mason, Illinois on March 26, 1930, to Glenn and Grace Peyton Scruggs. She was the youngest of five children.

Her family moved to Montana to ranch in the Bitterroot when she was very young, but she remembered the trip from Illinois to Montana well. The family brought only their clothing, some cooking utensils, and her mother’s piano. Her childhood on the family ranch was full of adventure. She was not one to stay in the house but instead worked outside with her father and brothers. She often talked about stepping on a nail in the barnyard and being told to “pour some turpentine on it and get back out here”. Noma held that same work ethic her entire life along with fond memories of growing up on a ranch.

Noma held many jobs and took pride in saving smartly for the future. She began by delivering milk from the family’s milk cows to the dairy in Stevensville while in high school and then moved on to delivering fryer chickens and eggs to the Florence Hotel in Missoula on her way to work at the Missoulian. After moving to Polson, she worked as the head teller at Security State Bank and as the water clerk for the City of Polson.
It was while working at the Missoulian that she met a handsome co-worker, Dick Giffin. A movie date turned into a marriage of almost 69 years during which they were the definition of true love. Dick and Noma welcomed their only daughter, Shawn, in 1960.

Throughout Noma’s life she put her family first, serving countless meals, baking thousands of batches of cookies, sewing numerous outfits, and making all of us feel loved. She will be missed terribly by all of us. She loved her family and took time to spend in the kitchen with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She made amazing meals without ever looking at a recipe card or using a measuring device. She loved the Macintosh apple harvest each fall and was famous for her applesauce and apple crisp. The love that Noma showed for each person in her family can never be matched. She always made us feel loved and taken care of.

Noma was preceded in death by her husband Dick Giffin, her parents Glenn Arnold Scruggs and Grace May Peyton Scruggs, and her siblings Bert, Vaden, Lenora, and Gerald.

Survivors include her daughter, Shawn (Rod) Harris of Ronan and grandchildren and great grandchildren - Nathaniel (Elise & Henley, Harper, Hollyn, and Hayden) Harris of Missoula, Nick (Ashleigh & Hayes and Hudson) Harris of Frenchtown, and Nolan (Jenny & Ellie and Dillon) Harris of Helena.

Services will take place on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, at the Polson Community Church at 6 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://www.alz.org/ or to the Beehive Homes of Missoula to support funding their activities program.