Paula Kubik

Paula Kubik’s life was about being a great friend. Whether it was gossiping with friends and cousins, going to the movies, trying new restaurants, crafting the perfect gift, talking about books, pets, and recipes online, or entertaining students during a fetal pig dissection lab – Paula worked to make people feel included and heard. She was a biology teacher who loved trashy romance novels and a Reagan Republican with a fondness for 1960’s folk protest music. Paula Jean Kubik, 70, died June 20 in Billings, Montana where she lived at MorningStar Senior Living and had become an active member of the Shiloh Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Paula was born on November 27, 1944 at Sedalia Army Air Field in Missouri to Annabelle Swett and John Kubik. After the war, the family moved home to Dickinson, ND, founding the Flying K Ranch in southern Dunn County. Paula attended the Tabor #2 School and graduated from Dickinson Central High School in 1962. She earned a Bachelor of Science from North Dakota State University in 1967. While at NDSU she worked as a radiologist for the USDA. She took advanced science courses at both Dickinson State College and the University of Montana, and earned a Master of Education from Eastern Montana College in 1989. Paula began teaching biology at Dawson County High School in Glendive, Montana in 1969, retiring in 2003. Also active outside the classroom, she advised Key Club and Yearbook, judged speech tournaments, took tickets at sporting events, led field trips to Flathead Lake, and enjoyed scaring anyone she could with the human skull she inherited from her grandfather, nicknamed “Mr. Girard. “She was a dedicated and professional teacher with a true passion for science – microbiology, botany, immunology, genetics, paleontology, zoology, and even geology. She was tough and challenged students to do their very best. Many of “her kids” went on to study science and medicine because of the inspiration found in Miss Kubik’s labs. Not satisfied with retirement, she became a science instructor at Dawson Community College in Glendive, truly retiring in 2012. She is preceded in death by her father John (1984), mother Ann (2014), and younger brother Craig (2014). She is survived by her niece Mandy Kubik of Dickinson, her LDS family, and many cousins in the Kubik, Kadrmas, Soules, Sherman, and Swett families. A memorial service will be held 10:30 am, Friday, June 26, at the LDS Shiloh Ward Church, 3595 Monad Road in Billings, MT. In lieu of flowers, Paula asked formemorials to be sent to Oreo’s Animal Rescue, 93 21st Street East, Dickinson, ND, 58601. Oreo’s is a no-kill shelter and adoption guarantee organization.


Burial Date: June 26, 2015