"Asbestos' Death Toll Climbs in Scenic Montana Town"

"LIBBY, Mont. (AP) — Gayla Benefield and Eva Thomson are sisters who have grown used to death. For two decades, they have watched asbestos from a nearby vermiculite mine strangle their parents, Thomson's husband, an aunt, several in-laws and numerous neighbors and friends.

So as they wandered the Libby cemetery on a blustery Montana morning, they worked the graves like a block party — retelling old stories and commiserating with the dead.

Talk turned to their own fates."

Matthew Brown reports for the Associated Press May 24, 2010.