We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
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After a two year hiatus (yes, 'due to COVID') the Wine and Cheese Fundraiser to support Harlem Public Library is back. Inaugurated in 2013 the holiday fundraiser helps support some of the local library's programs and special needs purchases that would not otherwise be possible. Since the Friends first holiday event a number of major items has been procured for the local library from a 'wish list' generated by library staff and patrons. This year's event is set for Wednesday, December 7, 6-8pm,...
It's that time of the year, my wife and I are back in Woodinville, WA (east suburb of Seattle) dog/house sitting while the owners spend some time in Florida. The couple owns an Airbnb we used several times coming to visit our daughter and her family just a few minutes away. For the second year we are 'guests' with a purpose. Alert readers may recall the series of calamities that beset us last year-a serious financial scam involving Apple gift cards supposedly for a friends' dying cousin, two...
Several months ago Shirley Gardipee, a former Chinookian now living in Shelby, told me about the LaTray family that once lived on the north side of Chinook. William and Jenny (Gardipee) LaTray had 18 children, nine were boys. Eight sons served in the U.S. military, four during World War II and all eight safely returned home. The following story of the LaTray son's military service is a reminder of the service of all our veterans during this runup to Veterans Day, 2022. But first, a short...
Alert readers may recall two of my recent stories (visits to Anaconda/Butte and Basin) were about what we saw on a "surprise tour of Montana" for my wife's birthday. The following story is about the first stop on that trip, a two day visit to Philipsburg which is located between Missoula and Butte, south of the Flint Creek Mountain range. I'd only heard of Philipsburg in connection with TV ads for the town's famous candy store, the Sweet Palace. Our travel agent, Keri Hanson, said "I think you...
A one-afternoon craft workshop was held last week at the Chinook Senior Center. The class focused on how to create holiday decorations using pine cones as the basic decorative material. Six locals attended the program presented by Sherry Edwards. Asked why this class and why now, Sherry said, "I was thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. I know people enjoy special decorations for the holidays and many like to make the decorations themselves." She added, "We live at the Grande...
I recently wrote about my wife and I visiting the Merry Widow Health Mine in Basin, Montana. Before that stop we stayed three days in the Anaconda/Butte area and had the opportunity to learn about that part of the state where the Copper Kings reigned back in the day. I decided to write about my impressions of the area and its mining history. I came from a coal mining family and was curious to see how hard rock mining in Montana compared to underground and surface mining in the Midwest where I...
On a recent outing to southwest Montana my wife and I made an overnight stop in Basin in order to visit the Merry Widow Health Mine. Sherry, my wife, has wanted to visit Basin for some time as she knows a Korean minister named Rev. Okee Kim who started a "house Presbyterian church" in the old mining town. His purpose was to minister to visitors, especially Asians, to the nearby health mine. Basin is an old mining town along I-15 that has about 100 residents. The other health mines are the Earth...
A small but enthusiastic audience enjoyed a lecture on Modernism in Montana art by MSU professor Dr. Michelle Corriel. Blaine County Museum Director Samantha French said she was pleased with the turnout and was looking forward to two future lectures scheduled for this fall. The lecture by Dr. Corriel was virtual, via the internet, and interactive. The two upcoming lecturers will be speaking live at the local museum. Lecture focused on current Blackfeet tipis exhibit's creator Dr. Corriel...
hinook Lions to celebrate a nearly century old event in the town. Last Friday morning kindergartners through junior high students joined to do a litter clean-up around Chinook. The result was a half pickup load of trash the students gathered. One side benefit was the students got to experience firsthand what happens when folks don't properly dispose of trash. A short history of Chinook's town clean-up efforts A few weeks before the October 21, 1925 official opening/dedication of the new sugar...
Dr. Michele Corriel, an Assistant Teaching Professor at MSU-Bozeman, will present a virtual lecture at 2pm on Saturday, September 24 at the Blaine County Museum in Chinook. Corriel will describe the work of artist Jessie Wilbur who produced the 20 prints of Blackfeet tipis currently on display at the museum and describe Wilbur's role in introducing modernism to artists in Montana during the 1940's. The presenter will also discuss her new book "The Montana Modernists: Shifting Perspectives on...
I was recently invited by Ken and Jeff Finley to attend a birthday party for Jeff and Lynette Finley's oldest grandchild who turned ten. The father-son team described the event as "our first trial run with real customers." They were referring to the upgrades Ken has added to his pumpkin patch down by the Milk River and Jeff's new Aisle 8 arcade gallery at the grocery store, featuring "16 vintage full-sized arcade games." The birthday party started at the pumpkin patch, finished up at the arcade...
Rev. Dr. Loren and Becky Shellabarger, Iowa-based consultants who help small churches cope with changes, were in Chinook recently to meet with representatives of the recently named Milk River Churches. Milk River Churches is a new organization that helps coordinate joint worship activities and ministries with five local congregations in Chinook, Harlem and Havre. The congregations involved in the new larger parish are the American Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Chinook, the...
After 50 years, the Harlem High School Class of 1972 held a class reunion, their first. Several commented that over the years there had been attempts to schedule a reunion, but it never happened. One classmate recalled, "For our 40th we got close but just couldn't get our act together." There were 48 graduates in the class. Fourteen are deceased and twelve classmates were at the Saturday session of the 50th reunion. The reunion was held at Zurich Park this past Labor Day weekend. Activities...
The class of 1972 was one of the larger graduating classes from Chinook High and they held their 50th class reunion two weeks ago. According to Evelyn (Jergeson) Schubert, one of the reunion's organizers and presenter at the official welcoming, "Our class graduated with 64 students. Eighteen of those are deceased and of the 46 remaining, 30 attended at least one day of the two-day reunion." She added, "We had 28 at our 40th reunion." Kick-off gathering on a Friday The reunion kicked-off with a...
Millie Hall Walter, daughter of Ben and Patti Hall, was back in Chinook recently with her family on a visit from where she now lives in Germany. Stefan, her husband, and their eight-year old son Lukas accompanied Millie back to Chinook. Millie met Stefan when he was an exchange student attending high school in Turner for a year. After both finished college they married and she moved to Germany. Ben Hall, Millie's dad, is on the board of directors at the Chinook Senior Center. For the past year...
Last week the Blaine County Museum hosted its first ever "Day Camp for Kids." The day camp had separate morning and afternoon sessions, drawing 35 kids total. Samantha (Sam) French, the Museum's director, said she was very pleased with the turnout and "will definitely do a day camp again next year." Looking for ways to help build "good memories of visiting the museum" French took the suggestion of Peggy Perry, a local museum volunteer and retired school teacher, and made the idea of a fun day...
About two weeks ago a working relationship in Blaine County ended between two long standing agricultural businesses. Don and Tanis Ross of the Ross 8 Bar 7 Ranch, Inc. sold the last yearlings they will raise from their place south of Chinook on Clear Creek Road. Mark Billmayer of B & B Buyers (cattle buyers) bought the Ross' last load of yearlings. That ended a business connection that started when Russell Benson (Mark's father-in-law, now deceased), the other "B" of B & B Buyers, started buying...
When my wife and I moved to North Dakota we lived among a lot of Norwegians, a new experience for us. We'd never heard of lutefisk...and certainly never eaten it. We learned a lot about "lutefisk and meatball dinners" and other Norwegian traditions. Not realizing the large geographic spread of Norwegian culture in our own country we were amazed when we moved to Libby, Montana, then Chinook, and also found lutefisk eaters in those places. A recent surprise in Chinook was to learn that back in...
"Thank you for your service" was a short declaration but backed by lots of hard work and emotion. The short statement was spoken as two representatives of the women's quilting group at the American Lutheran Church in Chinook handed military veterans present in their congregation a custom made patriotic-themed handmade quilt. The project, started in the fall of 2021, culminated in the presentation of the flags in a surprise ceremony at worship on the last Sunday in June. Three more flags were lat...
Alert "Journal" readers will recall a story I wrote back in 2017 about turkey vultures-the huge black birds often seen gliding over Chinook and its environs. I first noticed them a few years ago on the 'new water tower' in Chinook at the southeast corner of town. On a recent walk just before sundown I was in that area and saw a huge number of 'black dots' on the water tower from the railings around the tank to the lower beams and guy wires that stabilize the tower. Up close I counted about 20...
Recently Keith Hanson, co-owner of the "Journal," told me about a conversation he had with Josh Brown who lives in Havre. Josh is part of the American Legion Riders in Havre, a motorcycle club that does poker runs and other events to raise funds to support the work of Montana Wounded Warriors. Keith said, "The Montana Wounded Warriors seem to be doing some great work. Would you talk to Josh Brown and write about how and why the Montana Wounded Warriors provides hunting and fishing outings to...
Readers of a certain age may recall little "jokes" that people used to make about where they grew up or where they were currently living. The jokes were usually introduced with something like, "You know he/she lives in 'such and such a town' because they never pay any attention to the 'yield' traffic signs"....or some such 'insider' joke about the behaviors of residents of a particular place. When fax machines first became common there were jokes galore, flying from office to office, about...
Young Adult Volunteers Emma Kate Lander (from Maryland) and Brendan Stump (from West Virginia) were honored Sunday evening at a "farewell cookout" at Sweet Park in Chinook. The YAV program is in its 9th year in Chinook. The 2021-2022 YAVs arrived last August for an 11-month term of service in the Chinook area and will head home this week. The YAV program is a ministry of the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church in the USA) and is supported/sponsored by the Methodist, American Lutheran, Presbyterian and...
Back in November, 2021, Dr. Loren Shellabarger a retired Presbyterian minister and adjunct seminary professor, conferred with interested members from five churches in Havre, Chinook and Harlem. He and his wife, Becky, shared their experiences in helping various rural churches in Iowa organize into a collaborative parish where several diverse congregations share programming, ministers and resources while still maintaining their own traditions and history. Encouraged by the Shellabargers'...
Rock painters have been hard at work in the Chinook area recently. Early this year Blaine County's Local Advisory Council for Mental Health (LARC) hosted several painting sessions with various groups at sites around the area ranging from school children to senior citizens. More recently, this year's Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) hosted a rock painting session at Sweet Park in Chinook. Rock painting and Mental Health Month, 2022 Deb Anderson, Business Supervisor and Lead Health Educator with...
