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Part 1 of this series on holiday gift-givers talked about Saints and Santas. Part 2 will discuss The Three Kings as Gift-Givers One of the most obvious Christian connections between the giving of presents and the Christmas holidays is that it commemorates the arrival of the Three Kings, sometimes called Magi or Wise Men, who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. In fact, in some countries, children receive presents not on Dec. 25, but on Jan. 6, the Feast of the Three...
Susan Stone from Condon said, "I think my most memorable Christmas was the gathering of family shortly before my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. We spent a Christmas in Portland with almost all of the family under one roof." * * * * * Connie Rose from Cour d'Alene, Idaho, was in Seeley Lake visiting Boyd and Helen Gossard. Rose said her most memorable Christmas was when she was about nine years old. She had gone with her family to visit her grandfather, whose birthday was on Christmas...
SEELEY LAKE – As every child in the United States knows, on Christmas Eve a jolly old man named Santa Claus, dressed in red coat and hat, hops in his toy-filled sleigh and is magically pulled through the air by Rudolph and his reindeer cohorts. Throughout the night the chubby man slides down chimneys, or accesses other ports of entry into people's homes, and leaves presents under the tree for good little girls and boys. At least that is how the story goes in the United States. But where did t...
GREENOUGH – Glenn Truett chose the U.S. Army over cotton farming. Looking back at age 86, he said he couldn't have made a better choice. Truett was raised in the mountains of North Carolina and said he was very happy there. He was no longer happy, however, when his dad moved the family to South Carolina and started raising cotton. Truett said, "That was no life for me. So when I turned 17, I joined the Army – to get away from there, to be honest with you." After Infantry Basic Training, Truett e...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Patrick Constantinides knows some interesting inside information about the final stages of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979. Constantinides was the Assistant General Manager of one of the American banks in London during the time the hostage negotiations took place. A quick and vastly oversimplified background to the situation goes something like this: On Nov. 4, 1979, supporters of the Iranian Revolution overwhelmed the American Embassy in Tehran and captured 52 American diplomats and citizens. In retaliation,...
OVANDO – When Ovando resident Jerry Swanson talks about his years serving in the United States Army, he starts with flunking out of college and ends with a career as a college professor. As Swanson tells the story, he spent two years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) serving in the Reserve Officers Training Program (ROTC) while pursuing a degree in commerce. Finding the course work less and less interesting, he stopped going to classes, with the inevitable result he flunked o...
OVANDO - Worms on a bun, slithering pizza, tater vomit, frozen eyeballs and baby pumpkins were some of the delicacies served to costumed Ovando kids and their families on Halloween night. And after that the fun began. From tossing bean bags into pumpkin mouths, pennies into a witch cauldron, rings onto witch hats and reaching into monster mouths for surprise treats, the games progressed to mummy wrapping and balloon tether pop. Climaxing the fun was a trip down the Haunted Pirate Ship...
SEELEY LAKE – The world of Disney infiltrated the Double Arrow Lodge Thursday, Oct. 19, at the annual fundraiser for Sparrow's Vine Parenting and Pregnancy Resource Center. Tables were elegantly set for the "Be Our Guest" banquet, each table identified by a Disney movie name including the Cinderella Table, The Lion King Table and the Mulan Table. Several items in the live and silent auctions carried Disney movie themes. Even attendees, encouraged to dress as princes or princesses, got in the s...
SWAN VALLEY – Fifth through eighth-grade students from Swan Valley School, Salmon Prairie School, and area home schools came together at the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) Museum Monday, Oct. 9 to help create footage for the Next Exit History app. The free app, begun as a graduate student project at the University of West Florida, Pensacola, now lists more than 60,000 sites worldwide. The goal of the app is to acquaint people with historical sites. Footage such as that supplied b...
SWAN VALLEY – In the late 1950s, Swan Valley resident Steve Ellis developed an interest in missiles, especially in the Minuteman Missile program. That interest led him to a 24-year career in the United States Air Force (USAF). Throughout that time, Ellis worked at several bases. He filled a number of different roles but rockets and missiles were always at the center. Ellis entered the Air Force by way of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He said the USAF was just beginning its o...
SEELEY LAKE – Though Seeley Lake Elementary School (SLE) got off to a slow start, having canceled the first four days of school due to fire danger, students and teachers are back and plunging into the 2017-2018 season. Superintendent Chris Stout said changes in personnel and activities are minimal this year. The only new teacher is music instructor Kristen Cottom. Cottom will be dividing her time among SLE, Swan Valley School and Seeley-Swan High School. New staff member Heather Mincey replaced...
MISSOULA – Twenty-five years ago the movie "A River Runs Through It" was released. The film was based on Norman Maclean's novella of the same name and the river was the Blackfoot. Taking its cue from descriptions in the novella, the movie displayed spectacular scenes of the pristine waters of the Blackfoot River, fly fishing on the Blackfoot River, running the rapids on the Blackfoot River. The irony is that none of those scenes were filmed on the Blackfoot River. Patrick Markey the film's p...
SEELEY LAKE – After two years of planning and organizing, the In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival finally came to fruition Sept. 8-10. Sponsored by Alpine Artisans, Inc. (AAI) and spearheaded by AAI Program Director Jenny Rohrer, the event encompassed literature, fly fishing, pollution, wine tasting, fire, geology, breakfast, the United States Forest Service, a gala dinner, stories and memories. The theme running through it all was the Blackfoot River. In 2015, the Maclean Festival highl...
SEELEY LAKE – When a book begins "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing," it is a safe bet the book is going to contain a lot about fly fishing. When that book is converted into a movie, it becomes necessary to show someone casting and catching fish. In addition, the fly fishing needs to look completely authentic. John Bailey is the one who brought that degree of perfection to the film "A River Runs Through It." Baily owns the Dan Baily Fly Fishing shop in L...
SEELEY LAKE – Chuckles rippled through the audience gathered on lawn chairs and blankets at the Double Arrow Lodge grounds when the three witches from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" spoke of scattering into "the fog and filthy air." Yet not even the "filthy air" emanating from the Rice Ridge Fire kept an estimated crowd of nearly 150 from venturing out to see Montana Shakespeare in the Parks' (MSIP) production of "Macbeth" Thursday, Aug. 24 on the Double Arrow Lodge grounds. That the play would not b...
SEELEY LAKE – When asked why he joined the military, Seeley Lake resident Scott Edwards answered, "I received a letter informing me 'You have been chosen by your friends and neighbors'." Sixty-five years later he still chuckles at the wording of his draft notice. Edwards said he had good timing throughout his four-year military career. Starting as a young man digging ditches for the San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Edwards worked his way up to an electrician apprentice, which allowed him t...
SWAN VALLEY – The more than 100 people who enjoyed the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society's (USVHS) Homestead Tour Saturday, Aug. 5 had a variety of reasons for participating. Some people wanted to know more about the valley's pioneer days because they live in the Condon or surrounding area. Some came because they grew up or once lived in the valley. At least one person came because he was interested in the building techniques used by the pioneers. No matter what the reason, people couldn't h...
OVANDO - While Ovando's fire trucks showed off on the parade route, their fire hall was converted into the site of the first annual Ovando Pinewood Derby. Employing the services of Keith Kallstrom of Great Falls, owner of Keith's Racing, the six-track race course sported an electronically timed finish line and big screen viewing. One look at the assembled cars made it evident that while some contestants fashioned their cars for speed, others were in it for fun. Among the trim aerodynamic models...
OVANDO - The community of Ovando started off their Fourth of July celebrations with a parade from Trixi's to downtown Ovando. The theme "Everyone participates, no one watches."...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Montana has become the home of a number of retired military personal. Among them is Larry Butterworth, retired colonel in the United States Army. Though Butterworth came from a patriotic family – six uncles served in either the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy – growing up he had no military aspirations for himself. What he did have by his senior year in high school was a four-year scholarship to Virginia Tech and a probable engineering career in his future. A casual trip to hi...
SEELEY LAKE - On May 4, guitar and banjo players, vocalists, pianists and an accordion player joined the Seeley-Swan Mountain Bells in presenting an evening of Music Galore. This is the fifth year the Mountain Bells have hosted the free event that invites local musicians to show off their skills and entertain the community. The 10 members of Seeley-Swan Mountain Bells introduced the wide-ranging scope of the program by playing three distinctively different songs. The first, "Apassionata," an...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Juan de Santa Anna is known in the valley for his photography – portraits, weddings, group events, landscapes. He said he is passionate about photography but he is just as passionate about fly fishing. His wife Randi de Santa Anna includes among her passions hiking, wildflowers and just being out in nature. Together they have found a way to infuse their passions into their employment. The result is Four Season Forays. Four Season Forays offers day and hal...
SEELEY LAKE – Lions Club member and official treasure hider Ellen McWilliams watched the trees dancing in the wind amid snow flurries at the Lions Club Park the day before Easter and said, "I think this is the coldest it's ever been for the Annual Easter Treasure Hunt." An eager group of 10-12-year-old prospective treasure hunters weren't the least bit deterred. They fidgeted impatiently as Seeley Lake Lion Cheryl Lewis explained the rules and read the list of items to be found. Participants c...
SEELEY LAKE – More than 50 garden enthusiasts gathered in the Seeley Lake Community Hall April 1 to hear Robin Kelson of The Good Seed Company of Whitefish, Mont. speak about selecting, saving and sharing seeds. The presentation was jointly sponsored by Clearwater Resource Council and the Blackfoot Valley and Seeley Swan gardening groups. Kelson organized her seed selecting presentation around three main questions: 1) Are these seeds true-to-type? 2) Will the plant resulting from this seed self-...
SEELEY LAKE – The miniature cabin on Highway 83 at Bison and Bear Center will once again be offering coffee and light breakfast foods to early morning risers and others working, shopping, recreating or just passing through Seeley Lake. The former Moose B’ Mornin Espresso will open April 1 under the name Crescent Mountain Coffee and with new proprietor Gus Batchelder. A 2016 graduate of Seeley-Swan High School, Batchelder attended Montana State University (MSU) last fall. After one semester he...
