Sorted by date Results 276 - 300 of 305
Part I established the rusty Model A Ford in Dick Wolff's backyard is what remains of the 1930s mail delivery vehicle called the Seeley Lake Stage. That vehicle was outfitted by Orlie Coates with a snow mobile kit to make winter service possible in the Seeley Swan Valleys. After its stage career ended the Model A was taken apart, reportedly to make it into a tractor. Though that transformation never occurred, parts and pieces of the Model A were subsequently scattered from Swan Valley to...
SEELEY LAKE and SWAN VALLEY – For the past 20 years, owner of Diane's Buses Diane Bourne has transported students five days a week to and from the Seeley Lake Elementary school (SLE). For the last 17 years Owen Conley, owner of Conley Transportation, has transported students to and from Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) and Swan Valley Elementary (SVE). Both bus owners said, much like the roads they travel, driving a bus has its ups and downs. Bourne and Conley each got into the bus service busines...
SEELEY LAKE – Condon resident Dick Wolff has the rusty body of a 1928 Model A Ford in his back yard. Wolff and his brothers have been chasing parts and pieces of it from Swan Valley to Helena. They've also been trying to piece together the Ford's history, though it is difficult to separate the Model A's story from the sketchy history of the Seeley Lake and Swan Valley postal service. One thing the brothers know for sure, their Model A is one of the "Stages" used to haul mail, supplies and p...
SEELEY LAKE – Green was everywhere as the Seeley Lake Senior Center celebrated St. Patrick's Day March 19. Even the traditional corned beef and cabbage and Irish stew were complemented with green lemonade. After the food settled, cake walkers hoped for the luck of the Irish as they strutted around the numbered circle to Irish tunes or placed their bids on silent auction items....
SEELEY LAKE – Each year the Montana Pilots' Association (MPA) recognizes a member who has exhibited outstanding support to the MPA and made a significant contribution to aviation in Montana. That recognition and appreciation culminates in the Pilot of the Year Award. The 2015 award was presented to Seeley Lake resident Scott Newpower. Newpower served as MPA's Eastern Director for three years and then president of the organization for another three years, from 2013-2016. He took on those r...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake's Sam Bolton has created the perfect niche product. A niche product is defined as one made and marketed for use in a small and specialized but profitable market. Bolton's niche is knitting needles made from exotic woods. It started because Bolton's wife Terry, owner of Seeley Lake's former Books Yarn and More store and an avid knitter, kept telling him he ought to make wooden knitting needles. It took a couple of years but Bolton eventually decided to give it a try. H...
SEELEY LAKE – After 32 years working for a newspaper agency in Salt Lake City, Utah, Basche (Bay-sha) Wahlberg realized the trend toward digital newspapers would eventually eliminate her job. Deciding it was time for a new adventure, she considered things she would like to do. High on the list was decorating fingernails and toenails, something she had enjoyed since she was a teenager. Accordingly, she trained to become a nail technician and moved to Seeley Lake. On March 9 and 10 she begins o...
SEELEY LAKE – Maryland and Montana may be a couple thousand miles apart, but on March 22 they will come together at Seeley-Swan High School. Alpine Artisans' 2 Valleys Stage is sponsoring a free concert jointly performed by orchestra students from Hellgate and Sentinel High Schools of Missoula, Mont. and the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts (BISFA) from Hagerstown, Md. The thread tying these schools together is William Hollin. From 2004 to 2009 Hollin directed the school orchestras for M...
SEELEY LAKE - More than one politician has created problems for himself by speaking “off the cuff.” In the case of a politician the phrase means talking without having a written speech to refer to, or not having sufficiently thought things through before speaking. But what does that have to do with cuffs? Although a number of theories have cropped up about how, when and why the phrase came into existence, what is certain is that the cuff in question is a man’s paper shirt cuff. From the late 19th century to the early 20th, collars and cuffs...
SEELEY LAKE – In September 1991, the Seeley Swan Pathfinder ran an article about a newly organized group in Seeley Lake that named itself Alpine Artisans. In January 2016, 25th Anniversary decorations festooned the hall at the Alpine Artisans, Inc. (AAI) Annual Meeting. Out-going President Kris Gullikson announced the theme for the year was "Remember When," a time to look back over 25 years. Before introducing their organization in the Pathfinder, AAI founding members Jeanne Moon, Cindy T...
SEELEY LAKE –Although food drives in Missoula get media coverage and bring in large quantities of food to the Missoula Food Bank (MFB), Seeley-Swan Community Food Bank (SSCFB) President Karen Montgomery said the food bank in Seeley Lake receives none of that bounty. The reality is SSCFB has some empty shelves that should be stocked with cans of food. While both SSCFB and MFB are part of the Montana Food Bank Network, the two groups operate independently. Each receives the entire benefits from i...
SEELEY LAKE - In many ways, the Jan. 23 SLE Ice Run was the junior version of Seeley Lake's Snow Joke half-marathon run. For one thing the Ice Run was about half the distance of the half marathon. Another difference was that the Ice Run was organized and run by a junior crew – fifth through eighth-graders from Seeley Lake Elementary School (SLE). The project was guided by SLE fifth-grade teacher Andrew Wyatt. Wyatt said when he raced in the 2015 Snow Joke he noticed some elementary students raci...
Younger siblings are notorious for blurting out the punch line just as big brother or sister has built up to the climax of the story. In such an instance, the older child might scream, “Stop stealing my thunder.” Those who heard the phrase might assume it referred to some Greek or Norse myth similar to the tale of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods. But actually the phrase origin has nothing to do with gods. The idiom refers to play productions. In modern plays or films, sound effects – dogs barking, stairs creaking, horns honking, thunder...
SEELEY LAKE – Faster speed and greater accuracy are the goals Lynn Carey has set for the 34th Over Seeley's Creeks and Ridges (OSCR) cross-country ski race at the Seeley Creek Trail System Jan. 30. Carey is not referring to bettering his personal ski score. Instead, as Vice President of the Seeley Lake Nordic Ski Club (SLNSC) and Race Director for the OSCR [pronounced Oscar], Carey is inaugurating a new streamlined method for providing faster and more accurate OSCR score results for all s...
Goal: Juan de Santa Anna defines photography as the magic of recording a moment that will never be again. He said, "It's a nostalgic art really. Everything becomes a moment that has passed." He sees his mission as "recording as much of now as I can" and sharing as many pictures as possible with people all over the world. History: De Santa Anna's formal training in photography began in 1999 when he took a course at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography (RMSP) in Missoula. After he graduated,...
SEELEY LAKE – Through the combined efforts of Seeley Lake Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports (SL ROCKS), Seeley Lake Nordic Ski Club (SLNSC) and the US Forest Service (USFS), the trails and accommodations at the Seeley Creek Nordic Trail System continue to show improvements each year. To update the public about changes to the yurt and the ski trails and to express appreciation for volunteer and community support, SL ROCKS invites the community to a Yurt Open House. The event will take p...
SEELEY LAKE – Decorated trees are an almost indispensable part of modern Christmas festivities. Where did the custom originate? Why do people perpetuate it? And to what extremes has it been carried? According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most expensively decorated Christmas tree was erected and displayed in the hotel atrium of the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi in 2010. Amid traditional lights and ornaments, the 43-foot artificial evergreen tree was adorned with necklaces, e...
SEELEY LAKE – Four downtown businesses in Seeley Lake set out food and beverages and invited the community to join in holiday cheer. Blue River Station, Citizens Alliance Bank, Kurt's Polaris and the shops in the Heritage Building all offered special merchandise discounts in conjunction with their open house events, but each business said the main focus was on fellowship rather than on sales. Owner of Blue River Station Nancy Butcher said it is difficult to keep the store profitable once the s...
SEELEY LAKE – The Bethlehem Walk, now in its third year, has become a Seeley Lake Christmas tradition. Faith Chapel's Pastor Gary Wayne credits his wife Heather Ann Wayne for originating the idea. Her vision was for it to become a non-denominational community event. That vision is slowly coming to fruition. Pastor Wayne contacted the other churches in Seeley Lake and issued an invitation for them to participate. He told them, "I would love this to be a community message instead of one church p...
SEELEY LAKE – The Senior Center Christmas Bazaar is primarily a fundraiser for the Seeley Lake Senior Center. According to Deb Mus and Elaine Gbur, two friends who met to attend the event together, it is also a way for people to reconnect with friends they haven't seen in a while, get new Christmas ideas, browse all the crafts, buy more than intended and contribute to the community. Mus and Gbur are not the only ones who see the event as a combination of browsing, buying and connecting. For t...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) art teacher Danni Parcell found an innovative way to teach her students the difference between shape and form, between 2-D and 3-D art. The project required participation by the lower elementary school students. Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE) teacher Maggie Burwick told her first graders to, "Draw a monster – a scary monster, a happy monster – any kind of monster you want." Swan Valley Elementary (SVE) kindergarten, first and second grade stude...
A student who confidently filled in all the correct answers on a test might justifiably proclaim, “I passed with flying colors.” The phrase carries a bit of boasting but more a sense of pride. On the other hand, if that student had cheated on the test and the teacher suspected but could not prove it, the teacher might say, “his true colors will be revealed before long.” What do colors, flying or true, have to do with anything? The colors in these two idiomatic references refer to the colors of a flag or pendant. When Shakespeare has King He...
SEELEY LAKE – Former Seeley Lake resident Donna Love has written a number of picture books introducing young children to elk, herons, osprey, loons and national parks. Her most recent book, "Santa and the Missing Christmas Bells" ("Missing Bells"), is a chapter book targeting a third-grade reading level, though in interest level it will also appeal to younger and older children. Love will be at the Grizzly Claw Trading Co. Wednesday, Dec. 2 from 2-5 p.m. to talk to visitors about her book and t...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Carol Evans has contracted to take on the role of Program Manager of Alpine Artisans' (AAI) 2 Valley Stage (2VS). Evans began her involvement with 2VS in 2006, shortly after moving to Seeley Lake. She started by selling tickets at performances but soon was put in charge of coordinating all the front of house activities – tickets, refreshments, art display, CD sales – and finding volunteers to assist with all those undertakings. In 2013, Evans was asked to as...
SEELEY LAKE – At 87, Gerald Hoover has a lot of stories to tell. Though he was born in Minnesota, many of his favorite stories center around his life in the Seeley and Swan Valleys. Before coming to Montana, Hoover served in two military branches. A year after his discharge from the U.S. Navy he joined the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force sent him to Wyoming to become an electrician. Hoover said he appreciated the opportunity and worked hard to learn the trade. He was less enthusiastic about b...
