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SEELEY LAKE – "Do you hear the helicopter?" Seeley Lake Elementary Superintendent Josh Gibbs told the students. "Santa is coming this way." The students at Seeley Lake Elementary school watched and cheered as a Minuteman Jet Ranger helicopter landed carrying Santa and gifts in the south football field at SLE the afternoon of Dec. 21. The classes took turns visiting with Santa, receiving a candy cane and picking out a small toy or stuffed animal. Seeley Lake was among 24 stops in Montana and I...
Seeley Lake ROCKS seeks volunteers for ice rink SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake ROCKS is looking forward to installing the Community Ice Rink at Seeley Lake Elementary this week in the SLE ball field. They are seeking volunteers to help to install it and maintain the ice throughout the winter. This includes clearing the snow from the rink and helping keep the skate shed organized. If interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities contact ROCKS President Garry Swain garryswain@gmail.com. Red Sleighs of Montana to arrive Dec. 20 Santa is s...
Red Sleighs Over Montana is returning to the area for a second year the week of Dec. 20. The exact date has not been set. The Museum of Mountain Flying initiated the inaugural Red Sleighs Over Montana last Christmas in response to the wide-ranging issues facing rural Montana communities. Santa flew into 20 rural communities in Western Montana. The goal is to make this year's endeavor more expansive than ever, adding several more Montana communities and Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Last...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley-Swan High School Entrepreneur Class has launched the Blackhawk BIZ that will feature seven businesses in a Pop-up style Market Dec. 22 during the Blackhawks' home basketball game. This is an effort to provide hands-on, real-life business experience to students by giving them an introduction of what it takes to start a small business. When SSHS Business Teacher Michele Holmes started at SSHS in the fall of 2019, she wanted to diversify the offerings for students. M...
SEELEY LAKE – Two weeks after graduation from high school-that's when Rockey Kennedy said his real education began. Kennedy grew up in Lone Pine, California, a little town tucked away in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1958 he celebrated his 18th birthday in San Diego, in Navy boot camp. His dad, a World War II veteran who served under General Douglas MacArthur, had to sign a waiver so his son could join the U. S. Navy even though he hadn't quite turned 18. Kennedy said, "Being raised in a s...
An October day several years ago next to a lake where I was working for the government on a grizzly project… The first lavender light of day is a time when the softness of shapes can barely be seen through the mist rising from the lake… The early morning fog slowly begins to clear, revealing pastel-hued forms that seem to float on the autumn air… I’m sitting on a dock at the edge of the lake. The day promises to be clear, sunny and calm. There is no breeze so the lake’s surface is a mauve mirror. Scattered throughout the fir and pine forest ar...
SEELEY LAKE - Thomas Boelman will bring his years of carpentry experience to Seeley-Swan High School's art and industrial arts classes this year. Boelman graduated from ITT Technical Institute in Indiana with an architectural engineering degree in 1979. He then graduated in 1984 with a B.A. in liberal arts with an emphasis on theater from Hope College in Michigan. He got his master's degree in scenic and lighting design in 1997 from the University of Montana. He taught scenic and lighting...
Twenty years ago on Sept. 11, 2001 Americans watched on television or were witness to the horror as aircraft hit the World Trade Center Twin Towers and crashed into the Pentagon. The images that were replayed over and over on the television and that others witnessed first-hand are seared in the minds of those of us old enough to remember. When the dust cleared, the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks not only united Americans but also changed our country forever. Nineteen men hijacked four US commercial...
SEELEY LAKE – "Home Waters, a Chronicle of Family and a River," written by John Maclean, will surely have a deep and personal impact with readers of this newspaper, the Pathfinder. Nationwide reviews fit well the summaries of what this reviewer had intended to say. But soon after its release, the accolades from the national reviews, e.g. The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Barnes and Noble, Publishers Weekly and the Washington Post, rushed to give the chronicle an exemplary thumbs up! T...
SEELEY LAKE – Ron Talcott joined the military with a clear understanding of what that decision entailed. He had the experience of his grandfather, who served in the United States Army, and his father, who served during World War II, to draw on. When he applied to and received an appointment to the Air Force Academy, his goals were to receive a good education and retire with skills that would translate into a civilian career. Understanding that military life would require his family to move many...
SEELEY LAKE - As bear and human interactions become more frequent in the warmer months, the annual cycle of bears becoming acclimated to human attractants will come into full effect. Continued conflicts with humans can eventually result in the removal of a bear. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Bear Specialist Jamie Jonkel said he has begun seeing a lot of trash inadequately disposed of in the area which will continue to perpetuate the situation. "When I was driving around town, I mean...
For over 15 years, we’ve shared this goal: Congress passing the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (BCSA). Thanks to the continued support of Senator Tester, we are back on track to reach this goal, with hopes that this is the year when all of our tireless work in Seeley Lake, Ovando, and beyond will pay off. Support from our entire delegation would make our goal easier to attain and it’s our fervent hope that Senator Daines and Representative Rosendale can join Senator Tester and work together to pass this legislation for the benefit of all...
Here I am, with my second vaccine under a Band-aid on my arm, looking at the world with renewed hope. As I plan summer hikes, cold beer at hand, I trace routes near my home. I follow topographic lines near Morrell Mountain, Dunham Point, and Spread Mountain and look for areas of easy walking, routes that connect the landscape. This area, between Seeley Lake and Ovando, is my home. It is rich in wildlife. It is the birthplace of rivers. It is a working landscape too. These maps capture the heart of the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act...
SEELEY LAKE - Richard “Dick” Allen Koepplin, 73, passed away from natural causes on March 30, 2021 at his home at Seeley Lake. Dick was born in Missoula on July 23, 1947 to Wilhelm and June Koepplin. From an early age he loved working in the fields with his dad. His mom loved to tell how Dick ran away from home thirteen times in one morning to be in the field with his dad. Fresh out of high school Dick married Pam MacArthur and also began his long career as a mill worker. Dick loved the Mon... Full story
SEELEY LAKE - As part of the last item on her bucket list, resident Dottie Wood, 91, had the opportunity of a lifetime to ride in a hot air balloon free of charge. "It was an experience [...] that I thought I would never get to do," Wood said. Wood said riding in a hot air balloon was on her bucket list because she liked the idea of exploring the world in a similar fashion to the movie "Around the World in 80 Days." "I thought that would really be something, to go around the world and not have t...
Some of you were lucky enough to have been born here, in the gorgeous Crown of the Continent and the bridge between two of the most awe-inspiring parks in the entire country. Some of you discovered this area and made an active life choice to join the community, perhaps because of work or family, but it is likely that the possibility of extraordinary outdoor activities were also a lure. In 2020, the year we'll always remember as the year of masks and life interrupted in previously unfathomable...
SEELEY LAKE – Two days before Christmas, Red Sleighs Over Montana took off from Missoula Airport on "Santa's Airmail Route." Santa visited 20 communities across western Montana delivering gifts to the children, visited with them about what they wanted for Christmas and talked about aviation. "We were just tying it all together with aviation, education and helping some kids and families out that need a little extra help. Especially with COVID the small businesses were devastated," said Museum o...
SEELEY LAKE – After being prompted into action by the repainting of the carved bears and Clearwater Mini Storage's new Welcome sign on the west side of Highway 83, local artist and graphic designer Kris Gullikson replaced the old "Welcome to Seeley Lake" sign. She has been part of the effort to install gateway signs on the north and south end of Seeley Lake for 35 years. "I wanted to be proud of coming home - and have others here feel the same," wrote Gullikson in an email. The idea to brand S...
CONDON – When Mike Williams was two years old, his family moved to Condon and his father went to work at the sawmill at Gordon Ranch. Mike attended grade school in Seeley Lake, high school in Missoula and two years of college at Bozeman. When he dropped out of Montana State University, things started moving fast. Williams said, "We had an early Thanksgiving dinner and somebody went out to get the mail. While I was eating Thanksgiving dinner, I opened my draft notice!" It was 1967, a time of m...
GREENOUGH - "I didn't know snowmobiles could fly," said four-year-old Olivia Bourne in awe as she watched professional riders Seeley Lake native Caleb Kesterke and Kyle Saxton of Big Fork, Montana doing freestyle snowmobile tricks more than 30 feet in the air. While "flying" is a huge rush, both Kesterke and Saxton agree that training at Kesterke's freestyle campus at Clearwater Junction in the off-season is helping them learn tricks that they can incorporate into their backcountry riding this... Full story
CONDON - Son of Arthur J. and Alice M. Scherer. Internist/Rheumatologist. Loved his patients and they him. USAF Flight Surgeon 1966-69. Devout catholic, served on school boards and parish councils. Chief of staff Missoula Community Hospital, President of N.W. Rheumatism Society and 10-year Medical Director Swan Valley Emergency Services in Condon. Liked to sing (Missoula Doctor's Jazz Band, OLF church choir, Seattle). Loved Lindbergh Lake cabin, hiking, high mountain lakes, fly fishing and... Full story
4 REAL ESTATE SALES IN THE VALLEY WILL BREAK RECORDS As we all started to hear a little bit, then a lot about COVID-19 in March and April. The US economy appeared to be in for a big fall. When local state and county - imposed lockdowns began to occur, real estate sales appeared to be doomed as well. The lockdowns actually resulted in an unexpected result in local real estate. People all over the nation were either actually working from home or locked down with no ability to work. After talking with many of those that were working from home,...
SEELEY LAKE – A family from Missoula coming to enjoy a day on Seeley Lake might load up the car with a cooler, beach chairs, sand toys, blow-up floats, fishing gear, snorkels ... At which point dad will probably say, "My gosh, we're taking everything but the kitchen sink!" It's unknown just how that phrase, and its variant "...kitchen stove," "kitchen range" came about, but it has been in use since the early 1900s. A May 6, 1906 article in "Scribner's Magazine" carried the sentence, "She had o...
SEELEY LAKE – The Filling Station sign on Highway 83 "The days of zombie apocalypse" has been a source of entertainment for nearly 200 days of the coronavirus pandemic. While they updated the sign daily before they reopened May 26, the owners and staff are struggling to maintain their sense of humor. "Even the nicest people have their limits," read the sign on day 176. With all the state and county COVID-19 requirements, The Filling Station is doing their best to follow the rules and serve t...
Death Notice SEELEY LAKE - LaMyra “Kay” Price, 82, passed away in the morning, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, at her home in Seeley Lake. Brothers Mortuary and Crematory are honored to care for the family. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at www.brothersmortuary.com. Community Firewood Day, Oct. 9 SWAN VALLEY - Join Swan Valley Connections for their Community Firewood Day Oct. 9 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Volunteers will be splitting, delivering and stacking firewood for a full list of people in need in the community. If you’d like to...
