20/35 Year Look Back

In celebration of 35 years of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder, each week we will run parts of articles that appeared in the issue 35 years ago and 20 years ago. The entire issue will be uploaded to our website seeleylake.com for you to enjoy. We hope you will enjoy the journey with us as we follow our community through the past 35 years as documented by the Pathfinder.

35 years ago: June 12, 1986 issue

C.B. Rich - An Introduction

(Editor's note: Diane Herron, graduating senior, delivered the following speech at the Seeley-Swan High School graduation ceremony Sunday June 8 in Seeley Lake. C.B. Rich is Diane's grandfather. Diane is the daughter of Wayne and Mary Anna Herron, Seeley Lake)

"I would like to introduce a very special person to me and to the graduating class of 1986. One who has helped make our community grow."

He was born March 6, 1919 in Dean, Montana on his parents' ranch. This man's heart and beginnings are set deep in Montana. His grandparents were early Montana pioneers. His grandmother was with the first wagon train over the Bozeman Trail after Bozeman was killed.

He lived in Dean, Montana and attended a one room school until the 6th grade. He then moved to Columbus, Montana and graduated from Columbus High School in 1936. Following high school he enrolled at Montana State College in Bozeman, Montana and majored in Electrical Engineering. He developed a love of horses and the outdoors at an early age. During his high school years he packed for the Forest Service and later for the Bureau of Mines.

In 1942 he married a very dear person and then enlisted in the United States Air Force. He graduated from navigational school and was sent to the European Theater of War. While flying a lead mission in a B-24 Bomber, he and his crew were shot down over France. Five were killed, five captured, but this man evaded capture. After 70 days behind enemy lines posing as a deaf mute, he made his way back to the allied lines. He was discharged in 1945 and returned to the family ranch to operate it and to pursue his love of outfitting...

To read more visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/1986-06-12.pdf

35 years ago: June 12, 1986 issue

Al Chaffin - Active Senior

Allen Chaffin. The name and the face beneath the dark brown cowboy hat are familiar to nearly everyone in the Seeley Lake area.

Allen and his wife, Mildred, have called this valley "home" for more than thirty years. He moved here April 26, 1952.

"It started raining the next day and rained until the fifth of July. That was the year they didn't go back to work in the woods until the middle of July," Mildred remembered.

Allen survived the Depression and later worked as a packer in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, or "South Fork" country, as it was called then. He worked with Indian guides whose families first saw the coming of white men into the valley.

The Chaffins raised their family in this country, and both are conservative minded because of the hard lessons they learned during the Depression years.

But they enjoyed those years, just as they continue to enjoy the community they have helped to shape over the past several decades.

Allen Chaffin was recognized last August as the Senior Citizen of the Year at the Governor's Conference on Aging held in Great Falls. He received an Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to the Elderly for the District 11 area, which includes Missoula, Kalispell and Hamilton.

Chaffin has been the Seeley Lake representative for the District 11 Advisory Council on Aging for several years. Chaffin is also responsible for distributing commodities such as cheese, butter, flour, rice and honey to low income families in the Seeley Swan area. The commodities program is administered by Missoula County...

To read more visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/1986-06-12.pdf

20 years ago: June 14, 2001 issue

Volunteers, FWP Commission, and Bear Avoidance Tactics

I was basking in the afterglow of the final approval from our Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Commission for Phase II of the 50th Anniversary Project, and looking forward to the fourth annual fundraising banquet of the Blackfoot-Clearwater Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF), when I should have been paying attention to the sow with cubs that loomed just ahead of me on the trail.

Sometimes, you have to be lucky.

As I mentioned last week, the Commission meeting was held on June 6 in Helena. Our local Commissioner, Rich Lane of Missoula, is the newly appointed Chairman of the five member Commission, which serves at the pleasure of the governor.

Rich came to the Commission with a history of interest in the 50th Anniversary Project...

To read more visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2001-06-14.pdf

20 years ago: June 14, 2001 issue

Kids turn out for YMCA Bike Rodeo

On Saturday, June 2, the YMCA Seeley Swan Outreach program held its annual Bike Rodeo. Several kids turned out to learn about bicycle safety and test their skills on the obstacle course. Officer Pat Turner of the Missoula County Sheriff's Department was on hand to talk about the importance of wearing bicycle helmets and the basic safety rules. Officer Pat also checked helmets for size and fit, and those who needed new helmets were given ones donated by St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Trauma Services...

To read more visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2001-06-14.pdf