Seeley Lake Grand Marshals represent a lifetime of commitment

SEELEY LAKE - Forty years ago Seeley Lake residents Glen and Mary Ann Morin moved to Seeley Lake. They started a business and served on various elected and non-profit boards focusing on building relationships and serving the community. To recognize this commitment and dedication, the Morins were chosen as this year's Grand Marshals for the Seeley Lake Fourth of July Parade.

"Glen and Mary Ann have given so much of their time, energy and resources to this community over the past 40 years asking nothing in return. It is time they were recognized for helping make this community what it is today," the Seeley Lake Fourth of July committee said, adding that Glen is also an Army veteran. "They have supported the youth and adults alike working on building bridges through conversation and common purpose, maintaining relationships and working towards the betterment of the community we all call home. They are a couple we can all look up to and learn from."

The Morins both originally grew up on Montana ranches. Glen was raised in Arlee and Mary Ann lived in Eureka. They were married in 1972.

While living in Missoula, Glen said that one day while he was on his porch he heard God tell him that they were going to be moving to Seeley Lake in a year.

"I went, 'Yeah, right,'" he said. "We had just added onto our house and I just built my garage ... and had a nice job ... and none of that made sense. And we just weren't too crazy about moving."

Around the same time, Seeley Lake business owner Martin Cahoon consistently called Glen to get advice on how to fix cars. Martin owned the storefront where Rovero's currently sits and had an automotive shop in the back. In February 1981 Glen began helping him with the shop before permanently moving to Seeley Lake later that summer on the Fourth of July weekend.

Glen opened his own shop Glen's Automotive in 1985.

While he ran the shop, Glen served on multiple boards and organizations throughout the area.

He served on the Water Board for around 15 years. He remembers his time collaborating with other board members fondly.

"It was really a joy to work on," he said. "We had a manager and a secretary that really did their jobs and made it really easy for the board to be able to make decisions. I just really enjoyed that connection with them."

He was also on the Sewer Board for around 15 years from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s. At the time he was the only business owner on the Board. 

"It was such a polarizing topic that other business owners said, 'Glen, don't do it. You'll destroy your business,'" Mary Ann said. "But instead people who even disagreed with the stand of the Sewer Board were fine with it because Glen's a good listener."

Community members would give him input about the sewer at community gatherings and sporting events. He said this was because the community was not as big then so it was not out of the ordinary to speak casually about contentious issues outside of meetings. He estimated he spent four hours a day talking to people about the sewer.

"You've known these people, they're your friends, they're your neighbors," Mary Ann said. "You just talk on a one-to-one basis. And so that was really how we got a lot of things done."

Glen said when he finally decided to retire from the Sewer Board, he directed more of his attention towards his auto shop. They tripled the shop's building size in 2000 and doubled their days of operation to five.

Sometime around the late 1980s or early 1990s Glen served as Lions Club President for one year. According to him, while there, the group was able to raise "quite a bit of money" for eyeglasses for local students. They also began a sandbag program while continuing their regular holiday food basket programs.

Before she began her 20-year career at Pyramid Mountain Lumber Inc. in 2001, Mary Ann worked as a teacher's aide at Sunset School in Greenough as well as a substitute for Seeley Lake Elementary. She also worked at Glen's shop.

In the mid-1990s Mary Ann served on the SLE School Board for five years. Around the same time she also served on the Seeley-Swan High School Booster Club and PTA. Her time on the PTA was one of the first times they brought Missoula Children's Theatre to Seeley Lake.

In 1996 she served on the Medical Center Board where they operated out of the former Seeley Ovando Swan building (SOS). After a few meetings in, the Board was informed by the Missoula County Commissioners that they were $65,000 in debt and had a month to balance it out or else the building would be closed.

Fortunately, she said she was on the board with "a good group of people" so they were able to do some public relations work and eventually secure a rural development loan so they could purchase and build the existing Medical Center and add dental services. She served on the board until 2017.

In 1999 she co-founded the Food Bank with Cathy Rapp where she is still an active board member. She was inspired to help start it after reading in a newspaper that Lincoln had their own. Because it was around Y2K she saw several people hoarding food.

"That made me mad because I knew there were kids that were going hungry," she said. "It was before school breakfasts. ... A lot of kids were going to school hungry. And it's just how can people hoard when other people are in need? It just didn't make sense to me."

Other organizations Mary Ann has been involved with include the Seeley Lake Cemetery Board, the Community Foundation Board and the Seeley Lake Community Council.

She participated in the Mission Mountain Messengers which is a now defunct interdenominational traveling Christian teen singing group. Glen served as a board member. Mary Ann now serves as a treasurer for Faith Chapel.

In the summer the community used to host co-ed baseball teams. Mary Ann coached a T-ball team for several years and acted as a cheerleading coach for SLE. She also organized floats with the children for the Fourth of July parade and Glen was the Fourth of July parade coordinator for five or six years.

Mary Ann said over the years they have seen the town's demographics shift from being primarily worker based to becoming more of a retirement community.

"You'll discover in a small town that a lot of things start and end with a certain group of people because it's not carried on," she said. "It's kind of sad because a lot of the people that we worked with are now gone. It's kind of like we're in between generations here. Every community needs to [redefine itself] every couple of decades."

Still they have enjoyed their participation in the community's various organizations and committees and are proud of what the town has become.

"We've had a good run," Mary Ann said. "It's time to pass the baton and step back. I think the biggest thing is that we've been able to work through the years with really great people that have the same vision and get 'er done kind of attitude."

She continued with the importance of being active in the community and how it affects a town's dynamic.

"A community is more than organizations, it's relationships," she said. "And the reason you get involved in organizations is to develop relationships. And so, therefore, a community then is defined as people who are there for each other. It's not a power struggle. It's not a look who's who. But it's just we're all here for each other, trying to make life just a little bit better."

For the parade the couple plans to drive a 1980 Shay, a replica of a 1930s Ford Model A, unless it rains in which case they will drive a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro.

The couple has four children Brian, Shari, Chris and Pat as well as 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild.