By Rod Daniel
It’s been more than five months since Helen Ann Bibler left her beloved Bitterroot Valley for the last time, catching a charter flight to Seattle following a fire in her Hamilton home. But memories of the eccentric fourth generation Bitterrooter are alive and well in the hearts and minds of her many friends.
On Friday, June 9th – the day before Bitterroot Day – friends of Helen Ann will gather in Hamilton’s Legion Park from 4 to 7 p.m. to celebrate her life and legacy.
Born November 1, 1944, in Hamilton to Ronald and Pauline Bibler, Helen Ann was welcomed into the world by her grandfather, venerated Hamilton surgeon Dr. Herbert Hayward.
Helen Ann’s dad managed the Waleswood Sawmill, and she was raised near the mill on the south end of Darby at a time when the timber town boomed. The Bibler family also rented a house in town across the street from the school. An assertive child who was not shy about making her wishes known, Helen Ann liked to boss around her older brothers, Doug and Jet, and their friends.
The Bibler brothers played football and most of their teammates knew their sharp-tongued little sister. As the season progressed, the team came up with a unique cheer before each game. “Give ‘em hell, like Helen Ann in a high chair!” they would exclaim before running onto the field.
As Helen Ann grew up, her assertive nature took on a regal tone, according to a childhood friend. Kirby Erickson lived on Third Street in Hamilton, across from what was then the Bibler Apartments. “Helen would come to visit and she would be the queen,” Erickson recalled. “She was always the queen, and I was always the serf.”
Helen Ann attended grade school in Darby and went to Loyola Sacred Heart Academy in Missoula before graduating high school at Holy Names Academy in Spokane. She excelled both academically and socially, and was a Miss Montana Contestant in 1962.
A music lover, Helen Ann teamed with local jazz legend Jean Wroble in 1964 to perform on Montana’s Centennial Train, which, with much hoopla, went from Billings to New York City and back again, promoting the Treasure State’s 100th anniversary. Wroble played piano and Helen Ann sang. Later, as Ravalli County Museum director, she often brought musicians to the museum as part of her long-running Sunday Series.
Helen Ann attended the University of Montana in Missoula, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. It was there she met her future husband, Jim Parker, on a double date, although when reminded of the event, both were hazy on the details. Before graduating, she traveled in Europe and worked as a stewardess for TWA.
After college, Helen Ann began her teaching career in Geraldine, and later moved to the Flathead Valley where she taught junior and senior high school students and adults for 17 years. During that time, she served as curator of the Flathead Lake Lookout Museum.
While in the Flathead, Helen Ann cultivated her lifelong love of Native American history and culture, and in 1974 was adopted into the Blackfeet Tribe by Cecil Horn and given the name “She Strikes First.”
In 1976, Helen Ann went to Guatemala to help out after the devastating earthquake. The visit had a profound impact on her and influenced her wardrobe for the rest of her life. In 1981, Helen Ann and Jim went back to Guatemala and, with money they raised by borrowing against the Bibler Apartments, started a cooperative business – Helen’s Special Presents – selling Mayan artwork and clothing throughout the Northwest. The venture benefited the Guatemalan artisans and exposed Americans to Mayan culture.
In fall 1983, Helen Ann returned to the Bitterroot Valley and involved herself in numerous community services including Bitterroot Valley Public Television, the League of Women Voters and the Ravalli County Local Government Study Commission. She spearheaded the successful effort to preserve the Daly Mansion, and in 1990 became Executive Director of the Ravalli County Museum.
As museum director, she organized the long-running Sunday Series that brought history, music and culture to the Bitterroot. Before her retirement in 2007, she had organized more than 900 Sunday presentations, truly an amazing feat, according to longtime museum board member Laurie Burnham.
“I always admired how Helen continued to come up with new ones, week after week, year after year,” Burnham said. “She had a unique relationship with so many different people.”
Helen Ann enjoyed big community events that brought diverse people together and benefited, not only the museum, but the people who participated in the events. Apple Day, Bitterroot Day and the Treasure State Art Show are all examples of how she put the “fun” in fundraising!
She also used the museum as a forum for addressing big issues she thought were important. During the start of the first Gulf War, Helen Ann decided to have a Veteran’s Day observance inside the museum. She especially wanted the kids to get involved and to know the importance of military service. The Veteran’s Day event continues today and has spread throughout the valley into many of the schools.
Enigmatic and eccentric, Helen Ann was an unabashed liberal who was comfortable in her own skin and true to her south valley roots. She had special relationships and drew inspiration from two aunts: famed journalist and staunch Republican Bessie Kerlee Monroe, her great aunt; and Carolyn Wolfinbarger, her dad’s sister, who lived in the Selway for 30 years. She relished time spent up the West Fork in the cabin her dad built. She was a crack shot, and for more than 30 years, filled her freezer with deer and elk.
She was a world traveler and had refined taste in art, culture and cuisine. She also cussed like a sailor and had a fondness for filterless cigarettes.
One of her many lasting legacies was starting the Hamilton Farmers Market, which for a quarter century, has brought people together on Saturdays in front of the museum. For years, Helen Ann watched over the market from her apartment balcony – like a benevolent queen looking down on her grateful subjects.
Helen Ann Bibler still looks down on the market, only now it’s from a much higher perch.