By Jean Schurman
A little less than 71 years ago, Ken Gardner walked into a diner in Sugar City, Idaho, for a hamburger. A young waitress took his order, and ultimately his heart. Lois Bird was the lunchtime waitress for her uncle at the Del Rio Inn. Everyday she walked down from the high school and worked the lunch counter and had a hamburger. (She earned the nickname ‘Wimpy’ because of her love of hamburgers.
Ken became a regular at the cafe and in Lois’ heart. The two were married at her mother and father’s home in St. Anthony, Idaho, on June 14, 1947. Lois said there wasn’t a lot of money or material for a ‘fancy’ wedding dress and veil. No stranger to a needle, Lois made her veil out of curtain material.
“It was just what you did,” she said about her sewing. In fact, Lois has been teaching sewing through the 4H program her in the valley for more than 50 years, most of it at the family’s dining room table.
Ken grew up in Utah in the New Dale and Williford areas where his family farmed. He enlisted in the Army during World War II. He was involved in the clean up of the Pearl Harbor area. Lois said that he even directed officers in the cleanup because of his own knowledge of heavy equipment and construction. After two years in Hawaii, he returned home and then went to work in the Sugar City area.
Ken worked on a piece of equipment called a ‘drag’ line which is an excavating machine where the bucket is attached by cables and draws the bucket filled with rocks and dirt towards the machine. This machine was used in building roads, ditches and drain ditches. Ken became so proficient at working this machine he would build wooden mats to lay out on swampy ground and then move the machine over them to reach the area that needed be drained. When they moved up here to the Bitterroot, he worked with Bill Grasser on the ski lifts at Lost Trail. He also worked on Chief Joseph Road going to Wisdom and the Nez Perce Road. He spent a lot of time cleaning out the various canals throughout the valley including the Big Ditch. He said his ‘eye’ for seeing the way water runs through a property has given him an advantage in draining fields and building roads.
Ken and Lois moved to the Bitterroot in 1952 and lived in a converted ‘street’ bus on his parent’s place about a half a mile from where they live now, east of Corvallis. They built a new house on Coal Pit Road in 1954 and still live in the same house. They knew a few people who had moved here from Idaho and felt this was the place to raise their family.
Ken, who will turn 100 years old on October 4, 2017, continued to work in the construction/excavating business until about 15 years ago. His son, Albert, and his grandson, Al, continue the business but Ken still keeps an eye on things. When he was 95 years old, he set the rafters on a garage Albert and Al were building at the family home.
Lois was busy with the children in the early years, cooking, canning and of course sewing for a family of four kids. During the summers, they would pack up and go wherever Ken was working. Most of the time in the summer they lived in camp trailers that Ken had remodeled or built. After the nest was empty, Lois drove school bus for Corvallis for about 15 years. She also drove truck for Ken and would set an apple crate in the front seat where she parked one of the kids or grandkids while she was driving. She has always been active in the Corvallis Ward of the LDS church, along with her family. For many years she was a superintendent at the Ravalli County Fair. She says she’s always helped her neighbors and friends, checking on the housebound and making sure they were eating and well.
After ‘retirement’ the couple were snow birds for a couple of years. They also did a lot of fishing and square dancing. They would even get in the car after work and drive to Rexberg, Idaho, to go to a square dance and then drive back home after it was over.
The couple has four children. Eileen and Kendal Jenkins live in Freedom, Wyoming. Albert and Donna Gardner are in Corvallis. Shirleen and Mark Hibbert live in Great Falls. Lorraine Best is in Lolo. There are 14 grandkids, 32 great grandkids, and one great, great grandchild. Ken also has a son, Jack, from a previous marriage. He lives in Las Vegas.
The couple will celebrate their anniversary on Saturday, June 17, with an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. This will be at their residence at 806 Coal Pit Road in Corvallis. They request no gifts.