Three years ago forester Craig Thomas of Stevensville was close to death as the result of an horrific accident that occurred when he was bucked from a horse at the outset of a hunting trip and little did he realize then that he’d end up writing a book about restoring his own health, his way-of-life and outlining an insightful commentary on his own profession in the wake of that incident.

He has, however, and the result is a 224-page book titled “Regurgitations of a Montana Woodsman” in which he writes on such topics as his accident and the efforts to rehabilitate his body and continue as an active outdoorsman and woodsman, about his close-knit family, some of his outdoor experiences, and a number of humorous episodes from his days of working as a forester. The book, published by Stoneydale Press of Stevensville, is a collection of reminiscenses, humor and hard-hitting commentary on the state of the wood products industry in Montana – all intended to demonstrate the triumph of the human spirit as well as the joy of living with the fact of having to cope with circumstances beyond one’s control.

Thomas’ book chronicles his personal journey since he came to Montana from the Midwest to attend the School of Forestry at the University of Montana in the late 1960's and subsequently launched into a life-long career as a “Montana woodsman.” Chapters in his book cover a variety of his experiences as a forester working not only for large timber corporations in western Montana but also for himself once he went into business on his own. Some of the more significant chapters deal with Thomas’ analysis and recommendations as to where the wood products industry should look to strengthen its future in the coming years. He has, as he outlines in the book, personally attended more than 543 public and professional meetings involving forestry and several of the more illuminating chapters in the book deal with changes the author has made in his own understanding of the issues, and potential solutions, over the years.

Like most people in his profession, Thomas has led a fast-paced life over the years and had difficulty, at first, coping with the aftermath of his accident – mainly the long, tedious hours of laying in a hospital bed, in traction, waiting over months of time for his body to heal. Then he recalled a piece of advice he’d heard many times: “Nobody gets in the situations you do, Thomas. You’ve got to write a book about this stuff.” He set out to write that book.

He found, however, that writing wasn’t that easy, though he had a reputation for being an oral storyteller. “So, I started and it took me six weeks to write the first four pages,” he said. “It was sobering to learn the difficulty involved with getting the proper words to the paper, and I must apologize to all the writers I had accused of living a soft life with a cushy writing job. My book is one of the most difficult projects I have ever undertaken.”

Thomas said several writer friends took him under their wing and helped, mainly by prodding him to keep at the project. “They were patient with my dumb questions,” he said. Two of those writer-friends played a part in the production of the book. They are noted environmental writer Peter Stark of Missoula, whose article on a forestry project on his own land titled “Log It To Save It” that was originally published in Outside Magazine is included in the book, and a Foreword written by Stevensville author and public-policy commentator Dale A. Burk, who called Thomas’ story “insightful and uplifting.”

“Regurgitations of a Montana Woodsman” was issued in 6x9-inch softcover format. It contains 224 pages, numerous illustrations and photographs including a 16-page full color photo section. The book retails for $20 and is available at many bookstores, gift shops and other outlets as well as direct from Thomas at 4189 Ember Lane, Stevensville MT 59870, or Stoneydale Press, 523 Main St., Stevensville MT 59870, phone 777-2729 or at website http://www.stoneydale.com.

The Apple Pie Trick, or the way to a man’s heart… - By Gretchen L. Langton

For thirty-one years, Gene and Mavis Buroker have been at the helm of the Homemaker’s Center in Victor. Gene asked a customer recently where they heard about the shop. "Everybody in the valley knows you," he was told emphatically. This is true because there aren’t many people around who can do what nearly 80-year-old Gene does. He repairs sewing machines and vacuum cleaners.

"It’s called planned obsolescence," Mavis tells me, about the trend of companies making utilitarian items with materials that wear out rapidly. Consumers are encouraged to replace the entire object rather than get it repaired. Why? Sometimes buying a new gadget can be cheaper than fixing the old one, but more often it is because consumers are hard-pressed to find anyone who knows how to fix the old one. The fact that Gene is "several weeks behind" is a testament to the scarcity of people in his trade.

Gene is really a "jack of all trades" and master of most. "I really should write a book," he tells me with regard to the many jobs he has done and survived. He was a baker and floor scrubber, he worked for the railroad (and once "rode a runaway train down the steepest grade in Washington"), he was a ranch hand, a door-to-door vacuum salesman, an RV salesman, a furniture salesman, a business executive, and I am sure I have forgotten a few jobs on the list. He has worked hard his whole life and he continues to man the shop every weekday, much to the chagrin of Mavis who thinks he should enjoy some retirement.

As we discuss this, in walks a customer interested in a grain mill. Wearing his blue apron that says "Gene" in white letters, he proceeds to give the customer a complete, perhaps slightly abridged, history of the grain mill and tour him about the shop crowded with tagged gadgets. "We sell three different kinds…" I hear Gene say as I continue to chat with Mavis. "I get the feeling he likes to talk to people," I say conspiratorially. Mavis gives me a look of mock shock, "Really!?" She tolerates his work-aholism because she knows this is more than work for Gene; it’s a social event.

Mavis and Gene will celebrate their fifty-ninth anniversary in July. They moved nineteen times in twenty years in the beginning of their marriage. They met at a dance in Willamina, Oregon in 1948, though Gene admits to seeing Mavis and four of her friends going into a café before the dance. "They were five abreast," Gene begins this story using classic horse terminology. He draws an imaginary line of girls in the air punctuating the beginning of his story; his grin is wide. When he approached them at the Legion, he asked Mavis to dance. They quibble affectionately about whether the ladies were seated or standing, each claiming to remember the story’s details a bit clearer than the other. Later in their relationship, she asked him "why her" and he said it was because he "liked sturdy women."

But it was actually the "old apple pie trick" that captured Gene. Mavis, two weeks after the dance, asked Gene to her house for dinner. It was the week of her mother’s birthday and it happened to be close to Gene’s birthday, too. Mavis made Gene an apple pie but she was too shy to give it to him outright so "she crawled out her sister’s bedroom window and put that pie on my front seat… Well, now I wasn’t stupid about pies—I knew a good pie when I tasted one," Gene says, his voice bubbling with mirth. He had actually worked in three different bakeries and had sampled lots of pie. "I told my dad (whom he was working with in Oregon) that I had better take a second look at her," he jokes.

They wrote letters for a year since Gene had returned to his home in Washington after the work ran out. They talked on the phone on the rare occasion. Mavis remembers her Dad being mad because the phone bill was $2.50 one month. They were married in Willamina in July of 1950. They moved to Spokane and eventually purchased the house Gene had lived in during eighth grade. Their house payments were forty dollars a month and the house cost $4,500 total. Gene and Mavis had Brian, their first child, in Spokane. Then, they moved to Pasco; this was the beginning of their moving odyssey which would take them from Oregon to Washington to Montana to Minnesota and back again to Montana.

They ended up in Montana because, as Mavis says, "My husband’s idea of a vacation is hunting." Gene is an avid hunter and horseman. He still has four horses but he says he’s "looking for a cheap, gaited horse" right now, one that will not be too rough on his aging bones. Gene’s interest in the mountains led him to join up with a group he heard was being formed out of Missoula, something to do with horses and the woods. Gene has been a Back Country Horsemen since the inception of the group and he has thousands of stories about the hundreds of trips he has made into the Bob Marshall, the Big Hole, and all over the Bitterroot National Forest. When I ask him for a piece of wise horse advice, he tells me, "You never want to get dragged through a rock slide." Gene dusts off a plaque to show me. It reads, "Lifetime Achievement Award—In appreciation for thirty years of dedication to our organization—2005."

It’s not just Gene who has the plaques. Mavis blushes and tells Gene not to show me hers but he doesn’t listen. He is proud of his wife’s accomplishments as a fiddler and singer. Mavis learned to play the fiddle because "it belonged to my dad" and that was her tribute to him. She has been in all sorts of competitions for amateur fiddlers and has won. "Does she serenade you," I ask Gene to which he replies, "Not enough. I love fiddle playing." "He tolerated my practicing," Mavis gives Gene credit for enduring her early endeavors.

Mavis is also a member of the Five Valley Sweet Adelines, an all-women, a cappella, barber shop group; they have sung all over the country. This year, the Sweet Adelines won First Place in Vancouver, Washington, and they are headed to Nashville, Tennessee, in October to compete for an international prize. But beyond the prizes, Mavis’ musical skills bring joy to a variety of people. Her barber shop group sings at churches and retirement homes. Every second and forth Wednesday of the month, she can be found playing fiddle with Sue Pearson at the nursing home in Stevensville, then at the senior center, then at the assisted living facility.

It is all this community activity that led Victor to make Mavis and Gene the Citizens of the Year in 2006.

Our conversation turns to the economic struggles of today. Gene says more people are fixing their old equipment rather than buying new machines. He also says people are worried enough to buy Bosch mixers for breadmaking and to start canning again. "We sell fruit in the summer – peaches, pears, apricots, and tomatoes – and last summer we saw more young women coming in who were learning to can," Gene relates. Another customer enters the store and Gene is off to help.

I ask Mavis how we can teach younger generations to save, conserve, and appreciate what we have. She tells me more Americans should visit places where people don’t have what we have. When she and Gene lived in Minnesota, Gene was a sales manager for Arctic Cat. Their company went on a "once in a lifetime" cruise to the Bahamas and they visited the island of Haiti. Gene rode a very short horse to the top of a mountain to look at an old fort and along the way he and his companions got to see some of the living conditions of the locals. "They had two kettles and some sleeping mats—that’s all. The children were wearing rags," he says. At the same time, Mavis was in town where other children were begging for change. She remembers as they got on the boat to return to their ship, "the people pressed forward to sell us wooden carvings and such" and a security man rammed his baton into a man’s stomach. This experience made a strong impression on them both.

"We certainly should teach our children to economize… Kids need to learn you don’t just get married and have what your parents worked their whole lives to have," Mavis suggests. She adds that her dad worked for $1.70 per day during the Depression. Both Mavis and Gene are old enough to remember ration books. Mavis still has hers. "Leather was scarce and so was sugar and chocolate."

When I ask whether there is anything we didn’t cover in the four hours we chatted, Mavis immediately says, "We haven’t told you how wonderful our children are." Gene and Mavis have two children, Brian and Janis, and they have nine great grandsons and two great granddaughters.

Shriners screening clinic

A free screening clinic will be held to identify children who may benefit from the expert pediatric specialty care provided by Shriners Hospitals for Children on Saturday, April 18 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at Valley Physical Therapy, 3802 Eastside Highway Stevensville. Shriners Hospitals for Children is the nation's largest pediatric specialty care hospital system providing expert care, innovative research and teaching programs in the treatment of children ages 0 to 18 years with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injury and cleft lip and palate. The clinic and all hospital care are provided at no charge, regardless of financial need and generously provided through the donations of Shriners and other public donations. If you know of a child that might need help, bring them to the free screening clinic. Appointments are preferred but drop-ins are welcome. To make an appointment or for more information, contact Bob Anderson at 777-2270 or Wayne Jones at 363-5192.

Hamilton Rotary Club distributes dictionaries to students

During the week of January 5-9, the Hamilton Rotary Club distributed 471 dictionaries to Ravalli County elementary school students. For the most part, the dictionaries were given to sixth graders. Schools included were: Hamilton, 132; Darby 24; Assembly of God, 12 (gave to all in a mixed grade class); Seventh Day Adventist, 5; Corvallis, 116; Victor, 36; Pinesdale, 28; Florence, 76; Florence Special Ed, 10; Stevensville, 80; Lone Rock, 28; and Ravalli Home Schooled, 64.

New license year for anglers and hunters

Montana's 2009 hunting and fishing licenses—including conservation, fishing, spring black bear and turkey, upland game bird, deer and elk hunting licenses—are available now at all FWP Regional offices and license providers.

March 1 begins the new 2009 license year for Montana hunters and anglers. The new license year is especially important for early-season anglers, and for those who enjoy ice fishing.

The onset of the 2009 license year also brings to a close a two-year opportunity for some resident minors and senior citizens to obtain a free conservation license.Most 2009 licenses are available on the FWP Web page at http://www.fwp.mt.gov/ click https://app.mt.gov/Als/Index Online Services.

Donations sought for art and jewelry sale

The Stevensville Historical Museum will be holding its annual Used Art & Jewelry sale on May 1 and 2 at the Community Room next door to the North Valley Public Library, 208 Main St., Stevensville. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. On Thursday, April 30 from 7 to 9 p.m., the museum will acknowledge donors of sale items with a "Donors Only Party." Refreshments will be served. Items to be donated can be dropped off at the Bitterroot Star, 215 Main in Stevensville, or call Dora Dilts at 777-3239, Bill Lyon at 777-2269 or Ronn Alexander at 777-7408.

Local printing businesses merge

It’s a deal. Brian and Michelle Mendenall, owners of Allegra Print & Imaging in Hamilton, announced the purchase of Printworks. The merger last month brings all services under one roof at the newly expanded Allegra Print & Imaging facility located at 1151 N. First Street, Suite C, in Hamilton.

“It’s a win-win situation for customers of both businesses,” said owner Brian Mendenall. “Combining the operations will make more services available to all of our customers. The Printworks customers will benefit with the additional services Allegra is able to offer- signs, banners, large format printing, full color printing, raised ink printing, etc. The Allegra customers will benefit because we will now be able to do all their apparel work- embroidery and silk-screening.”

Owner Michelle Mendenall noted that Mike Gray, owner of Printworks, is working closely with them to ensure a smooth transition for customers.

“Allegra and Printworks share many of the same philosophies when it comes to providing our customers with leading-edge technologies and superior service,” said Michelle. “We feel strongly that this merger will produce a stronger organization better positioned to serve the Ravalli County business community.”

Allegra Print & Imaging offers traditional and advanced printing technologies including full-color printing, graphic design services, short-run digital printing, color copying, high-speed copying, digital color, signs, posters and banners, complete finishing services, mailing services, variable data capabilities, promotional products, embroidery and silk-screening.

Allegra Print & Imaging is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information call 363-7645 or visit the company’s Web site at http://www.allegrahmt.com.

Wedding - Proud-Perkins

The Dean Noakes home northeast of Stevensville was destroyed in a house fire on Friday, March 6. The house was old and there was no insurance. Local Red Cross volunteers Roy and Ginger Desrosier have helped Noakes get basic supplies but is now looking for community support to help get him a new home. A benefit account has been opened at Farmers State Bank in Stevensville. Volunteers with backhoes and dump trucks are needed to help get the debris out of the way in order to rebuild. For more information contact Roy or Ginger Desrosier at 777-2215 to offer your support.

Births

Birth - Gillian Elizabeth Bogan

“She's the star in our sky and the sparkle in our eyes.” Scott and Kristen Bogan proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Gillian Elizabeth. Gillian was born March 3, 2009 at 2:31 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 6-1/2 oz. and was 20-1/4 inches. Proud grandparents are Donald and Arlene Helmbrecht of Akron, NY and Dan and Kathy Bogan of Port St. Lucie, FL. The Bogan family currently resides in Stevensville.

Obituaries

Charles Collins Smith
1944-2009

Charles Collins Smith, 64, passed away on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at his home in Lakeside, Montana after a courageous 9 year battle with cancer. He was born on October 12, 1944 in Burbank, California to James Scobee and Charleen (Collins) Smith.

At the age of five, Charles moved with his family to Lancaster, CA where he began his education. In 1958 the family moved to Escalon and Charles attended and then graduated from Ripon High School in 1962. He continued his education at Cal-Poly for three years before starting his own orchard growing almonds.

Charles moved to the Hamilton area in 1968 where he worked as a ranch hand until 1970 when he moved to Missoula to work in construction. On June 18, 1971, Charles married Marci Dame in Missoula. They started Charles C. Smith Construction in 1974 and operated it as a family business. From 1979 until 1989 Charles continued to grow the excavation business in the Stevensville area. In 1989 Charles moved his business to Lakeside when he was hired as a subcontractor on the Lakeside-Somers Sewer Main Project. Upon graduation in 1993, his son Tanner moved to Lakeside and became his partner in the business.

Charles served as a Stevensville School Board member for 9 years as well as chairman of the board. In addition, he served on the Etna Volunteer Fire Department. Charles was also a Master Mason with the Stevensville Masonic Lodge #28.

He enjoyed boating, camping, motorcycles, friends and especially being a proud father and grandfather.

Charles was preceded in death by his parents, a brother James Scobee Smith, Jr., and grandson Jakob. He is survived by his son Tanner Smith (Heather) of Kalispell, MT; a stepson Bruce Hofmann (Laurie) of Richmond, VI; and a stepdaughter Tracy Long (Brad) of Missoula, MT; eight grandchildren: Bridger, Caeden and Addison Smith, Shealyn and Sela Hofmann, and Tiffany, Grant and Morgan Long; one sister, Judy Nickerson of Mantica, CA; and a very special friend Julene Hartman of Kalispell.

Memorial services for Charles were held on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 2:00 pm in the Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Chapel with Pastor Glenn Burfeind of the First Presbyterian Church officiating. The family suggests memorial gifts and donations be made to the Charles C. Smith Memorial Fund, PO Box 921 Lakeside, MT 59922 to assist the family with the cost of Charles’ extensive medical treatments.

Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for Charles’ family. You are invited to go to www.jgfuneralhome.com to offer condolences and sign Charles’ guest book.

Audrey Mae Besaw
1933-2009

Audrey Mae Besaw left this world to join the rest of her family on March 16, 2009. Born in New Jersey on September 15, 1933, she enjoyed a rich and colorful life as a high school English teacher, a world traveler and an inspiration to her nephews. After retiring from teaching she moved to Stevensville in 1996 with her brother Albert and built their home, the Double Bar B Ranch north of town. With horses and dogs as new companions, Audrey loved to observe the beauty of the changing seasons on the towering Bitterroot Mountains across the valley. From her porch and parlor window, she renamed all of the peaks to fit the images they created in her imagination.

Ms. Besaw was preceded in death by her parents, Albert J. Besaw, Sr. in 1988 and Kathryn K. Besaw in 1986, her older sister Eileen Besaw Belet in 1984 and her younger brother Albert Besaw Jr. in 2005.

She is survived by her nephews, the four sons of Eileen: Bob, Orange Park, FL, Geoff, Harrisburg, PA, Brian, San Jose, CA and Dave, Missoula; and three great nephews: Jacques Bickett-Belet, CA, Andy Belet, serving with the US Army in Afghanistan, and Dan Belet, MT and WA.

Audrey left her cares and pains behind, and is now with her family. A memorial gathering for friends and family will be scheduled for later this summer. Those interested can contact the nephews at: bbelet@sbcglobal.net.

The Whitesitt Funeral Home in Stevensville is in charge of cremation arrangements.

Frank Costanza
1942-2009

Frank Paul Costanza passed away at his home in Stevensville on March 11, 2009. He was born in Hammond LA on September 12 1942. Survived by his wife Leanna Costanza. Services will be held on Saturday March 28th at 11 am, North Valley Church of Christ, 1669 Houk Way in Stevensville.

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