June 1977 St. Paul’s Mission

6-1-77  

Bill was going to be leaving the mission after volunteering there for two years. Susie and I became very close friends with Bill and were sorry to see him leave. Bill made a very positive difference for the mission and for the community during his time in Hays. He was really loved by many of the families in the community. I don’t have good notes about this day in June and there’s no counting on my memory for much. Bill and I must have decided to head into the Little Rockies together as a goodbye bonding thing. We drove up into the mountains, and it looks like we climbed up to the top of Mission Peak. Those were the days when I could climb up to the top of Mission Peak. Today, I can barely walk to the mailbox in front of my house. We were up on the mountain for a spectacular sunset and an even more spectacular full moon rise.

After the sun went behind the Bear Paws, Bill and I left Mission Peak and went back down to the mission. On the way, we stopped to watch the moon rise. It was full and coming up over the mountains. A truck was coming up so we pulled over. It was Quentin and Roseann’s brother. Quentin said that he was going deer hunting. This was the best time to get one. “I know these mountains like the back of my hand. I used to work in these mines.”

On the way up to the canyon, Bill and I saw Fiddles and Mary Agnes. On the way up to the mountains, you cross the creek three times. They had their car parked in the middle of the first crossing. Fiddles had a box of Tide and was washing his car by splashing water from the creek onto the car. Mary Agnes was lying on the bank watching. Bill said that he’s seen people wash their cars and trucks in the second crossing.

St. Paul’s Mission used to own 4,000 acres just south of the reservation; the Old Mission Sheep Ranch. Through mismanagement, the ranch was given up, and the 4,000 acres was taken over by the Jesuit Society in Spokane. They lease out this land and receive the lease money. Ray Williams owns 16,000 acres south of the reservation and he leases the 4,000 acres from the Jesuit Society.

The wake was held for Moses Carrywater tonight in the gym. He was one of the oldest, if not the oldest Gros Ventre. He was about 98 years old.

6-2-77

Bill Fugelvand came over to the trailer to visit. He’s a successful contractor from Havre who was in Father Retzel’s parish in Havre about seven years ago. He has a heart condition, and his doctor told him to take time off every week. So, he volunteers his services at the mission. He has been helping Father with administrative duties, and he has also helped him plan and do some remodeling in the buildings. He drew up a blueprint for the old gym that Brian has been following. He said that he finally balanced the books for the mission. He had to go back three years to do it. He also worked out a budget for this new year. He said that we are $35,000 short on projected income.

I went over to Gordon and Edith’s to work with Edith on her GED. She said that Gabby’s father died Tuesday. Ramon LaRoque was Edith’s first husband. He was in Wyoming. He died from cancer. He was in his 70s. Gabby was his only child.

(6-19-77)  

At the Catholic Indian Congress on Sunday while we were serving dinner, Gordon told me that he and Edith had their marriage blessed in the church this morning by Father. He said that it was very quiet and there was no one there. “This is the second time we’re married.” He said that Father just went through the marriage ceremony again. Edith was really happy about it. They were planning this for over a year and Father was working on getting Edith’s first marriage annulled by the marriage tribunal in Great Falls. Then a couple of weeks ago, Edith’s first husband died. Mike told Susie that the marriage could now be blessed in the church, so Susie went to talk to Edith about it and arrangements were made with Father.  

(6-30-77)  

Edith said that she was real happy that she and Gordon had their marriage blessed in the church. “I can take communion again. It’s been a long time, and it sure feels good. When Father blessed our marriage, he turned to Gordon and said, I’ll see you in church.”

6-4-77

Richard and Camie came to the trailer to visit. Richard looked out the window at the old mission log building. He said that Father has been talking about having the building restored. “I know a lot of old people who don’t want that building restored. They’d like to see the building just decay and disappear.” Camie said, “not everyone feels that way.” Richard answered that most people do feel that way. Camie didn’t say anything more. A lot of people don’t like that building because of the memories. They just don’t want to see it. “The mission boarding school was just like a concentration camp.”

6-9-77

Father had a going away party tonight for Bill and Brian. He got Mary and BJ to divert their attention in the afternoon so it would be a surprise. They asked Bill and Brian to go swimming with them at the plunge. They came back home right away. About 30 people came to the party and it was a potluck dinner. People brought sandwiches, fried chicken, potato salad, salad, beans, and cakes. The people who came were Sisters Kathleen and Laura, Susie, me and my brother and sister, Jeb and Lou Stiffarm, Bazoo and Nucky Werk, and some of their kids, Frank, Ida and Bruce Doney, Gordon and Edith, Camie and Richard Doney, Mary and BJ, Jim and Beatrice and a bunch of kids. We ate and then Bill and Brian opened their presents. Frank made and framed two drawings that were personally addressed to Bill and Brian. Beatrice made them vests. They also received blankets and beadwork. Both of these guys would be irreplaceable for so many reasons. They were missed by everyone.

6-14-77

Davey was talking about the mission land lease. Father told him that they would be receiving bids tomorrow. Davey said that he was considering a bid. He told us that our alfalfa fields should be cut soon because when it goes to seed the plant loses a lot of protein.

6-15-77  

Jim came up to the mission to work this morning. He had just come home from the hospital the day before after having had a stroke. He was already going to work after the doctors told him to relax for a while. He said he was feeling fine and went back to remodeling the old gym with Brian.

6-28-77

Father told me that the Christian Mother’s meeting went pretty well tonight although they didn’t have as large a turnout as he wanted to see. I asked him what the purpose was of the Christian Mother’s before they broke up. He said that it is the same as now. “The goal is to further Christian living in the home. Up until now, most of the activities of the Christian Mothers has been oriented toward just these women. We want to start orienting their efforts into the home instead of doing everything just between the women. The goal is to improve and further Christian living in the home and we’re going to work on this.”

6-29-77 Trading Post – ONAP Building observation 657 262

There was a sign up in the Trading Post that commodities would be distributed at the ONAP office on June 29, 30 and July 1. Not everyone is eligible for the government commodity program. Some people buy food stamps in Chinook and use these. The commodities are passed out once a month, and the size of the order depends on the size of the family. The mission gets commodities on this program. Bill, Susie and I went to pick up our food. When you get to the ONAP office you go around the back of the garage and check in at the desk. A woman pulls out your file, and you have to sign to verify that you picked up your commodity food. She tells the men how many people are on the order, and they fill the order. The variety of food is different every month, but the selection usually includes the following: almost everything is in cans. Peas, string beans, corn, creamed style corn, tomatoes, chicken in natural juices, beef in natural juices, prunes, macaroni, rice, evaporated milk, powdered milk, shortening, peanut butter, margarine, orange juice, grapefruit juice, flour, oats, farina, pinto beans, lima beans, powdered eggs, powdered mashed potatoes, canned plums, corn syrup. They load the boxes onto your truck or car and then you leave. The quality of the food is excellent.

6-30-77  

At noon, Poncho drove up to the mission with a large truck and a thresher on a trailer in the back. I asked him what he was up to. He said that Father hired out Davey to cut all the hay fields. Davey was going to take all the hay and pay the mission what it would have received for the lease. Poncho had to take down sections of fence around each field to get the machinery into the fields. He said he would put it back up when he was done. Poncho asked me if it would be ok to park the thresher behind the trailer each evening until he got all the fields done. I told him it was fine and that I’d keep an eye on it. He said the kids won’t steal the gas. He said that it was a good thing they were cutting it now. The alfalfa is already going to dry out. Davey is going to pay the lease money on it and take all the hay. I asked him how long it would take to do the whole job. He said that they were going to try to get it cut and out as soon as possible so that no one went into the field and stole hay. Poncho asked me what was holding up the lease of the mission fields. I told him that the Bishop wanted the lawyer to draw up the contract since it was for a long-term lease, 5-10 years, and the lawyer was holding things up while writing the contract.

The Bishop had his lawyer call Father and they had an argument over the phone. Father told him that the verbal agreement had been sufficient for all these years, and they didn’t need a contract. The word of these people is all we need. “The government wrote all kinds of contracts with these people and then broke the written contracts.” Father said that it was a cultural difference, and the lawyer didn’t understand that.

Poncho ran the thresher through the fields for about four hours, and he had all the fields cut and he left. The hay was left on the ground to dry for two days. On the third day after cutting, Poncho came back with a bailer. In one day, he was able to bail all the hay in the fields. The bails were out in the fields until Sunday and then Davey came up with two large panel trucks and a bail elevator. He drove the elevator around and picked up the bails, scooped them onto a vertical elevator and carried them up to a platform where two boys in the back of the truck took the bails off the platform and loaded them into the panel truck. They got the job done in one day and with both trucks loaded with bails, Davey left. Davey owns all this equipment.

This week, the mission’s water pump stopped working and Jim and Brian  went to check it in the pump house. The threads on the 2 ½ inch pipe rusted away and the pipe fell apart. The pump fell about 40 feet down into the well. So, Father called Arnold Allen to get a new pump and fix it. They came out today to fix it. Until that time, we only had enough pressure from the artesian well to get water into the buildings. We didn’t have hot water. Arnold, Jim, Brian and I worked on it for about four hours before we got it fixed. Arnold said that it should be changed every 6 or 7 years; it would save us having to buy a new pump when it rusted. The job cost the mission $1,200 for parts and labor. Arnold had just put in a new line into the school just before the school year was over. The mission has been giving him good business.

Father is leaving for Spokane during the whole month of July for an eight-day retreat and to visit his family. While he is gone, Father Brad Reynolds has come to take his place at the mission. Brad was just ordained last month. He received most of his education in Boston and he lived in Seattle. He will be in Portland and is an editor for a Catholic newspaper. He and I were talking in the rectory, and Sister Bart came in. She started talking about healing and all the people healed at the Congress. Brad picked up the newspaper and put it in front of his face. Sister described her whole personal ideology she has about healing and said that there would be more examples of healing from the Congress as time goes on, because these people here are too shy to get and make testimonies, but we’ll find out about it. She asked me if I wanted to talk about it or ask her any questions about healing and I said no. When she left, Brad told me that I handled that very well. I had a year’s worth of experience managing a relationship with Sister.

During the two years Susie and I were at the mission, there were priests who spent time in Hays for various reasons. Father Simoneau was no longer at the mission because of his health issues. If Father Retzel was going to be gone for any amount of time, a priest had to come to handle all of the ritual duties. There were other priests who would come to the mission as a retreat. If a priest had a parish in a large city, coming to Hays for a rest would be an ideal place. It was a beautiful place, and all the sisters and volunteers were very welcoming. All the priests were Jesuits from the northwest coast. We met some great people this way. All these guys were very smart and interesting people. They were all interested in our research and that we were Jewish. We enjoyed being with all of them.

Father told Susie that he had good news. Bill Fugelvand had been trying to raise money so that we could afford to buy a new van for the mission. “Well, we mailed out about 20 letters to different foundations asking them for money to buy the van. Bill was able to get pledges from Havre of $6,000 which is enough to buy the van. So, we’ll be able to get the van this fall. Bill is going to take care of it. Then we heard that we got another $6,000 so we had some money for the mission. We still have about 15 more foundations to hear from too, so we could get more money.”

During my phone duty at the rectory, John and Joan came into the rectory to see Father. They’re getting married on August 13^th and since they are getting married in the church, they have to go through a four-month course with the church. This is a new rule in the Catholic Great Falls Diocese. Joan is a schoolteacher at the Hays Lodge Pole School. She called me in while she was working on a paper. She was in the kitchen and John was in Bill’s old room. She invited Susie and I to their wedding and asked me if I would take photographs for them at the wedding. I told her that I would be glad to do it for them. She said that she heard that I was a good photographer. I went in to see John and told him that I would take pictures for them. He said that he wanted us at the wedding and to enjoy ourselves; “don’t just spend all your time taking pictures. Make sure you and Susie have time to enjoy yourselves.”  

It was at this moment that I added ‘wedding photographer’ to my resume.

Father said that the Christian Mothers decided to hold their meetings on the second Tuesday of every month. He said that Irma was going to resign as president. “She’s too busy with her work and has other things to do it. I know she’ll still be active in the group.” He asked me not to say anything to anyone about it, because if the other women find out about Irma resigning, no one will come to the meeting. “No one will want to be elected the new president.”