View From The Bridge 3/23/11

“VIEW from the BRIDGE”
By Muncie
3/23/11

SOUND OF MUSIC
Come along with me on a word journey to a Fund Raiser that I attended on the 15th of March at the Community Bible Church. Tenesha Thompson was selected to represent Montana on a musical tour of Europe with the Northern Ambassadors of Music.

It began with a spaghetti dinner. (Why doesn’t my spaghetti sauce taste as good?) The Fort Benton High School Choir and local individuals provided entertainment. It made my day because two young women sang Shenandoah, and that is my favorite song. There were many door prizes and a silent auction.

Tenesha has been working to raise funds for her trip since last September. Some of the fundraisers were selling Papa John’s Pizza cards, and she and her mother making, and selling stuffed animals.

Tenesha’s trip will cover nine countries and she will be in Europe for 5 weeks. The total cost of the trip is $6,500.00 plus spending money. You can donate by contacting her on Face book.

She plays three instruments…guitar, piano, clarinet, and she sings. Her talent is amazing and to be chosen as the representative from Montana is a great honor. My wish is that you all can meet this talented young woman in the near future.

SMALL WORLD STORY
This “Small World” story began with the Veterans Photo project. Ann Shaw brought pictures of her husband and two sons for the display to my house. Somehow, we began conversation about her owning the Book Exchange Store in Havre. One of my “To Do List” projects, for a long while, was to take a trip to Havre just to visit that store.

Our daughter, Darcy Morger Grovenstein and husband Glen, from Prescott Valley, AZ came to visit on the 13th of March. Darcy asked if there was anywhere, they could take us on a short trip. I thought of the Book Exchange and the next day they drove us to Havre.

(A side story to this trip is the water that we saw on both sides of the highway. When I say water, I mean water, water, everywhere. There were lakes never seen before. The water was rushing along in the ditches and in several areas, if more ice melted, the water will be covering the road.)

The store is located in the Atrium Mall Building in the middle of downtown. It is a beautiful old building with several floors of businesses surrounding the atrium (central middle room) and is open to the top floor.

We found the Book Exchange on the upper floor and found that Ann was down the hall practicing the fiddle. She is in a local play, “Fiddler on the Roof,” and is practicing for a fiddle playing role.

We walked back to the Book Exchange where we met Darcy and Glen. Ann began talking about a book that she has ready to be published. She showed us notepaper illustrations that were sketched for her book titled “Roscoe and Tooey Ride the Bootlegger Trail.” One of the illustrations is of the underpass going to Highway 87 from Fort Benton. Artist Greytak’s’ drawing is of the underpass coming into Fort Benton.

Ann then said we had to meet the artist of her book illustrations who had a Picture Framing shop on the level below. Kris Shaw (the artist,) Ann’s daughter-in-law, gave me a warm greeting and said that she reads The View every week. She has been getting The River Press for years. Ann Shaw also is an avid reader of The River Press.

Ann then said that we had to meet her son Dave, and we went to the next lower level. Dave was walking down the hall and when he came toward us, he was looking directly at me. He gave me a hug and said it was nice to meet me at last. He then looked at Darcy and lo and behold, they were classmates at Fort Benton High School. It was an interesting reunion.

Ann told me about her connection with Fort Benton. When she was 5 years old, she went to Nursery School in the I.G. Baker Building. She graduated from Fort Benton High School in 1953, and was married in September to William Alfred Shaw. They went to California in 1954 and moved back to Carter, Montana in 1964.

In 1970, Ann went back to the College of Great Falls for her teaching degree. She taught English and Spanish, (I did not get notes on where she taught.)

They moved to Fort Benton in 1973 and lived in the Greystone. (I have always known the house across Main St. from the First Christian Church as the Greystone.)

Another move in 1976 was to the farm near Loma and they stayed there until 1982. They now reside in Missoula and she checks out her Book Exchange often as she has an apartment in the building.

When I was at the Fund Raiser for Tenesha, Editor Tim and I had a conversation about Ann’s new book. I then learned that she had another book published in 2007. It is “Roscoe and Tooey, Montana Runaway.”

Ann sends greetings to those of you who remember her and the family. She visits Fort Benton often, as her sister, Lorene Stranahan, resides here.

I think all of you readers know how I love small world stories. If you have one, please tell me about it. A thought just occurred to me. I would like to write a book about short stories. I know that Joan Albers would contribute as she has gathered such stories in the past. We hear many stories at the Visitors Information Center.

SOCIAL EVENTS
TEXAS HOLDEM POKER TOURNAMENT is Friday night at the Grand Union. We found this to be an exciting evening last year. Our gambler men invited us women, to partake of the Gambler’s Dinner of Prime Rib. There is also a Poker Widow’s Delicate Dinner selection available. I would hope you are registered by now.

C.C.P.A. is Tuesday evening, the 29th, and The Perfect Gentlemen will be entertaining us. You do not want to miss this one. They are fabulous.

LOMA FLEA MARKET is coming up on April 2nd. I have attended this event for all the years I have lived here. However, I do have one discontent with it. They never have any home made donuts left by the time I get there and trust me, I get there early. There are certain individuals that buy dozens at a time. If I were President, I would limit the sale to perhaps a half dozen to each family. I would not know how to enforce that other than threats of “I hope you get a stomach ache from eating so many donuts.”

Could I use a little influence here? I do not know who makes the donuts, but if you are a friend of mine and I have advertised, your donuts in this column…save me a half dozen please. See you there.

PROM GRAD MARCH is March 26th at 8:00 p.m. This event is also a fun evening and brings back memories of long ago when we seniors were seniors in high school.

I attended a college prep Catholic high school and we did not have any kind of extra curricular. We did have a Prom Dance and the girls had to go to the Nuns Convent for dress inspection. If they thought that the prom dress was not appropriate, you were not allowed to go to the auditorium. The school was located next to the Convent. You could not sneak in because the Nuns sat in the balcony all evening, like secret police, watching everything that was going on. There was not much going on, as we were all too afraid of being expelled for even minor infractions. Things have changed a bit, haven’t they, for the better of course?

ROBIN REPORT
Sorry Matt, I have to take the award for seeing the first robin away from you. Joan Albers said she e-mailed me a month ago to report seeing a robin. The message was returned because my e-mail address was changed. I have to give her credit thought because she has been a friend longer than Matt. (I think that counts, don’t you?) Good spotting Joan.

SO LONG FOR NOW
Today (Monday) is the first full day of spring. It is 2:00 p.m. and the temperature is 47 on my satellite thermometer. The sun tried to peak out a bit ago but did not make it. By the way, did you see that gorgeous moon a couple of nights ago? The evening was overcast but sometime after midnight, the moon appeared. It was an “out of this world” experience.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ALL OF OUR TROOPS