A life's collection goes up for auction

Jim Hendrick was a man of many talents — mule driver and packer, farrier, farmer, country musician, story teller, contractor/builder and mega collector of antiques, instruments and all things useful.

When he died at age 78 in 2007, his wife, Shirley, was left with buildings packed with mementos of his talents and their adventures together.

This Friday afternoon and Saturday, his collection goes up for auction by Bobbie Roshon at their home at 160 Twin Pines Drive in Kalispell.

Many items, from his gun collection to a horse-drawn wagon, hold stories and Jim enjoyed telling them, according to Shirley.

“One fall he got shot for a bear,” she said with a chuckle. “Another time he got run over by a covered wagon.”

Jim lost a chunk of flesh from his thigh when he was mistaken for the bear by another hunter. But he didn’t so much as break a bone after his team stampeded and he fell under the wagon as he tried to pull a pin to disconnect the wagon.

Jim entertained many people with these stories as well as with his musical talent. He and Shirley became well-known around the valley as entertainers who sang every Saturday afternoon at the Eagles, every Friday night at Sykes’ Restaurant and occasionally at local nursing homes.

“He played the guitar and sang,” Shirley said. “I play bass guitar and bass fiddle.”

Some mementos of those good times up for auction include a Martin J40 acoustic guitar and an original Hopf violin with documentation. Several other guitars, an accordion and a Flower and Groehsl acorn mandolin go to the highest bidders.

The sale also offers a wide variety of tack such as single trees, halters, lead lines and several saddles, recalling Jim’s love of horses that morphed to mules.

According to Shirley, Jim was most in his element packing mules in the Bob Marshall Wilderness or driving that covered wagon at an annual wagon train revival in Ronan.

“He always said that he was born a hundred years too late,” she said.

Without the benefit of a time machine to return to the Wild West, Jim returned to those simpler times by surrounding himself with antiques ranging from horse-drawn plows to a doctor’s buggy frame.

One prize purchase was a two-seat horse-drawn buggy with sleigh runners that came from the Conrad Mansion.

People who attend the sale have a chance to bid on the buggy to become the next caretaker of that piece of local history. The auctioneer said that none of the items up for sale have a reserve, or minimum price, and no buyer’s premiums are added to the price.

According to Shirley, Jim not only loved collecting these pieces, he considered them a good investment.

“He always said that buying antiques was like putting money in the bank,” Shirley recalled.

As the collection grew, she like to tease him by asking how she could go about making a withdrawal. During his life, he loved his collection a little to much to liquidate any of it. Instead, Jim bought houses with huge storage buildings to hold it all.

As spring came this year, Shirley decided that she finally needed to downsize these mountains of possessions.

“It’s been really hard,” she admitted. “It took a couple of years to even think about it. There are so many memories.”

Both native-born Montanans, Jim and Shirley married in 1953 and had four children. They moved to the Flathead Valley in 1965 where they lived first in Kalispell, then Whitefish for several years before they bought a trailer court and apartments in Lakeside in 1977.

Their daughter Cynthia and grandson Tyler still operate the Homestead Cafe that the family started in Lakeside.

After selling the trailer court and apartments, Jim and Shirley built their dream home on Blacktail Mountain in the early 1990s, including an authentic log cabin to display Jim’s collection of treasures.

In retirement, Shirley and Jim traveled around the country, stopping and shopping at antique stores, flea markets and festivals. She laughed as she recalled looking like hillbillies with plows and other treasures tied on the top of their motor home.

After a while, it wasn’t just Jim waving his card at auctions.

“It kind of rubbed off on me,” Shirley admitted. “I got to liking and collecting kerosene lamps.”

Along with 18 glass oil lamps, the Hendrick auction features a large collection of Red Wing crocks, including a Red Wing chicken feeder, a glass butter churn, a cast-iron school bell and so much more.

For the aspiring cowboy, the sale features early spurs, bat-wing chaps, branding irons and a blacksmith’s forge. Buyers also will find Montana history books and art works such as Ace Powell bronzes, Gary Schildt “Battle of Little Big Horn” decanter and a Welliver wood-carved cowboy.

Along with antiques and art work, buyers may purchase vehicles, tools, guns, heavy equipment, leather furniture, a raft and trailer, Evinrude outboard motor, four-wheeler, wildlife mounts and more. It’s just the sort of sale that Jim and Shirley couldn’t have resisted.

Shirley said that Roshon has done a good job of organizing the hundreds of items.

“He did a beautiful job of displaying the stuff,” she said. “It’s all out on tables.”

The sale begins at 3 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday at the Hendrick home located at the end of Twin Pine Drive off Rose Crossing near Kalispell. For a complete list of the auction items, consult www.bobbyroshon.com or call 844-2159 for more information.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.