Saying farewell to three leaders
The Flathead Valley recently has lost a trio of wonderful community leaders who enriched our lives in various ways and made our corner of the world a better place in which to live.
Longtime Bigfork civic leader and environmental policy pioneer George Darrow died Feb. 25 at age 93. He was a driving force behind the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts and worked tirelessly through the decades to promote Bigfork as a destination resort village. He was equally passionate about Montana and his work as a conservationist and wilderness advocate. One Bigfork leader called Darrow “a pillar of Bigfork” and “an influential guiding force.” We couldn’t agree more.
Lovely Sylvia Murphy left us March 2, just shy of 99 years old. Murphy was an early supporter of the Museum at Central School and the Conrad Mansion. Flathead folks will find bits of her legacy tucked into many local organizations, from the Flathead County Republic Women to the county library and Hockaday Museum of Art. She also wrote a couple of history books about local places. In her later years Murphy was a wealth of knowledge to others, with an uncanny ability to recall people and events. Hers was a life well-lived.
Longtime Kalispell businessman and civic leader Ronald “Buck” Torstenson died Feb. 28 at age 94. He was best known as a co-founder of the Outlaw Inn, a facility that was the hub of events and conventions in Kalispell for many years. Later Torstenson and his family opened the popular Fenders restaurant north of Kalisell. His community involvement ran the gamut, from the Kalispell and state Chambers of Commerce to the Montana Inn-Keepers Association.
These three nonagenarians typified the drive and determination of their generation. We sincerely hope for a continuation of their civic-mindedness and creativity in generations to come.
A well-deserved honor
We are pleased to join the governor in congratulating two local artists for their lifetimes of achievement.
Bill Rossiter, a longtime Flathead Valley Community College instructor, is anything but a dry academic. Put a banjo in his hands, and you’ll unleash a brash and bawdy historian who specializes in telling the story of America through its folk songs. At 75, he hasn’t missed a beat, and may be busier than ever as a performer, traveling throughout the Rockies to enlighten and laugh with his audiences.
Singer-songwriter Jack Gladstone, at 57, already has three decades as a recording artist behind him, and he’s going strong. A member of the Blackfeet Indian Nation, Gladstone preserves both the native tradition and Montana’s cowboy heritage in his music and storytelling. He is passionate about his craft and culture, and is an unofficial ambassador of Montana wherever he goes.
Rossiter and Gladstone were awarded the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award last month, along with four other distinguished artists and scholars. If you see them at one of their shows, be sure to tell them thanks for giving so much back to our great state.