Polson, Mission Valley say goodbye to Paul Fugleberg

The Mission Valley lost one of its most prolific voices Sunday with the passing of former editor and owner of the Flathead Courier, Paul Fugleberg.

An editor, local historian, Air Force veteran and devoted husband and father, Fugleberg was a man who wore many hats and was loved and respected by many during his lifetime.

The owner and editor of the Flathead Courier from 1963-1980, Fugleberg said in a 2008 Lake County Leader article that his goal was to always make his newspaper a mirror of the community.

“It should reflect the good and the bad,” he said. “We tried to emphasize the good without ignoring the bad.”

A man that knew all the ins and outs of his trade, Fugleberg could do it all when it came to journalism and he wasn’t afraid to share that knowledge.

“There was no job he wouldn’t tackle,” former Lake County Leader reporter Glenn Timm said. “Whether it was putting address labels on papers or making sure the mail bags were full, he wasn’t afraid to do anything. He was also a magnificent mentor to many of us. A lot of other people would just blow you off, but not Paul.”

For a man described by some as having ink for blood, Fugleberg’s first brush with journalism was a brief one. His love of writing prompted him to enroll in a single journalism class at Los Angeles City College in the late 1940s, a class Fugleberg admitted he was not fond of.

“I couldn’t stand it,” he said about the class in 2008. “All the details and so forth.”

Luckily for the people of the Mission Valley, Fugleberg was reintroduced to the world of journalism during his time in the Air Force, where he wrote a column for the base newspaper in Great Falls entitled the “Wonderin’ G.I.”

Fugleberg was eventually promoted to the editor position of the base newspaper and became the non-commissioned officer in charge of the public information office. During that time, the state editor of the Great Falls Tribune took Fugleberg under his wing and taught him the ins and outs of the newspaper business.

After his discharge from the Air Force in December 1954, Fugleberg moved to Billings to become the associate editor of the Roundup Record Tribune. He also worked as a correspondent for the Great Falls Tribune, the Billings Gazette, the Associated Press and United Press International (UPI).

It was during his time at the Record Tribune that Fugleberg met Mary Lou Erickson, the proofreader and publisher’s secretary at the paper’s printing office in Lewiston. The two were married in 1956 and, like so many in the newspaper business, the couple made many moves in the late 1950s.

Fugleberg spent time as the associate editor of the Sioux Valley News in Canton, South Dakota and as a staff member at the Chalfant Press in California before taking over as editor of the Flathead Courier in Polson in 1959.

On March 5, 1959, sandwiched between an ad for refrigerators and a story about the proposed new federal dam, in a paper that cost only a dime, the Courier featured a small article about its new editor.

Fugleberg’s column, “Among Other Things” ran for the first time March 12, 1959 and ran for the last time in the Lake County Leader on Nov. 10, 2016.

In 1963, Fugleberg and his business partner, Lorin Jacobson, bought the Flathead Courier from Treasure State Industries and, in 1971, Jacobson and Fugleberg added the Ronan Pioneer to their newspaper collection.

While under his leadership, the Courier saw great success, winning two national newspaper awards and several state-level awards for writing and general excellence.

“Lorin and I had a great working relationship,” Fugleberg said. “I knew just enough about the printing end of things and Lorin knew just enough about the editorial end. That way, we could help each other when the need existed and then we would go back to our respective specialties and not be in each other’s way.”

Fugleberg made the Courier a family business during his time there, with Mary Lou as typesetter and his five children doing a variety of tasks (from dusting to writing and photography), Fugleberg truly got to spend his days doing what he loved.

In 1976, Fugleberg bought out Jacobson’s interest in the paper, taking over the duties of publisher and editor.

In the early 1980s, Mary Lou’s battle with Sjogren’s Syndrome (a rare autoimmune disease) and 20 years in the journalism business prompted Fugleberg to begin looking for potential buyers for his newspaper.

In 1980, Fugleberg sold the Courier to George Hess and Bill Chaffee, who then sold the paper to Carmine and Todd Mowbray in 1983. While no longer the editor, Fugleberg’s time with the paper was far from over. Fugleberg continued to write for the newspaper (which became the Lake County Leader in November 1990), winning Montana Newspaper Association awards for best news story in 1988 and best humorous column in 1991.

Also in the early 1990s, Fugleberg published a series of small booklets, including “Montana Nessie” about the legendary Flathead Lake Monster.

In February 1996, Mary Lou lost her battle with Sjogren’s Syndrome, prompting Fugleberg to dedicate his defining work, “Proud Heritage: An Illustrated History of Lake County, the Lower Flathead, Mission and Jocko Valleys” to her.

Fugleberg continued his work with the newspaper and continued writing his column until his failing health prevented him.

Steadfast and fair, Fugleberg saw the city of Polson and the Mission Valley through many changes, both good and bad, and reported fairly on them all. His friends and colleagues will remember him as a great reporter, and an even better person.

“Paul was a great example for our community. I looked at him as a role model, as did a lot of people. He really was a decent man,” former Ronan Pioneer editor and manager John Schnase said. “I think the Polson community was quite blessed to have someone like that in the role of newspaper editor. He always did his best to be fair and honest. Polson owes a lot of gratitude to Paul.”