My father achieved a lot for a man who never finished high school. Dropping out was a common thing to do during the Great Depression. In those days, college educations were not needed to get most jobs, and the cost of this type of education was unaffordable for many depression-era families.
In the 1930s, dad moved to Bend, Oregon, where he got a job with the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in Oregon and California. While he was in California, his first love broke up with him. Just months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, dad was inducted into the Army (160th Infantry, 80th Infantry Brigade, 40th Infantry Division). He fought in the Pacific Theater (mainly in the Philippenes and New Britain) and he was also briefly stationed at Guadal Canal (his unit arrived after the Marines had left). While he was fighting in the Philippenes, he was promoted to Staff Seargent and was transfered into Army Intelligence. For his efforts in directing the elimination of enemy sniper activity during a heated battle on Luzon Island, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal by Major General Rapp Brush. To give you an idea of how much of a contribution he made, dad had to climb up into trees (often in easy view of the enemy) or expose his head over berms in order to observe enemy activity and to call in accurate mortor fire or artillery fire. He was sometimes positioned alone, execept for his M1 carbine, binoculars, a compass, and a field radio, on the enemy-side of the battle line.
After the war, dad returned to Libby where he met and married my mother. He held various jobs, including one elected term as Lincoln County Treasurer (starting March 3, 1947). The last 30 years of dad's life were spent working for the local lumber mill, where he was eventually promoted to foreman in the mill's maintenence department.
Dad died while I was away at college in Tacoma, Washington.
My mom
1913 - 1993
My mother was born and raised on a North Dakota farm. She attended a 2-year teacher's college (Jamestown College) and then taught in Oriska, North Dakota and Outlook, Montana before accepting a teaching position in Libby, Montana in 1943. After marrying my father in 1946, she taught for another 15 years. Then I came along, and mom taught part-time into the early 1960s, when she decided to stay at home full time.
