Local residents celebrate 202 years of Christmases

Two Havre women this year are celebrating, between the two of them, 202 years of Christmas.

Care and Comfort Home residents Eleanor Bickel and Helen Kallenberger each celebrated their 101st birthdays this year, Kallenberger a few weeks ago, Dec. 5, and Bickel Sept. 16.

Kallenberger didn't say much Sunday, leaving most of the speaking to her family members who were at the Christmas party at Care and Comfort. Her daughter Judy Kinsella said she had a comment at her 101st birthday party, though.

"She said, 'I don't feel 101,' Kinsella said.

Kallenberger grew up and celebrated Christmases on the Flatness place on Mount Centennial in the Bear Paw Mountains, the area where she and her husband, Ray, returned to raise their family.

Bickel was born in North Dakota, but also  spent most of her life - and many Christmases - in north-central Montana. She and her family moved to Hogeland while she was in grade school, and she grew up on the Big Flat, earning her diploma in Hogeland High School's first graduating class in 1933.

She was the daughter of Benny and Maria Johnson, who owned a farm implement dealership. She taught in rural schools and married Eddy Harmon,

Eddy Harmon died in 1967, and Eleanor married Bill Bickel, who worked in the Rocky Mountain Testing Lab in Hamilton, in 1971 after a mutual friend introduced the two. She moved to Hamilton with her husband.

After Bill Bickel died in 2010, Eleanor Bickel moved to Eagles Manor in Havre before moving to Care and Comfort Home.

She said Sunday that the people in the area are what make Christmas memorable.

"All the people around here are just something special," Bickel said.

Her daughter, Linda Brandon, lives in Havre while her brother, Don Harmon, farms near Turner.

She said the Christmas gatherings always brought many, many people together, and family members - Eleanor has five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren - still try to get together for the holidays, although it becomes more and more difficult for everyone to get back as they did when younger.

"Christmas Eve, all the family got together - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day," Brandon said.

Kallenberger grew up attending Flatness School then Box Elder School - she rode 10 miles each way to go to school in Box Elder. She was a track and basketball standout and a member of a Box Elder state championship basketball team, and rode horseback to attend confirmation classes in Box Elder.

She went to Moler Beauty School in Spokane, where she met her future husband, Ray Kallenberger, who was studying at Moler Barber School.

The two worked in Washington for a few years before moving back in 1947 to start ranching themselves, on land originally purchased by her parents, and raising their family, Sharlene, Linda, Gail, Judy and Ray Jr.

Kallenberger, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants Halvor and Louisa Flatness, and her three sisters and brother grew up celebrating Christmas at the ranch.

Her daughter Linda Cox said they would go out on on horseback to collect a tree each year, and had a traditional Christmas celebration that always included lutefisk, lefsa and Swedish meatballs.

It also included music, with Ray Kallenberger buying sheet music each year for his daughter Sharlene, who Kinsella said used 4-H money to buy a piano.

Christmas also always involved attending Christmas Eve services at the Lutheran Church in Box Elder, she added.

"It was a good life," Kinsella said.

Kallenberger remained busy during her lifetime on the ranch, working outside, doing ranch chores and raising enormous gardens, Kinsella added, saying it ran in the family.

"All five of us loved to be outside," she said.

Ray Kallenberger died in 1997, and Helen stayed on the ranch for about 10 years before moving to Havre.

Christmas is still a major celebration for the family - Helen Kallenberger now has 12 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren - although it is hard to get everyone together.

Kallenberger's granddaughhter Crystal Kinsella said not having her grandmother at the celebration at home is difficult to take.

"It's been really hard for us to not have her there, so we come to see her," Kinsella said.