Hi-Line Living - Born on the Hi-Line a century ago

Goldie Maze has lived most of her life on the Hi-Line and recently moved back to Havre.

Sunday, she and relatives and other Eagles Manor residents gathered for a celebration of her 101st birthday.

Family came from across the country - her son, Larry, came from Kentucky, where she lived with him before coming back to Havre last fall.

"She wanted to move back to where her roots are," Larry Maze, Goldie Maze's son said.

And she is popular at the manor.

"Goldie's one of our favorites," Eagles Manor Manager Karen Granger said, adding, "She's got more spunk in her little finger than most people have in their whole body."

This interview had to be done by telephone and, to make it easier on Goldie, Larry Maze relayed the questions to his mother and her responses back.

Born in Poplar on May 10, 1918, to Elsie and Jay Pasma, she lived most of her life in and raised her family in Havre, Larry said. Her parents worked on a variety of ranches and farms across Hill County before purchasing their own farm west of Havre.

"It doesn't look like the Havre she grew up in," he said, adding that much of the town has changed.

When Goldie Maze was a child most people rode horses, he said. She used to love riding her horse to barn dances and schoolhouse dances, Larry said, adding that one of her favorite places to go was the rodeos that were held in the area.

"She would still go to a rodeo if I could get her there," he said. "... Life was much simpler then."

Some of the biggest changes to Havre that Goldie has seen is that many of the buildings that were on First Street in Downtown Havre are gone, Larry said. But some of the buildings and businesses she remembers still remain, such as Norman's Ranch and sportswear, Buttrey's Department Store - now the Atrium Mall - the Oxford Bar, the Palace Bar and Nalivka's Original Pizza Kitchen.  

She wanted to come back to Havre not because of the buildings, but the people, he said.

"She wanted to come to Havre where Havre people were," he said.

One of the things that changed in Havre is that the town used to have horse watering troughs, for riders to let their horses take a break and drink, he said. It was at one of these watering troughs that Goldie first met her husband.

In 1933, Goldie met Archie Maze at the horse watering trough that was downtown a block and a half from Seventh Avenue where the viaduct now stands. Larry said that his mother was immediately impressed with Archie.

"She thought he was cute and she was immediately interested," Larry said.

They started their courtship, he said, adding that Goldie was 15 and Archie was 17 years old when they first met.

Before they were married, they both ended up working for Jack and Mary Payton at the Payton family ranch east of Havre, Larry said. At the ranch, Goldie worked helping cook while Archie worked out in the pastures with the cattle.

Two years after they met at the watering trough, they decided to get married, Larry said. Their wedding ceremony was in the United Methodist Church Parsonage, but they were too young to get married legally. So Goldie and Archie had to lie about their ages and have Archie's mother come with them to the courthouse to receive the marriage certificate.

After they got married, she and her husband got a job on a ranch north of Havre, close to the Canadian border, working for Slim Adamson for the winter, Larry said. Shortly after they moved out to the ranch, Archie broke his arm and Adamson was not able to make it to the property to attend to Archie's arm for a week.

"She never had to pitch so much hay in her life," Larry said.

He added that, in the same year, Havre experienced one of the most historical snow storms in Goldie's lifetime and they had survive for weeks isolated by the weather.

In 1940, Goldie and Archie had their first child, their daughter Lorna Mayo, then in 1943 had Larry and lastly their second daughter, Arla Barkemeyer.

Archie later got into the bartending business, which would be his career until he retired in 1978, Larry said. Archie worked in a number of bars, and they owned their own for a time, too. Many of the bars he worked at and the bar he owned, the Swing On In, which was a venue for live country western music on second street West, are no longer there.

As Archie worked in the bar business Goldie worked to keep up the home and raise their family, Larry said.

"She said that it was not a very exciting life, but very rewarding to support her family as they grew up," he added.

Larry said that Goldie knew of historic Havre businessman and bootlegger C.W. "Shorty" Young Jr. by reputation, but her husband knew him from being in the bar business.

He added that Goldie remembers when they got their first car, a Ford Model T, in 1939. He said she didn't know how to drive until they had their children and still preferred riding a horse.

"She would still much rather ride a horse for 10 miles than to drive a car for 10 minutes," Larry said.

After Archie retired in the late 1970s, they moved to Helena to be closer to their daughters, he said. In 1984 Archie, died but Goldie stayed in Helena until her daughters both died, four months from each other, in 2008. After her daughters died, Goldie moved to Arkansas with Larry. He added that after two years she didn't like living in Arkansas and decided to move back to Helena. When Larry decided to move to Kentucky in 2017, once again Goldie moved in with her son, but after a year wanted to move back to Havre. In October of last year she moved back to Havre living in the Eagles Manor.

"She just wanted to be with Havre people," Larry said. "... She loves being back in Havre. She feels like she's home again. She never did like to be out of Montana. Wherever she lived she was always wanting to be in Montana."

He said that she thought that places in the south couldn't measure up to her home state.

"She is much happier here," he added.

Since she has been back, he said, she had found that everyone at the Havre Eagles Manor knows her and has been really nice to her. Goldie's mother lived at the Eagles Manor near the end of her life as well, he added. Goldie is happy being back in Havre and one of her favorite activities is to walk her dog, Lucky, every day.

Larry said part of the reason she wanted to move back to Havre was because she wanted to be back on familiar ground. Goldie has poor vision due to macular degeneration and feels safe in her Havre.

He added that Havre has a certain kind of person who lives in the town and she wants to be with those people.

"It has a lot of friendly people. She has never been treated so nice than when she came back to Havre," he said. "... She just wanted to be with Havre people."