Celebrating History: Thanking the soldiers

By Emily Mayer

First Lutheran Church in Havre was showing its gratitude to those who served during The Great War. In the May 31, 1919, edition of The Havre Plaindealer, this article was found on the front page:

LUTHERANS ENTERTAIN

SOLDIERS ARE GUESTS

Reception at First Lutheran Church to Returned Soldiers Last Week

The First Lutheran church gave a reception to returned soldiers last week Friday evening in the assembly parlors at the parsonage. The hall was beautifully decorated with flags streamers and flowers and a program of twelve members was given which was much enjoyed by all present. Fifteen returned soldiers responded to roll call at the banquet table and made short and interesting speeches. The following is the list of returned soldiers present:

Joseph Larson, Harry N. Olson, Peter Larson, Talbert Erickson, Gilbert Omlie, Alvin Hanson, A. O. Baker, John Questad, Andrew O. Armess, Alvin C. Olson, Henry Dahlstrom, Martin Jensen, Elmer Carlson, Chris Johnson, Jack Halberg.

After the banquet and speeches both of which were greatly enjoyed by the guests, a few hours were spent socially and with music. The evening’s entertainment was under the auspices of the various societies of the church and reflected great credit upon their management as well as upon their hospitality.

Also big news in the May 31 edition was information about a big storm in north Hill County. While the article praised the rain for saving some crops in Hill County, it also reported 16 houses were demolished; six were completely down; the school house collapsed with the teacher and at least two, perhaps three, children injured; and a two-story house, large barn and other outbuildings were swept away. Livestock were blown away, and five horses needed a tractor to pull them out of a reservoir.

Mrs. A. L. Ritt, Mrs. Phil Jestrab, Mrs. J. G. Holland and Mrs. L. K. Devlin were out that afternoon in connection with a church drive. Mr. Olson from the Havre National Bank was driving, and they credited him for getting them to shelter, arriving at the badly damaged Benedict Umhofer home and taking refuge in the cellar.

The June 7, 1919, edition, however, carried the sad news that two people died as the result of the storm. John Bubnash, 28 years old and living south of Chester — what is now Liberty County was still part of Hill County at the time — and the child of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Stotts, north of Hingham and Gildford, were killed. Bubnash was apparently tending to his cows when the storm hit. He took refuge in a coulee divided by an island, but as the water rose, he got to the island where his brother later found him. The younger man went up to him, asked him a question, to which Bubnash said “What” and died, presumably of heart attack. The child died at the Hingham hospital, of injuries sustained when the house was blown over.

The article also reported hail stones three to four inches deep.

In happier news, there was a big picnic planned for farmers in the Gildford area set for June 25. A. C. Ulman was organizing the picnic and had secured J. N. Tittemore, national president of the American Society of Equity; J. M. Anderson, president of the Equity co-operative Exchange at St. Paul; and Wm. Burlingame, state president of the Montana Union of the American Society of Equity as speakers. A program in the afternoon and dancing in the evening were also planned.

Also being planned was the Great Northern Stampede, opening on July 3rd. An office had been set up, and requests were already coming in from owners of famous bucking horses and steers for the event. Organizers were also contacting “Every world’s champion performer, famous cowboys, cowgirls, Indians, ropers, bulldoggers, buckeroos and all the experts in Stampede lines of entertainment” to make this event a successful one. The Plaindealer also stated:

Every effort will be made to make the visitors feel at home and the business men of this city are getting behind the movement with true Havre spirit.

I’ve been reading old Havre newspapers for at least two decades, and it never ceases to amaze me some of the side-swipes editors publish. Rather than come out and say who is doing something disagreeable, they couch their dismay with unidentifiable nouns. Here is one such entry, found in the June 7, 1919, Plaindealer.

KNOW HER?

We have watched her. She is a loafer, a woman loafer. She spends more of her time standing in other people’s doorways and on the street corners than the average man loafer. Her child trails after her from one place to another, thankful perhaps for the little attention bestowed upon it. And she has a friend of her kind who is little better. There they go, the three of them, up the street, on their foolish way. Have you noticed?

We have said that we hate gossip; we do, and we do not mean to start any. If you see what we have seen, draw your own conclusions and keep your mouth shut. We hope these ladies will read this, however, and do their loafing so discreetly hereafter that you will not judge them.

As though calling someone an inattentive mother and the three of them “foolish” — one being a little child, no less — in one of four local newspapers at the time, is going to help matters.

So, between a severe and deadly storm, planning a big picnic and the annual Stampede, and people getting up in others’ business, life is never dull in Havre and Hill County, Montana.