Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Letters to the Editor

Leave ‘em laughing

I like the Op Ed page of any newspaper, but our own Glasgow Courier’s keeps getting better, yet Virgil is still my fave! Mary Honrud’s garden articles aren’t on this page but I sure enjoy them. Sandy Laumeyer tells of things that take me down my memory lane as well. Her last week’s “Just the Facts” column was typically Sandy: upbeat and positive in spite of the crisis she’s facing. And last but not least, Gwen’s piece reminded me of the custom combiners that came up north to Richland where I grew up. The time frame was circa 1946 to 1954. Electricity via REA came in 1946. The folks I recall came from Lubbock, Texas, and Goodland, Kan.

At least one of the women from Lubbock used Mom’s electric Norge wringer washing machine (she’d purchased from Otto Jevne’s store in Larslan), galvanized wash tubs for rinsing, and wire clothes lines to do her laundry. We had a wooden grain door from the elevator outside our back door where she put the machine and tubs for them to use. No cement slab. I don’t know what they used for plumbing in their trailers, they were then, nothing fancy 8 x 30 ft. variety, as there were no water or sewer hook-ups in town. There were lots of outdoor privies yet in use so I reckon they had several choices. The Farmer’s Union Oil Station had an outdoor water spigot that anyone could use and several people hauled their water supply from there. It was a real hardship for them when rainy weather set in, to go for days without work. They had our sympathy.

Leave ‘em laughing is my motto, so this is my closing: This big fella from Goodland comes into Squires Grocery, my folks’ store, when I was “on duty” and asked for castor oil. I searched the shelves behind the counter where the “medical” supplies - aspirin, Listerine, Pepto Bismol, etc., were stored without any luck. Not wanting to miss a sale I suggested, “Would Ex Lax do?” Laughingly he replied, “Afraid not sister, I need it to grease the combine belts!” Was my 13-year-old face red!

– Arlene Trang

Nashua, Montana

Gratitude

for Glasgow

I am writing to express gratitude and admiration for the fine care my wife received from both the Glasgow ambulance service and the Frances Mahon Hospital’s emergency room last week. While participating in a section of a 15-day, 200-mile walking and mountain biking transect across southern Blaine, Phillips and Valley counties, my wife, Kayla, took a very bad spill on her mountain bike while descending a steep two-track road, 50 miles south of Glasgow.

Immediately after the accident, it was not clear if she had broken bones, neck, back or other injuries. Using our satellite phone, we contacted 911 and very soon were assured that the local ambulance team of Sherry and Clay Berger were on their way to the GPS coordinate we had provided. We got Kayla situated on a backboard and with a neck brace which we were carrying in our safety gear. We then waited for an hour and a half while Sherry and Clay made their way towards us over very rough and remote country.

From the time they arrived on the scene until they delivered us to the Frances Mahon emergency room, they were exceedingly cordial, efficient and professional. All the staff at the emergency room treated Kayla with wonderful respect and caring as they ran cat scans, x-rays etc. We could not have asked for better treatment after such a trauma. For one reason or another Kayla and I have experienced more than our share of emergency rooms in the past 35 years together. The experience at Frances Mahon was one of the best ever in terms of attentiveness, thoroughness and good communication with us. Kayla and I would both like to say thank you to all the wonderful people from Glasgow, who in addition to the above mentioned, also included the Glasgow sheriff’s department and Todd Tryan, BJ Kemp, Heath Headley from Fish Wildlife and Parks, who all helped get Kayla on her way to medical care in town. We greatly appreciate every one of you.

– Sean Gerrity

American Prairie Reserve

 

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