Park, friends celebrate ranger's 50 years in Glacier

One evening Glacier Park interpretive rangers Bill Schustrom and Doug Follett took the DeSmet tour boat out on Lake McDonald. Schustrom had filled the boat with gas earlier, but what he didn't know was that another tour had gone out in between.

You can guess what happened. The big beautiful boat ran out of gas — on the other side of the lake. It was, to put it mildly, a sticky situation. But Follett didn't miss a beat. He kept on with his talk, with his now famous poems, like nothing was amiss.

Schustrom, meanwhile, saw a friend with a boat in the lake and the man offered to slowly, but surely, push the big boat back to dock at Lake McDonald Lodge with his boat.

The plan worked, but Schustrom, as captain, noted it was no small task to bring the big boat to dock with no power. At the last second, the friend cut the power to his boat and the DeSmet, in all her glory, silently coasted into dock as if nothing had happened.

A round of applause came from the patrons.

Schustrom thought they were clapping for him. They weren't. They were clapping for Follett.

It was, in the annals of Park history, another Follett moment. Unforgettable. Undeniable. Unbelievable. Hilarious.

Monday night Park staffers, friends and relatives gathered to celebrate the 83-year-old's career in Glacier. He's spent 50 summers working in the Park. One year on a blister-rust trail crew back in 1942, and 49 straight years as a ranger-interpreter, from 1961 to the present.

More than 200 people turned out to congratulate him, as well as roast him a little. Many wore purple T-shirts that said "Follett Fever" on the front.

"Isn't it great getting together to honor someone's 50 years?" said superintendent Chas Cartwright.

Follett was born in 1926 in Fernie, B.C.

In 1927 his father took a job with the Great Northern railroad and young Doug grew up hunting, trapping and fishing in the hills around Whitefish. He enlisted in the Air Force at 18 and eventually returned to Montana.

He married his wife, Anastasia in 1949 and they had four girls, Lynn, Jen, Audrey and Karen — all of which attended the party.

In the 1950s he got a job teaching history at Columbia Falls High School and stayed for 35 years.

He worked summers for 10 years as an interpreter at the Hungry Horse Dam, which gives him a total of 61 years of service with the Department of Interior.

He was recognized with several gifts for his service, plenty of jokes, including a timeline that traced history according to his career.

Most of the moments were ones that brought smiles.

One moment highlighted his dedication. In the summer of 2003, when the Robert Fire was bearing down on Apgar, Follett made sure the cedar shake roof of the Montana House was watered down before he evacuated, remembered friend and owner Monica Jungster.

At the end of the party, Follett took a few fun jabs at the crowd, but also acknowledged their warmth and kindness through the years.

"It isn't my party," he said. "It's our party."