On the Sun Road with Evelyn Grinde

At 95, Evelyn Grinde has a sharp memory of 1934, the year President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor visited Glacier National Park and toured the newly constructed Going-to-the-Sun Road. She had just graduated from Columbia Falls High School and had no idea what she was getting into when she responded to an ad in the local newspaper.

"It was the depths of the Depression and jobs were impossible to find," she recalled. "Eivind T. Scoyen was superintendent of Glacier National Park. Anticipating a very busy summer, the Scoyens were looking for someone to help with the housework and care for their seven-year-old son, Ted."

Evelyn was hired at $15 a month with Sundays off. Her mother had trained her well in all the "homemaking arts," and when Scoyen's wife Bernice discovered Evelyn could cook, she moved from spring housecleaning to running the kitchen.

"That would mean getting up at 6 a.m. to fire up the cast-iron wood range," Evelyn recalled. "There were no appliances like toasters or coffee makers, and the refrigerator was just an icebox. Mrs. Scoyen would sit in the corner of the kitchen making out the daily menu."

Laundry was the most dreaded task of the day, especially with so many guests, family and friends, along with all the bed and table linens.

"This was before the day of wash-and-wear and steam irons," Evelyn said. "Clothing was changed at least twice a day, if not more. I determined early on that it would be a very busy summer, and with 12 to 14 hours a day, my pay would be about 3 cents an hour."

Official visitors from Washington began arriving all summer prior to President Roosevelt's visit.

"Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, was the first I remember," Evelyn said. "He was a dour, unpleasant individual who spent his time fishing the stream bordering the Park."

Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace also came for a time. His son, Henry, Jr., was a temporary summer ranger, as were Sen. Burton K. Wheeler's two sons. Montana's senior senator and his family often stayed at their summer home on Lake McDonald.

"Leading up to the president's visit, the Scoyens were the official hosts to all these dignitaries, and I had them to either luncheon or dinner," Evelyn said. "I did the serving as well as the cooking. On one occasion, I was surprised by the visit to the kitchen by Secretary of the Navy Claude Swanson, who just walked in and complimented me on the dinner and especially the strawberry shortcake, which was made from scratch."

Col. Edmund Starling, chief of the Secret Service, had scrutinized the route to be taken. On the day of his visit, the president arrived at the Belton train depot near West Glacier. The cars lined up, with Roosevelt seated in the Cadillac and a car carrying his wife and Bernice Scoyen directly behind.

"Mrs. Scoyen related to me an amusing incident that took place, much to her embarrassment," Evelyn said. "During the drive, she was filling in Mrs. Roosevelt with facts about the Park and its history. At one point on the Garden Wall, she explained that on one side resided the tribe of Indians known as the Blackheads and on the other the Flatfeet."

One of Roosevelt's innovations during the Depression was the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided work camps for unemployed young men from the cities. Provided $1 a day and basic necessities, they were assigned work on trails, in the woods and on fires. Many local young men stayed at the CCC camp in the Park, including Evelyn's future husband, Owen.

"Later, after we were married, he related to me his work in the CCC and how disappointed everyone was during the presidential visit," Evelyn said. "The camps had been notified that he would make an appearance, and special pains were taken to have them in tip-top shape. Even a special meal was prepared. However, the entourage swept by without even stopping, much to everyone's disappointment."

Evelyn recalls how hard the work was that summer, but also the good times. On weekends, there was dancing in the Apgar recreational center and at Lake McDonald Lodge.

"With all the CCC boys and the seasonal rangers, it was a maiden's paradise," Evelyn said. "And a wallflower, I was not."

She also used Bernice Scoyen's "nifty roadster" to drive Ted to the Wheelers to play with Marian Wheeler, who was Ted's age. And Virginia Wheeler, who was about Evelyn's age, would join Evelyn in an afternoon horseback ride.

Evelyn and Owen Grinde, who were married in 1939, built their retirement dream home on West Lakeshore Drive in Whitefish about 1980. The house burned down on Friday the 13th, August 1982, taking with it a lifetime of photos. The couple rebuilt at the same location two years later, and Evelyn lived there until 2001, when she moved to Dayton, Ohio, to live with her daughter and son-in-law Marilyn and Mark Dues.

Owen was a native of Whitefish who worked in the newspaper industry after graduating from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 1939. He worked for the Montana Standard until 1951, when he became the public relations director for the Montana Power Co. After retiring in 1980, he was active in Whitefish community affairs until his death in 1990.

Martin City is named for Evelyn's grandparents, who came from Canada and settled in the Flathead. Her father, Dr. Carmen Allison, practiced in Whitefish during the 1920s. Her brother Bruce was a doctor and her brother William was a dentist, both in the Flathead.

"Mom looks forward to her Pilot arriving each week," her daughter Marilyn said. "She was saddened to read of the passing of her dear friend, Father Bud Strom. She and Father Bud were each other's first dates at the age of 15 — and last dates. Not long before she came to Dayton, he took her to dinner and the movies."