Remembering Katie and Ivan

Over the years, I have had a great deal of fun writing this column. Each week, it’s almost like writing a letter to friends, telling them about life on the North Fork. Most of all I enjoy researching stories about the homesteaders who settled the North Fork, and once in a while even about pre-homestead days.

I intended to write this week about another early day Glacier National Park ranger, Frank Liebig, who like Norton Pearl had many worth-telling adventures. Unlike Joe Cosley, they were a credit to the National Park Service and to the community.

Unfortunately, that story has to be postponed to write one of my least enjoyable columns. That is, of course the passing of not one, but two, people who have been important to me and many others on the North Fork.

The first was my stepmother, Katie Wilson. She and my dad spent many years living year-round on the North Fork. Their year-round home is now the property of Tom and Betsy Holycross. Dad and Katie then built a summer cabin on Kintla Ranch.

That is now owned by Bill and Jocelyn Meeker. Katie then had a cabin built, which she continued to enjoy with kids and grandkids until declining health kept her in town.

During her years on the North Fork, Katie was active with the North Fork Improvement Association, serving multiple terms as secretary-treasurer. She was also active in many social events, loved dancing, and like most North Fork ladies was an accomplished cook. She died at the Soldiers Home in Columbia Falls, aged 80.

The other to pass this week was Ivan Winsheimer, 91, who died at his home just days after being released from the hospital.

For many years, Ivan and his wife lived in their comfortable cabin in Polebridge. After his wife passed, Ivan sold his North Fork home and moved to the valley. Still, he returned often to the North Fork and even spent at least one winter caretaking a former neighbor’s log cabin.

Ivan was often to be found on the front porch of the Polebridge Mercantile, where he always had time to visit. Once he even took up pen and paper to chastise me for forgetting to include his friend Ted Ross in a column about the Mercantile.

Both will be missed and their families and friends will be in our prayers.

Just a reminder, March and April are open burning on the North Fork. After May 1 (when you might actually be able to burn), a burning permit is required. Usually, March and most of April are snow months, and open burning is safe but not practical.