Fern Young Michael ... Mama

She was born in 1913, in Nebraska, the youngest of two girls. Just 2 years old when they moved to Montana, most of her childhood was spent growing up at the homestead, moving to the home ranch at the forks of Rosebud Creek when she was 14.

As in all ranch areas at the time, school was a one-room, one teacher school, 1st through 8th grade. It was 3 miles from the homestead cabin and the girls rode horseback to get there, riding double on the old, reliable mare called Rose. Mom used to tell me how annoyed she would get at her older sister because Millie always got to ride in front, but in the winter it was better because she could duck her head down keep her face warm.

The nearest high school was 60 miles from the ranch, in Sheridan, Wyoming. With horse drawn transportation and little cash money available, most ranch kids boarded full time with families in or near town, most of them working for their board and room. Mama felt she was very fortunate to be able to board with the high school music teacher's family, with only three small children to help care for and modern conveniences like gas stoves to cook on and running water in the house.

Summers were spent back at the ranch, helping with the usual summer work, from gardening and canning food for the winter to haying, working cattle and fencing. Without hired help, both girls helped when they were home and summers were when most of the preparations for winter had to get done. Without livestock trucks, selling cattle meant driving them 40 miles, a 2 or 3 day trip by horseback, to Spear Siding, which was a set of corrals at a railroad stop where they were loaded into cattle cars and transported to sale yards.

Mama never wanted to be anything except a teacher and I remember her telling me that she used to "play school" as a little girl, lining up her dolls and teaching them from her school books. Two years of college was what was necessary then for a "teacher's certificate", which meant you could get a job teaching school. While her parents managed to pay for the school fees, again, Mama had to work for her board and room while going to school. The first year was terrible, the woman she boarded with expected her to do all the housekeeping, washing and ironing as well as much of the cooking. From the few bits I heard, growing up, I think she managed most of the time on about 4 hours sleep, often falling asleep over her homework.

She said very little about that first year and more often mentioned her second year as she became very fond of the woman she boarded with that year. One story she told repeatedly was having to make a bug collection for one of her classes and one day she and this lady were on the street when they spied a bug she didn't have. Mama would still giggle when she described this lady, in her fancy dress and shoes, scrambling down the street gutter trying to catch this big bug for her.

For several years after getting her certificate, she lived at the ranch and taught at the little one room school over on Squirrel Creek where she'd gone to grade school herself. From the home ranch, it was nearly 5 miles cross country horseback, but there were no "snow days" back then. She was expected to get to the school early enough to get the fire going so the schoolroom would be warm for the children and at night, she stoked the fire before she rode home.

A few years later, she went to a small town in western Montana, Radersburg, where she taught until she met ... and married ... my father, who was working in one of the gold mines in the area, though he was from a ranching background as well. They eventually returned to the family ranch on Rosebud Creek, where they lived until their retirement.

They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in May of 1990.