I’VE GONE BACK AND forth now for years. Do I pull the trigger and craft an issue of Yellowstone Valley Woman that’s all about men? Or, do I “stay in my lane”? It wasn’t until recently that I decided it was well worth the effort to — for the first time in YVW’s 24-year history — put an inspirational man our cover. Story ideas kept coming and coming and before I knew it, without even trying, I had a full issue devoted to men. It’s funny how that happens.
Years ago, I thought of a men’s issue because of my extreme admiration for one of the first men I met when I arrived in Billings. I was a fresh-out-of-college reporter for KTVQ when I got the assignment to travel to Colstrip to visit and tour the Rosebud Mine. The mine was entertaining a group of Indonesian businesspeople, and it was my job to tell the story.
As I stepped on the bus that would take us all over the grounds, a man and his wife met me with a huge smile. They knew I was brand new to town and used the trip to learn a little bit about me. I was struck by their sincere spirit and kindness. The couple was Stella and Ziggy Ziegler. He was a Yellowstone County commissioner at the time. She was still at the helm of her bustling business, Stella’s Kitchen and Bakery.
Julie Letter Editor
Covering county government from time to time, I got to know Ziggy and his incredible heart. I learned that he had begun providing prison ministry after his father was murdered during an armed robbery. Instead of bitterness, Ziggy chose compassion. I learned that he and Stella would hire people newly released from prison to give them second and sometimes third and fourth chances. I sat with him as he visited about Barry Beach, a man wrongfully convicted of murder whom he helped to get released after Beach had spent 28 years in prison.
I saw a man who quietly served others.
When I first came up with the idea of a men’s issue, I really wanted a chance to put Ziggy on our cover. Sadly, I waited too long. Ziggy passed away in January of 2023 at 89 years old after a battle with cancer.
Somewhere, stuffed in a box of old photos is a picture I have of Ziggy dressed up as a giant strawberry for Billings’ annual Strawberry Festival. I laugh when I think of the photo and remember how, despite his contagious grin, the poor man was near sweating to death in a plastic strawberry suit on an 80-plus degree day. He did it with a smile on his face to bring joy to others.
So, Ziggy, if you can hear me. I’m sorry I never got the chance to fully honor your life’s work. You were one of the good guys.
Not many know this, but 36 percent of the people who pick up YVW are men. So, why not celebrate the men who, like their female counterparts, work hard to make our community a better place? Their stories are no less inspiring just because they happen to be men.
I know there will be some of you who will ask: So, what now? Are you starting a men’s magazine? No. No, we are not. But, we are confident enough in our platform that this issue is more than OK. It’s perfect. ✻
Congrats gentlemen!
ATTENTION ALL SHOPPERS
38 speaking for the voiceless
Eric Basye invests in the community and in people features 10 baghdad to billings
Mehmet Casey finds a welcoming home here
16 making his mark
Jeff Ewelt prepares to say goodbye to ZooMontana and Billings
20 'mclovin' the billings community
Justin Hutchinson gives back over and over
26 hard time and hard truths
Willy Johnson uses his past to transform others through faith-based prison program
32 tuff harris Warrior of Second Chances
46 the freedom memorial
Rick Baker’s long road to remembering fallen veterans
52 mission accomplished
Dan Hargrove looks back on a career in aviation
58 setting the rhythm for billings
Bill Honaker has made his mark on downtown
keeper of the vision
Bill Simmons has grown both a business and people
96 the pinnacle of design
Jeremy Van Wagoner wears many hats when remodeling homes
ARRIVING IN BILLINGS for the first time on Aug. 27, 2006, Mehmet “Mo” Casey was in for a bit of a shock. He was 24 and had never been out of his home country of Iraq. The flight out of Baghdad was his first time on an airplane. And some advice from his sister, then living in Maine, was not quite as useful as he’d hoped.
Some of his sister’s colleagues, Mehmet says, most of whom lived in Washington, D.C., advised her to tell her brother: “Pack all of his winter clothes, no need to even pack any T-shirts.” As a result, he arrived in Billings wearing a coat that went below his knees, carrying two suitcases full of winter clothes.
“The first thing I realize is, I need to go shopping,” Mehmet says. “It was incredibly hot.”
Despite that inauspicious beginning, Mehmet adapted quickly to his new surroundings.
Waiting for him at the airport that first day in Billings was Ken Briggs, then director of international programs at Rocky Mountain College, where Mehmet was to teach Arabic on a one-year Fulbright Scholarship. From the top of the Rims, Briggs had Mehmet look out over Billings, telling him that what he saw was most of the city, with another part of town, the Heights, behind them. Briggs was apprehensive that Billings would seem too small to someone from Baghdad, which then had a population of 5 million.
But Mehmet points out that Baghdad’s 5 million people were jammed into a city with a footprint only twice that of Billings. What he felt, gazing out over the city, was an unfamiliar serenity.
He told Briggs, “Ken, I didn’t think this was a possible lifestyle. I think I can hear myself think. I’ve never experienced that.”
In his early days in Billings, he took long walks to familiarize himself with his new city. It took a while to get over how pleasant everyone was, greeting him so warmly that he even wondered if everyone knew he had just come from Iraq and was trying to make him feel welcome.
“In a big city,” he says, “you don’t make eye contact with somebody unless you are either about to ask a question or you want to get in a fight.”
Nineteen years later, he’s still here, working as the development director for the Downtown Billings Association, doing his best to make the community that welcomed him into an even better place.
He was born Mohamed El Qaisi in Baghdad in 1982. After having his name somewhat mangled in the process of obtaining a passport, he changed it to Mehmet (as Mohamed is rendered in Turkish, his mother’s native tongue) L. Casey. He was quickly nicknamed “Mo” after settling in Billings.
At the time of his birth, Iraq was in the midst of a debilitating war with Iran, and Iraq was under the iron rule of Saddam Hussein, who maintained his grip on the country through a campaign of fear and terror.
His parents were high school graduates, which meant that they had the equivalent of bachelor’s degrees under the Iraqi educational system, and both of them worked in a bureau under the
ministry that controlled water resources, his father as an administrative manager and his mother as an office manager.
When Mehmet’s brother and sister, 18 and 13 years his senior, respectively, were growing up, their Turkish maternal grandmother lived with them. By the time Mehmet came along, she had died and his mother left her job to raise him.
Even as a youth, Mehmet says, it was understood that you didn’t talk about politics, much less criticize Saddam or his Ba’athist Party. He said Iraqi parents learned, “through unfortunate incidents, that they had to brainwash their kids … to look up to Saddam Hussein as their secondary father. We learned from an early age to praise him.”
Still, daily life wasn’t all that bad. And though Mehmet didn’t travel outside the country, the family visited tourist destinations in Iraq, as well as an aunt’s farm in western Iraq. Several times, Mehmet’s father took him to meet semi-nomadic Bedouins who belonged to the tribe his family was traditionally aligned with.
That was another reason Mehmet liked Billings from the start.
WHEN
I CAME HERE, PEOPLE WERE TALKING ABOUT RECYCLING AND REUSING, REPURPOSING. I WAS, LIKE, ‘THAT’S HOW LIFE IS. WHAT DO YOU MEAN?’ IN IRAQ, EVERYTHING WAS USED TO DEATH.
— Sam Kaufman
In Iraq, there were basically three places to live: rural farms and villages, Bedouin desert communities or big cities. There were no mid-size cities like Billings.
Things changed dramatically for all Iraqis after their country invaded Kuwait in 1990. The U.N. imposed crippling sanctions on Iraq, forcing it to produce all its own food, energy and medicine.
“When I came here, people were talking about recycling and reusing, repurposing,” Mehmet says. “I was, like, ‘That’s how life is. What do you mean?’ In Iraq, everything was used to death.”
Mehmet, who like many Iraqis studied English from an early age, earned a degree in English literature and linguistics at an Iraqi college. By the time he graduated in 2004, the United States and its allies had invaded Iraq, Saddam was dead and an American, Paul Bremer, was in charge of a provisional government. Mehmet wanted to work as an interpreter for American officials or the military, but his family was living in the most dangerous part of Baghdad, where anyone cooperating with the occupiers was targeted for assassination.
He worked instead as a translator in his father’s bureau, where he stayed until winning the scholarship to teach at Rocky. He had 20 students in his first Arabic class, and it was so popular he offered a second-level class the next semester, then a third-level class the following fall. The scholarship was gone by then, but Rocky took him on, though Mehmet had to work four other part-time jobs to make ends meet.
In December 2006, he started paperwork to apply for asylum, because even in the short time he had been gone, a civil war had broken out in Iraq, and competing militias were recruiting everyone from 14 to 40 with a simple message: “You either join or die.”
He stayed at Rocky until 2010, when he was hired as a tutor and teacher of English as a Second Language at Montana State University Billings, before eventually becoming an admissions and advising specialist for all international students there. While working, with an eye toward opening his own business someday, Mehmet earned a degree in public relations.
Degree in hand, he got the development director job with the DBA in 2019, the same year he became a U.S. citizen. He has never been back to Iraq and doesn’t see much reason to visit, since most of his family and friends have long since moved elsewhere themselves. His brother once sent him pictures of the old family home in Baghdad, a 1,200-square-foot residence that had been converted to four units.
erties. Unlike most other areas of town, there was no one source of information for prospective tenants downtown until Mehmet came along.
“His talent for pulling up the smallest details about a person, a building, a meeting, makes him uniquely suited to the position of development director,” says Katy Schreiner, CEO of the downtown association. “He truly wants to make our community a better place.”
HIS TALENT FOR PULLING UP THE SMALLEST DETAILS ABOUT A PERSON, A BUILDING, A MEETING, MAKES HIM UNIQUELY SUITED TO THE POSITION OF DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR. HE TRULY WANTS TO MAKE OUR COMMUNITY A BETTER PLACE.
— Katy Schreiner
Katy says Mehmet has always been willing to share his culture, his Muslim faith and his experiences with others. His life, she adds, has “given him a perspective on humanity that he uses for the betterment of himself and others.”
At the DBA, Mehmet has become a tireless booster of the downtown. One of his key projects was collecting scattered data from all real estate agents that represent downtown commercial prop-
Mehmet does admit that he misses the food he grew up eating. He’s been to most major American cities, where it is usually possible to find Iraqi food, and he still prefers Billings, but he wishes it was closer to a big city, like Denver.
“Just so that on those days when I truly miss an authentic Iraqi dish, I could go down and have it,” he says. “But I’m not going to drive eight hours just for that. So that’s the only thing I miss about being here.” ✻
IN THE NATURAL WORLD, there exists a symbiotic relationship that connects all things for their mutual benefit.
Jeff Ewelt, the long-time face of ZooMontana known as “Jeff the Nature Guy,” echoes this principle on a human level. He and his team have long created connections between the zoo and the community that have benefited both.
“I’m proud of what we’ve built, and I really believe the community is proud of what we have here,” Jeff says.
After 14 years as director, he’s ready to take on the role of chief zoological officer at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. If he seems in a hurry to leave Billings, he’s definitely not. It’s just his nature to charge ahead, his long strides often leaving others in his wake. Yet it’s also in his nature to abruptly break stride to crouch down and share a special moment with a preschooler — as I observed firsthand.
“This just kind of fell into my lap,” he says of the job offer in Omaha. “It was an opportunity too good to pass up.”
Long-time board member Shelli Mann is sad to see him go. Having worked with him behind the scenes, she’s witnessed his genuine concern for the animals that call ZooMontana home.
“This was not so much a job for Jeff, this was a calling,” she says. “The man even loves the cockroach, for goodness’ sake!”
I’M PROUD OF WHAT WE’VE BUILT, AND I REALLY BELIEVE THE COMMUNITY IS PROUD OF WHAT WE HAVE HERE.
— Jeff Ewelt
That signature move reflects both his infectious enthusiasm and his drive for getting things done — a combination that has ingratiated him throughout the region.
Jeff is bittersweet about his departure. His new job will allow him to work more closely with animals — all 39,000 of them at the Omaha facility — but he considers ZooMontana “his baby.”
From his first day at ZooMontana, Jeff rallied the community around a zoo that had lost its accreditation just the day before he took over.
“It was chaotic,” he says, remembering that rocky start. “Morale was not high, and I was coming in as about the 10th director in 20 years.”
As he pondered the wisdom of that decision, a school bus pulled up at the zoo entrance.
“Those kids came off that bus screaming with excitement,” he says. “And I realized, we have to save the zoo for these kids. That got me through that first day.”
That focus has carried Jeff through more than 5,000 days since. A native of Ohio, he remembers the exact moment that cement-
ed his interest in furry, feathered and scaly creatures. During a job shadow in the sixth grade, an animal caregiver from the local science center placed a small Saw-whet owl in young Jeff’s
“When that owl hit my hand, I knew I wanted to do ‘this,’ even though I really didn’t know what ‘this’ was,” he says.
While studying at Ohio State University in Columbus, he landed his first job at the world-famous Columbus Zoo — selling hotdogs and Pepsi at the concessions stand. That’s also where he first crossed paths with the renowned Columbus Zoo
“I was starstruck,” he says.
Yet, Hanna’s ties to Montana had nothing to do with Jeff’s move to the Big Sky State. Jeff had spent a decade as the animal ambassador at ZooTampa in Florida when he and his wife sought a new place to raise their newborn son. They’d always been drawn to the West and, when he noticed that the Beartooth Nature Center in Red Lodge (now the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary) was advertising for a new director, he jumped at the oppor-
“Lo and behold, it happened,” he says. “My wife came sight unseen.”
Three years later, Ewelt took the director’s job at the struggling ZooMontana.
“It was struggling strictly because of financial reasons,” he says. “The animal care was good. It never wavered.”
As the grounds languished and outreach waned, Jeff found his moment to shine. But his outspoken enthusiasm didn’t come to him naturally.
“This shocks people, but I am a very introverted person,” he says. “I’m shy when I’m not at work. I had to teach myself to be comfortable with people.”
That self-taught lesson really paid off. Jeff credits the Billings Gazette’s 2011 “Save the Zoo” campaign for igniting a sense of hope for the zoo. Yet, money alone would not save it.
Ewelt’s zeal earned him invitations to media events. “They gave me a chance to make news anchors scream at six in the morning,” he says with a smile. That dispelled the rumors of gloom and doom at the zoo and steamrolled into a new sense of excitement.
To fuel those positive vibes, Jeff and his staff poured their energies into being so much more than a zoo. And in doing so, the
zoo became a vital cog in the community.
When a zoo visitor told Jeff it was his third trip to the zoo that summer — to a wedding, with family and lastly to a concert — Jeff knew their efforts were making a difference.
“That was fantastic,” he says. “The fact that we are so much more than a zoo, we did that on purpose.”
Likewise, ZooMontana has welcomed groups, such as the botanical society and members of Yellowstone Arboretum, which have invigorated the zoo through their own projects.
“We knew these would bring a different crowd of people,” he says.
Carloads of families also came for the zoo’s spectacular holiday light event. And when the zoo shifted to the more recent “Holiday Nights”, a walkable event with more than 10 million lights, the change in approach not only quadrupled the zoo’s proceeds but lured a whole new demographic to the zoo.
In maintaining that symbiotic relationship, ZooMontana has shared its success with its neighbors, donating more than $40,000 annually in zoo passes to local non-profits.
“We want to ensure that they’re able to do their missions,” Jeff says.
Seeing how the zoo has brought pride to the community is its own reward for Jeff. On the cusp of his departure, he looks to his recent accomplishments — the new foster waterfowl habitat that beautified one of the zoo’s uglier patches— and he exudes excitement for the upcoming capital campaign that will fund the zoo’s own onsite veterinarian clinic.
“And the parking lot,” Jeff says with a laugh. “It may sound goofy,
but it’s been a 20-year project. It was like a moonscape. We needed to clean it up.”
Above all, Jeff relishes the zoo’s crowning moment, when the Association of Zoos and Aquariums re-established ZooMontana’s accreditation eight years after it was taken away.
“That was the most memorable moment of my career,” he says. “They called us into the room and we got a standing ovation.”
As Ewelt looks to the future, he puts his full trust in his team for carrying ZooMontana forward without him.
“I will miss them more than they will ever know,” he says. “I have been the face of the zoo and I always got the credit. But the credit is due to this team.”
Mann agrees, noting that Jeff has encouraged new leaders who will step up. As she expresses sadness to see him leave, she is excited for his future.
“Jeff is a star in the zoological world, and we will be seeing more of him, no doubt,” she says. “And when he has his own TV show and is famous around the world, Billings can brag that we knew him first!” ✻
LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA, writer
A long-time resident of the Columbus area, Linda Halstead-Acharya enjoys spending time and learning from her rural neighbors. She has a degree in wildlife biology but for the past 25 years has pursued a career sharing other people's stories in print. She loves riding, writing and traveling.
‘McLovin’ ‘McLovin’
‘McLovin’
Billings Billings Billings
the7
the7 Community Community Community
WHEN THE BIG J SHOW
JUSTIN HUTCHINSON GIVES BACK OVER AND OVER
JUSTIN HUTCHINSON GIVES BACK OVER AND OVER written by ED KEMMICK
airs on weekday mornings in Billings — at 101.9 on your FM dial — Justin “McLovin” Hutchinson plays second fiddle to show host Jason “Big J” Harris. But when it comes to charitable activities under the umbrella of the show’s nonprofit fundraising arm, Big J is the sidekick and Justin is the Big Cheese.
“Every year, he is getting more and more people and businesses to jump on board with his missions,” Jason says. “His passion to help, and how genuine his efforts are, make it hard not to want to be a part of it.”
And the number of “missions” just keeps on growing. The longest-running program is Santa Claus for a Cause, which has served 1,113 families since its inception in 2005. Books for Kids, which puts one book a month throughout the school year into the hands of an ever-growing number of Billings-area elementary-age children, has distributed more than 115,000 books just since 2021.
Under Justin’s leadership, their nonprofit, The Big J Show Cares, has also given steady support to Relay for Life of Yellowstone,
Billings Family Service, the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter and ZooMontana. An important one-off effort was the drive to raise money for flood relief in Carbon and Stillwater counties in the soggy summer of 2022.
In fact, it was the flood-relief drive that prompted Justin and his wife, Taylor Machler, who was heavily involved in the charitable work, to form the nonprofit organization. After the heavy flooding in June 2022, Justin would ask for donations on air and on the show’s Facebook page, and after a few hours he might go to Sam’s Club, buy cases and cases of bottled water and then drive them up to Red Lodge.
At one point, he says, Taylor said to him, “Maybe if we’re going to do this, we shouldn’t have it running through our own personal finances. Maybe we should make things a little more official, so Uncle Sam doesn’t come knocking on our door and demanding their share of all the money that was gifted.”
So now it’s official, with Justin leading the fund drives, doing all the financials and maintaining the spreadsheets. Taylor helps out where she can. Her biggest lift comes during the week when
written by ED KEMMICK photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
they’re narrowing down hundreds of applications for the Santa Claus for a Cause campaign. When they’ve picked the families — 70 last Christmas — Taylor types up a “story” for each one, so people making donations know what presents to buy for family members.
During that busy week, Justin says, Taylor will dedicate up to 40 hours to Santa Claus for a Cause, on top of her full-time job. During the year, they both put in hundreds of hours on charitable activities.
“And that’s just because we believe in the programs,” Justin says. “We’re just passionate about it.”
Where did that passion develop?
until graduating from Senior High School.
During his junior and senior years, he attended the Career Center, where he took a class in broadcasting. In the fall of 2005, his class toured the 101.9 station, where Jason had started his Big J Show just a few months earlier. During the tour, the station manager invited the students to apply for a job as a board operator “to push buttons on the weekend,” mostly during broadcasts of college football games.
THEY JUST GET SO EXCITED. I GET THANK-YOU CARDS FROM THESE KIDS, AND IT’S JUST THE COOLEST THING. IT’S LIKE, YEAH, IT MAKES EVERYTHING WORTH IT.
— Justin Hutchinson
“The critical part — not to get too religious — but the critical part of Christianity was Jesus commanded people to love your neighbors,” Justin says. “To me that just kind of stuck. To me, that’s always been in my head that you’ve got to take care of the people around you.”
Justin’s father was in the Navy, and Justin was born in Washington state. The family spent a couple of years in Hawaii before his father retired and the family moved to Billings. In the middle of second grade, they moved to Lockwood, where Justin remained
Justin applied, got an interview and was hired on the spot, in early October 2005. “It was the first real, paying-taxes job that I ever had,” he says.
Two years later he was still working weekends but also coming in to produce a morning show out of Nashville. It was another job involving mostly button-pushing, and it wasn’t terribly fun or challenging, so he’d walk down the hall to watch Jason do his thing. Eventually, Jason started asking Justin to chime in on various subjects, and the two developed a rapport.
He was hired to be a full-time part of the show in the spring of 2008, and he was known from the start as “McLovin,” the name of a character in the teen comedy “Superbad,” which came out
in the spring of 2007. Justin saw it with some friends, and they were as amazed as he was how closely he resembled McLovin, not just in looks but mannerisms, but even in the use of similar catch phrases.
So, McLovin it was, and McLovin it remains on the Big J Show. After all these years, Justin’s job title is still “producer,” even though there is minimal production on a talk show that’s all about spontaneity and improvisation.
Santa Claus for a Cause was the only regular charity program associated with the Big J Show when Justin started, and he soon took the lead on it, going from a dozen families or so to 50 or 60, and this past Christmas to 70, which seems to be a good level, Justin says.
It differs from similar charities by providing gifts for the whole family, not just the kids, and now also involves providing grocery gift cards, gas cards and gift cards to places like Wendy’s and Walmart.
Books for Kids began in 2020, when Joseph Kamps, a friend of Justin’s who was teaching at Bench Elementary, made a Facebook appeal for donations to buy books for his students. Justin and Taylor made a donation, but then Justin started thinking: what if they could raise enough money to buy a book a month for every child at Bench, kindergarten through fifth grade?
In 44 hours, he raised over $6,000, more than enough to expand it to the whole school. He expanded to McKinley Elementary after Kamps moved there, then added Ponderosa School too, because of a flood of support.
This spring, through a partnership with United Way of Yellowstone County and the Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools, all 21 elementary schools in Billings will give a book a month to every student in March, April and May, plus the Rimrock Learning Center and elementary schools in the Elder Grove District, Lockwood, Columbus and Absarokee — nearly 10,000 children in all.
Books for Kids means a lot to Justin because he always loved to read, but his family couldn’t always buy
him the books he wanted. Now, he occasionally goes into classrooms and reads to schoolchildren, many of whom know him as “the book guy.”
“They just get so excited,” he says. “I get thank-you cards from these kids, and it’s just the coolest thing. It’s like, yeah, it makes everything worth it.”
He and Jason started supporting ZooMontana by having its director, Jeff “The Nature Guy” Ewelt on the show every Friday. Then they started buying family zoo passes to be included with the other gifts in the Santa Claus for a Cause program. And when the zoo drew heat for hosting a Drag Queen Story Hour, Justin says, the Big J Show “chose to rise above the hate” and drum up donations for the zoo. In a matter of days, they raised enough money to buy annual memberships for 25 families.
And after eight years of serving on the marketing and public-relations team for Relay for Life, Justin was
looking for something new to do and joined the board of the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter. Last year he was elected board chairman, and he serves on the capital campaign that is raising money to build a new shelter. One fun event he coordinates is the Hot Dog Drive, because the shelter uses wieners to administer medication to their animals.
“They’ll send me a message once or twice a year,” he says. “They call me President Wiener. They say, ‘President Wiener, we need more hot dogs.’ We fill up their freezers with hot dogs.”
Justin says they’re proud that roughly 98 percent of donations to the nonprofit — minus a few small expenses like postage, web site maintenance and state registration fees — are “immediately put back into the programs that they are donated to.”
And for the record, Justin says he likes to “work behind the scenes — even just this article is hard for me,” because he’d much rather shine a light on other people and organizations.
“The charity truly wouldn’t exist without our donors,” he says. “I often feel like I get
an inappropriate amount of credit for what we’re doing, simply because I’m the one organizing it. I don’t have a lot of money to donate, but I know how to get in touch with the people that do, and to highlight those people and make those people known.”
Justin’s dedication to charitable work still amazes Jason, his friend and co-host.
“He wasn’t rich,” Jason says. “He didn’t have all the answers. It didn’t start out where it is today, but he did the work. If you look at the numbers of cumulative giving over the years, and realize that it all goes back to that kid from Lockwood, that’s pretty dang inspiring.” ✻
TO LEARN MORE about Justin's charitable efforts, visit bigjcares.com
HARD TIME HARD TRUTHS HARD TIME HARD TRUTHS HARD TIME HARD TRUTHS and2
WILLY JOHNSON USES HIS PAST TO TRANSFORM OTHERS THROUGH FAITH-BASED PRISON PROGRAM
written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN & WILLY JOHNSON
THE VIDEO CLIP PLAYS. A 19-year-old boy sitting in a maximum-security youth detention facility looks toward the camera and, with a somber look, talks about the day that changed the trajectory of his life. July 29, 1994. It was the day he drove into a South Salem, Oregon, parking lot, pointed a sawed-off shotgun through the window of his car and opened fire on a crowd of people.
When the gunfire ended, two people were dead and three were injured. At the time, the teen felt he was justified and was simply “settling a score.”
The interview was a part of a series done by Oregon Public Broadcasting in 1997, titled “Kids who Kill.”
“It’s never gone,” the teen says in the video. “It’s there. It’s going to be with me until I die.”
Today, 46-year-old Willy Johnson no longer knows that version of himself.
“Most people don’t know this story,” he says. “There has to be a God because that young violent man’s heart is changed completely. I don’t think the same way. I don’t feel the same way.”
from thinking that there were consequences.”
In the early ’90s, Willy spent the start of his teenage years on the streets of Salem, Oregon.
“I had a dominant mother who was abusive, with an absentee father who worked to stay away from that mess,” he says. So, Willy says, he stayed away too. He found a “family” in what can only be described as criminal enterprise. Crime wasn’t foreign to him. Both of his parents had done time in prison on theft charges.
As Willy sits at a conference table inside the space he’s carved out for his new prison ministry program, Montana Re-Entry, he shares the details of his crime and what he calls the miracle that took place in the years after.
“I really thought at the time that I was going to walk out of this scenario,” Willy says. “I was so far from reality. That kid was so far
“My dad was a Golden Gloves boxer, a bar fighter,” Willy says. “He was a go-to person for some of the ’70s mobsters. It was New York City stuff. That’s where he did his time, in Attica.” While his dad never spoke of his criminal ties, Willy says, “Even after he passed, I talked to my aunt and my cousin and I asked, ‘Is this true?’ They told me, no, it’s for real. They will vouch for him to the grave.”
As a kid, Willy watched cousins get tied up with gang life back in Los Angeles. In the 1990s, violent feuds often erupted between the Bloods and the Crips, over territory and drug profits. It was fertile ground for a 13-year-old boy looking to use violence in exchange for respect. While most wouldn’t think of Salem as Crips territory, Willy found them, and before long, he was wearing their colors.
“I was really just looking for problems,” Willy says. “If someone looked at you wrong or if someone had the wrong colors on, that’s
"KIDS WHO KILL", OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING
when the problems began.”
By 14, he found himself lying in a hospital bed after a confrontation with a rival gang.
“I left that scene with 50-some stitches in my face from a baseball bat injury,” he says. “Most people would be like, yeah, I need to get out of this lifestyle.”
For Willy, it fanned the flames of his anger. “I was waiting for the right somebody to come at me. I was a time bomb.”
initiated the trouble was dead. Erin Gordon, a 20-year-old who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, was also fatally shot.
“I didn’t even think about what had just happened,” Willy says. “I got caught the next morning.”
In the months to come, he would be tried as an adult, charged with two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of attempted murder and unlawful possession of a sawed-off shotgun. While prosecutors would paint Willy as an angry teen looking for trouble, his defense team claimed he was backed into a corner. It was self-defense. They also claimed Willy suffered from a low I.Q. and lacked the ability to form intent.
“At the end of the day, the jury almost let me go,” Willy says. “They almost said, this guy needs to go free because he didn’t have a choice. The only reason why I know that is because a juror wrote me a letter afterwards.” Reflecting on how close he came to freedom, he says, “That would have been a death sentence for me. I would have gone right back to the streets.”
Instead, Willy says, the jury found him guilty, not as an adult, but as a juvenile. He’d spend the next six years at a maximum-security youth correctional facility.
“I knew I could only serve until my 21st birthday and then they would let me out,” he says.
Three years into his time, the prison began offering intense therapy designed to help inmates come face to face with their crimes and start the hard work of rehabilitation.
“I was enrolled in three separate groups because I was so far gone,” Willy says. “One of the doctors who was running the group was the same doctor who evaluated me before my trial. Immediately, I knew he was one of the guys on this earth who could see my demons. He could see right through me.”
WE'VE ACTUALLY TAKEN A LIFE. HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD? I THINK GOD WAS ALREADY DOING HIS THING IN MY HEART.
— Willy Johnson
Three months later, he says, “That’s exactly what happened. The time bomb went off.”
After a close friend of his committed suicide, Willy says, “I heard through the grapevine that there was this guy who was making fun of this whole thing,” Willy says. “The guy had no idea who this kid was associated with.”
The teen found out when Willy spotted him in a Subway parking lot one Friday night.
“I lost my head at that point,” Willy says. “I opened fire on them.”
In the end, 17-year-old Tony Sanders, a friend of the teen who
During what he calls a 24-hour “marathon session,” his counselors forced him to look at photos taken at the scene of his crime.
“That flipped my switch. I was forced to face who I was,” he says. “How do I fix this? You think of suicide, because in my mind, that would fix it. I wouldn’t have to deal with the pain that I created for all these families, and they wouldn’t have to deal with me coming back into society.”
In the end, he says, “I didn’t have the courage.”
He spent the next few years rewriting his life. He could no longer tell himself he was a victim backed into a corner.
“Deep in my guts, I knew the truth. I knew I was a monster,” Willy says. “That was a heavy load to carry.”
At about that time, Willy remembers “a little old, divorced lady” coming into the youth correctional facility who wanted to help some young men learn how to study the Bible. Willy and his
WILLY & HIS FATHER
IN 2021, WILLY ESTABLISHED
MONTANA RE-ENTRY
RE-ENTRY
AS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
Volunteers join Willy every Thursday in Deer Lodge to encourage a small group of inmates to take ownership of their past.
friend, Mark, who was serving time for killing his stepsister, were the only two who took the woman up on her offer.
“She came every Sunday for two years,” he says. Slowly but surely, Willy started to peel back the layers of his troubled life.
“We were looking for something to redeem us, for lack of a better word,” Willy says. “We’ve actually taken a life. How do we move forward? I think God was already doing his thing in my heart.”
Flipping through the files he’s kept over the years, Willy recently found a reference letter from Dr. Orin Bolstad, the psychologist who led his intense therapy.
“He wrote, if you want to see that God moves and there are miracles still happening, spend some time with Willy.” With emotion in his voice, he says, “I am eternally grateful for that guy.”
ed they meet up at the Railside Diner in Laurel.
“Back in the day, it was the local cop hangout,” Willy says with a laugh.
“At dinner, Willy told me his story,” Julie says. “Then, he told me the best pickup line ever. He told me he felt like God had a plan for us in our lives together. He didn’t know if it was working in ministry together or what, but he did think God had a plan for us.”
Apparently, he was right. The two married in September of 2000.
WHAT THEY NEED IS SOMEONE TO WALK NEXT TO THEM TO GET THEM BACK INTO SOCIETY, JUST TO BE A FRIEND.
— Willy Johnson
Upon his release in December of 1999, Willy was sent a plane ticket to Laurel, Montana. For reasons unknown to him, it was the latest city in which his parents put down roots. Soon after arriving in Laurel himself, he was walking down Main Street to Grace Bible Church when he saw a sign promoting the church’s youth group. “I just walked in, and she was there.”
“She” was 21-year-old Julie Stene, his future bride.
“I was just hanging out and he shows up,” Julie says. “He saw the sign above the door and said, ‘I’ll go and check it out.’ He did, and that’s how we met.”
The two didn’t date for months and when they did, Julie suggest-
Eventually, the couple would start Alpha and Omega Disaster Restoration. In 2006, they began with just the two of them and one van. By the time they sold the company in 2021, they had grown the business to 40 employees.
Selling opened the door for Willy to follow the little voice that had been pushing him toward prison ministry. He’d been working since 2018 with inmates at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility. He wanted to do the same thing at Montana State Prison, talking to incarcerated men about life and, more importantly, God.
“What they need is someone to walk next to them to get them back into society, just to be a friend,” Willy says. “I don’t have the degree. I have an experience that happened to me that shows change is possible. I’m going to go with my experience which says, you need some therapy, buddy, but you also need a redeeming God who will give you a spirit to help you make some changes.”
In 2021, he’s established Montana Re-Entry as a nonprofit orga-
nization. He’s got 12 volunteers who, on a rotating schedule, join him every Thursday in Deer Lodge to encourage a small group of inmates to take ownership of their past.
Gary Flohr, who retired a few years ago after working for decades at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, is one of the program’s volunteers.
“You see growth in guys who are really being challenged to change their thinking and to take ownership of their behaviors, which is huge,” Gary says. Each week, up to 30 of the prison’s 1,600 inmates join them for faith-based fellowship. They read Scripture and talk about ways they can apply it to their lives. Gary says he loves walking alongside Willy on this transformative road.
“The man has a heart for people that is unbelievable,” Gary says. “He desires so much to see men change and make an honest change. We are offering that. Some of these men are going to be great citizens when they get out of here.”
The program uses a journal and a Bible-based curriculum to help inmates get a handle on things like controlling their emotions, making the right choices, identifying stress, managing finances, and how to make sure the relationships they have on the outside are healthy ones. The program is aimed at men who are six to 18 months away from release.
“I think I’ve wanted to do this forever,” Willy says. “The minute that I realized that someone lent me some real help, I think that’s when I said, ‘Man, that’s what I want to do.’”
Ryan Morris is close to finishing out his sentence on a burglary charge. The 35-year-old has been a regular at Willy’s Montana
Re-Entry weekly sessions. Each week, he says, he’s a little more equipped to deal with the everyday struggles that await him “on the outside.”
“I feel blessed,” Ryan says. “It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to talk with people who have like-minded experiences that have concrete proof that if you work these tools and use them, success is definitely an option.”
Terrie Stefalo is the activities coordinator for the Montana State Prison. She’s been with the Department of Corrections for more than two decades. She sees firsthand the impact this program is having on inmates.
“They appreciate Willy’s frankness,” she says, adding that it isn’t lost on any of them that he travels close to four hours one way to orchestrate an hour-and-a-half long program each week. “They identify with him because he was one of them. That’s a big blessing to us.”
While his nonprofit, for now, is mobile, Willy would love the day when part of the program includes pre-release housing for up to 25 men where he can help them navigate the trials of life outside prison.
“It will be a big life course with some therapy involved,” Willy says. “These guys need to know where they came from. They’ve got to figure it out. We have to peel the onion back all the way to the center.” Aside from housing, the program will offer mentorship and help with job opportunities.
Willy laughs when he says he hopes the facility looks a little like
RYAN MORRIS
a retirement home. Each man will have his own space with his own living room, bedroom and bathroom, but there would also be common areas to help them “do life together.” Each will have his own case manager. “Then, we can sit down and talk about truth,” Willy says. “At some point, there’s going to be an instant where the switch is flipped for these guys. The light will turn on.”
Willy is thankful when he thinks of that moment in his own life. He says his biggest success, however, isn’t coming from the bottom and founding and operating a successful business. It’s his marriage.
“Julie still likes me,” Willy says. “You laugh, but I think marriage is so incredibly delicate. It’s a lot more about the other person than it is you.” The two have been married 25 years and have a 23-year-old daughter, Rylee.
“She doesn’t have any criminal class in her bones. She doesn’t know that side of the tracks. How cool is that? That’s a generational stop,” Willy says of his daughter.
While he still reflects on his past from time to time, he’s quick to say that he doesn’t overindulge in such reflections.
“People say tear the rearview mirror off. I don’t believe that. The rearview mirror is small compared to the windshield,” he says.
He knows that, through that windshield, he might just help change another man’s life.
“That one could be the next Willy, right?” He adds, “With my transformation, I give the credit to the people who stepped beside me, who believed in me. I reflect on that often and out of that is just gratitude.”
It’s his time, he says, to do the same. “I want to finish the race here. I think it will be very fulfilling.” ✻
TO LEARN MORE about Montana Re-entry, visit montanareentry.org
Visit otsbillings.org to learn about our emergency homeless shelter services and how you can join us giving hope to those like Emily.
PHOTO COURTESY MONTANA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS
Harris Harris Harris
WARRIOR OF SECOND CHANCES
photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
NO DREAMS of the future are bigger or bolder than those of a kid from a small town. For some, those dreams wither on the vine of their imagination. For others, they are fertilized by the child’s own determination and the adults who bless the starry-eyed ambitions of the young.
Such was the case for Tuff Harris, a small-town boy from the reservation who dreamed big and is now helping others do the same. A man on a mission. A warrior of second chances.
Days after he was born in January 1983 on the Crow Reservation, during a bitter cold spell, Tuff Harris developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia. Doctors resuscitated him numerous times.
“The doctor told my family, every time they brought me back to life, my eyes popped open, and I would smile,” he says. “The doctor said, ‘Any kid that can do that is a pretty tough kid.’ My grandma started calling me Tuff and the name stuck.”
He proved to be not only tough, but a powerhouse of purpose. The athletic Harris, who is both Northern Cheyenne and Crow, grew up in Lodge Grass.
“On the reservation, one of the biggest goals is to win a state championship in basketball,” he says. “I played basketball, but I knew I wouldn’t be very tall.” So, he pivoted, setting his sights on football. “I was 9 years old and decided I really wanted to play in the NFL,” he recalls. “A lot of kids will say that, but for me, it was real.”
Friends laughed at his ambitions and his family offered encour-
I TRY TO GET THEM TO A PLACE TO START DREAMING AGAIN. IF THEY CAN DEVELOP WHATEVER SKILL THEY HAVE AND USE THAT, IT’S BETTER THAN RECEIVING TEMPORARY SUPPORT.
—Tuff Harris
agement, but validation from a trusted teacher was the turning point. “He said I believe in you,” Tuff recalls. “He told me the odds were low, but I needed to set small goals and be consistent. His words were powerful, and I started to believe in myself.”
He was a star on the gridiron at Colstrip High School, and college coaches took notice, but there were no football scholarships. “The University of Montana offered a track scholarship,” he says. “I made an agreement with them that I would run track, but also walk-on the football team.”
Tuff walked on and stood out, receiving athletic and academic honors. After years of focusing so intently on his professional ambitions, it was almost anticlimactic when he was finally recruited into the NFL.
“I truly believed when I was 9, it was going to happen. And it did.” His championship mentality allowed him to play at the highest level for five thrilling years with the Dolphins, Saints, Titans and Steelers. Visits home tugged at his heart and made him consider what might come next.
“I’ve always asked how I can help my community, the reservations,” Tuff says. “There are a lot of problems. I have a platform. I have a voice now.”
Days before retiring from profes sional football, he and his wife, Mary, watched a documentary on the plight of children on the Pine Ridge Reserva tion in South Dakota. Its impact was profound.
“These kids were younger than 12. Some had attempted suicide,” he ex plained. “The hopelessness, the pain. It just hit me so hard. I remember pray ing that night, going to bed wondering, how could I move the needle in that situation?” The next morning, a new purpose was born. “I had such a clear vision and idea what to do. It was pow erful.”
It was Nov. 21, 2011. He told Mary, pregnant with their first child, they were moving home to Montana. Like the doctors who had breathed life back into his body as a baby, Tuff was deter mined to speak hope and breathe life into his people.
With help and encouragement from the faith community in Billings, Tuff launched his passion project, One Heart Warriors. It’s a comprehensive discipleship and leadership program, for those who often lack the basic skills and confidence required to live a healthy, self-sustaining life.
Creating Stunning Smiles for Your Family
“All of our warriors come in with a story,” he says. “They’ve been through a lot, some have had an addiction, some abuse. They have a failure to launch into their life.”
One Heart Warriors is for everyone, but it does have a strong Native focus, with elements reflecting their culture woven throughout the program. They do outreach on the reservations, because the need is greatest there.
“I try to get them to a place to start dreaming again,” says Tuff. “If they can develop whatever skill they have and use that, it’s better than receiving temporary support.”
One Heart Warriors was created around five pillars – physical, spiritual, mental, relational and financial health. “A lot of the problems we see can be taken care of by being strong in these foundational areas,” Tuff explains. “It makes them less likely to fall back to addictions or bad relationships be-
cause they become confident and feel empowered.”
The program is flexible in length and structure. A six-week version is available, but there is a more immersive nine-month program, in which warriors stay in the One Heart Warriors residential facility on the West End of Billings, forming a supportive community and adopting healthy habits together.
They exercise in a group setting every day and their progress is monitored. In the kitchen, they learn how to use recipes, cook healthy meals and eat a balanced diet. “Many of our warriors come in and all they know how to use is the microwave,” Harris says. “Some of them will leave feeling like a gourmet chef. They know how to sauté and brine. They’re confident.”
The atmosphere of the nine-month residential program is what appealed to 28-year-old Mark Little Ghost, who came to Billings after caring for his grandmother in Spirit Lake, North Dakota.
“For me, it was being part of something bigger than myself,” Mark says, when asked what drew him to the program. “I really liked the community aspect of it.”
Mark, who now works for the city of Billings, first heard about the program through Faith Chapel, which is where he met Tuff and Mary Harris. Having gone through addiction, he craved structure, direction and a sense of community. He is grateful for everything he learned in the program, but especially what he observed between Tuff and Mary and the One Heart Warriors staff.
“It seems like a little thing, but it showed me what a healthy family looked like, seeing a family thriving and doing good things and
loving on each other,” he says. “I think that’s one of the biggest things that helped me.”
A graduate of One Heart Warriors in 2022, Mark is now married and looking forward to starting his own construction business. In Tuff, he’s found a mentor, role model and friend.
“He’s been to the NFL but you don’t think about that,” Mark says. “He doesn’t act bigheaded. He’s the kind of person who sees things in you, sees your potential and draws it out. He means a lot to me. I really love him.”
It very well may take a village, but in Tuff’s case, it took a reservation to create a warrior whose heart beats strong in the belief that all are worthy of an honorable, fruitful life. A Native American proverb says it best: certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart. That’s the perfect playbook for the kid from Lodge Grass who’s never wavered in the resolute pursuits of his heart.
“One Heart Warriors is the long game,” he says. “It’s generational, multi-generational change. If you can affect one person, it’s going to have a ripple effect.” ✻
BECKY HILLIER, writer
Born and raised in Miles City, Becky spent 20 years as an award-winning local news anchor. She served as a board member of Big Sky Honor Flight which helped fly WWII veterans to Washington, D.C. to see their war memorials, free of charge. Becky served as the director of communications and media for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). She currently works for the NILE Rodeo in Billings. Her husband is a Billings Police Officer and they have two adult children.
Healthy Living. Lasting Results.
WeightSmart is a medically supervised weight management program Patients will complete 15 visits with a dietitian over 6 months to work on building healthy habits with nutrition and physical activity.
The focus is on long-term success, helping you maintain your weight loss for life.
No foods are off-limits you’ll learn how to enjoy all foods in a balanced way.
We address not just what you eat, but also your relationship with food and your eating habits
This program is tailored to you, helping you build habits and skills that fit your lifestyle
To learn more visit billingsclinic.com/weightsmart or scan the QR code.
Voiceless Voiceless Voiceless Voiceless speaking for the
ERIC BASYE INVESTS IN THE COMMUNITY AND IN PEOPLE
written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, Eric Basye, then executive director of Community Leadership Development Inc. (CLDI), began a weekly ritual. He’d walk the streets of Billings South Side, strolling through the neighborhood. While many probably figured he was out for fresh air and exercise, deep down he was covering every neighbor, every home, in prayer.
“I’m not a very idle person,” Eric says. “So, for me, the practice of walking made me slow down in a way that I saw things that I wouldn’t normally see.”
Instead of seeing blighted buildings or crime-ridden sections of the city, he saw the faces of those who lived here. Some became dear friends.
“Had I been driving, I wouldn’t have had these exchanges,” Eric says, noting that from time to time he’d get invited inside for a cup of coffee and some conversation. He often found himself asking the question, “How can we claim the streets and the lives and the homes? I don’t know their stories. I don’t know the pain.” In his prayer, he’d ask, “How can we be used by God to be a light to this community?”
ner-city home repair camp for young people. Kids who signed up worked in the heart of Memphis providing critical home repairs to those most in need.
“They’re putting on roofs, rebuilding floors, redoing kitchens, using volunteers to help improve the homes of homeowners who couldn’t afford to make the changes themselves,” Eric says. “Being in the homes with these families, it was just heartbreaking. A lot of times it was a grandma who was raising her grandchildren who maybe made $20,000 a year. She didn’t have the $7,000 to repair the roof, so every time it rained, it poured buckets into the house.”
It took more than a decade, but Eric discovered the answer to that question, at least in part. His fingerprints are all over the economic development projects that have helped lift sections of the South Side.
Eric says he got a crash course in urban development when he was fresh out of graduate school at seminary. He was newly married, and his wife, Shelly, was attending medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. Eric took a job with Service Over Self (SOS). The nonprofit was an in-
SOS worked in Binghampton, one of the roughest neighborhoods in Memphis. It was No. 2 in the nation for both poverty and crime.
“It was just transformative to be in this place where I was literally the only white guy in the entire room. I’d never experienced this my whole life,” Eric says. Having grown up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, diversity was somewhat new to him. For one thing, he says, it was a challenge to understand the residents’ thick Southern accents.
“Then you add in the urban context and it was a double whammy,” Eric says with a laugh.
When Shelly picked Eric up from work each day, there were times when he’d have her make a detour.
“I’d say, ‘Oh Shelly, on our way home, we’re going to stop by Ms. Kitty’s house,’” Eric says. “Ms. Kitty was this infamous lady in the neighborhood, and we worked on her home a few times. She had bleached blonde hair, and it was never really kept. It was just as wild as she was.”
ERIC AND MS. KITTY
With each introduction, Eric chipped away at any uncertainties.
“As I began to do these intentional touch points with Shelly, introducing her to some of the people I had a privilege of meeting, it was this idea that, ‘Wow, these are people who are just like us.’”
The Basye family eventually moved into the heart of Binghampton, giving the family a lesson in what Eric calls “the power of proximity.” All the while, Shelly says, the Holy Spirit was working on her heart. It wasn’t always easy.
“There was a time when Eric literally walked down from our house, because a kid was getting beat up by eight to 10 gang members. Eric single-handedly walked into the middle of it and defused the situation,” Shelly says.
“It was crazy,” she continues. “He walked into the middle of them and just started praying. He put his hands up in the air and these 10 people looked at him, turned around and walked away. That’s who Eric is. He walks into difficult places and stands up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.”
He had an awakening when a neighborhood drive-by shooting shattered the lives of a family who lived two doors down. It was a Friday night, and the family was hosting a cookout. The lively music that often blared on weekend nights went quiet after gunfire erupted.
“Our neighbor was shot eight to 10 times,” Eric says. “Miraculously, he lived.” Not long after, Eric got a phone call. “Through broken English, the man’s wife said, can you come to the hospital?” Eric did. The man was the primary breadwinner for his wife and six kids.
During the man’s year-and-a-half recovery, his wife took up cleaning houses to make ends meet.
By this time, Shelly was just finishing medical school and starting her residency. The woman would watch her come and go, leaving early, coming home late. One day, Eric remembers the woman paying him a visit.
popped into his mind. He was 12 years old, riding with his dad as they dropped off his older sister at what was known then as Eastern Montana College.
“As we were driving in off the Interstate through the South Side, I was just thinking, what a dirty city,” Eric says. It was a section of the city pockmarked with rundown homes and industrial eyesores. “Seeing the factories, seeing the people who were begging on the streets with signs. I saw what looked to be a prostitute. I had never seen that,” he says.
Within minutes, he was on his computer, pulling up census data.
“There were two really poor neighborhoods in Billings — the South Side and the North Side,” he says. He started making calls trying to get a read on both sections of town, he says, but “I really couldn’t get a pulse on much of anything.”
It wasn’t until Shelly came to interview for a job as a hospitalist at the Billings Clinic that Eric got the nudge he needed. He was driving down the 400 block of South 31st Street when he found his family’s home.
SINCE 1981, CLDI HAS BEEN TRANSFORMING THE SOUTH SIDE.
THE HEART OF CLDI’S WORK IS A GOSPEL-CENTERED DESIRE TO INVEST IN SUCH A WAY THAT RESIDENTS CAN THRIVE FINANCIALLY, SPIRITUALLY AND RELATIONALLY.
“She said to me, ‘Your wife is busy and you have your newborn son. I would like to come clean your house, and I would like to do that every other week. Can I do that for you?’”
Eric was stunned. She wouldn’t accept payment.
“Here’s someone who seemingly has nothing and has given us everything.” He adds, “When I think about what love of neighbor looks like? Patricia just loved us in service. It was so humbling. And here we thought we would be the blessing to the neighborhood.”
After living in Memphis for eight years, Shelly wrapped up her residency and the Basyes wondered what their next chapter might look like.
“We really felt compelled that wherever we’d go, we’d continue to live in among low-income neighborhoods,” Eric says. As they were contemplating their move, Eric says a flash of a memory
“In my mind, it was like the clouds parted and the sun shown down,” he says with a laugh. It was a mint-green house that had been boarded up after a house fire. “It was literally burnt out. It couldn’t be saved. It was condemned,” he says. As he told his wife he found the house they should buy, he says, “We pulled up in front of it and she’s like ‘Great. Sounds good.’”
“Our eight years prior was saying ‘yes’ to difficult things,” Shelly says. “I knew our life was not going to look like everybody else’s. I knew that we were going to be living in an area of town that was not going to be where my colleagues were living. I could see the potential.”
During the calls Eric made with those active on Billings South Side, he eventually connected with a man who had been in the thick of urban renewal for decades. Eric remembers calling Dave Hagstrom, the founder of CLDI.
“I’m moving to Billings and all we really know is that we're supposed to move into the South Side to buy this house, renovate it, and then we really desire to start a church like we've been a part of in Memphis,” Eric remembers telling him. When Dave inquired about the house, Dave told him, “I remember the house burning. I watched it from my front porch.” Turns out Dave lived across the street.
That phone call sparked what Eric calls a “crash course” in CLDI.
“Dave said, ‘You know, we hire guys coming out of prison. We have a job training program, and we’d sure love the work,” Eric says, adding that he ended up hiring CLDI to not only demo the burnt structure but to build a brand-new house in its place. The two became fast friends, and before Eric knew it, he created an internship program officially under CLDI modeled after his work with SOS.
About eight months later, Dave walked across the street with a
“Do you have any interest in taking over CLDI?” Eric remembers Dave asking him. “He said, ‘I’ve been waiting for God to send someone to do this work. I think you might be the guy.’”
Since 1981, CLDI has been pouring time and energy into transforming the South Side. The heart of CLDI’s work is a Gospel-centered desire to invest in such a way that residents can thrive financially, spiritually and relationally.
“Dave’s been here since the late 1970s with a whole bunch of other people doing really amazing work,” Eric says. Instead of uncharted territory, Eric says he realized, “Man, there have been people that have been pulling stones and making the ground fer tile for years.”
If you ask Dave what he sees when he looks at the South Side today, he sees progress.
“Everywhere you walk, you can see improved properties, and you know what good that does for the neighborhood. It raises taxation values. It brings police presence. That’s what community devel opment is, and it works,” Dave says. On a deeper level, he says, by loving your neighbor and taking responsibility for your life, “Peo ple start to break the cycle of poverty and break the cycle of sin. CLDI understands this.” He adds, “I’m really grateful that God brought Eric along.”
While many had “tilled the soil” on the South Side, the statistics when Eric took over as executive director of CLDI in February of 2011 were still, by all accounts, bleak. Three out of every 10 households were in extreme poverty. Nearly half of South Side residents never graduated from high school. Many rented homes, being unable to afford to buy one.
doing amazing things.”
Within Eric’s first year, Hannah House was established, giving a home to women coming out of prison or recovering from addiction. Over time, the women leading the home were women who once walked through the door to receive care there.
Eric asks, “Who better to lead this house than the women who
have been down that path of recovery and addiction, having lost their children, now living on the other side to help draw people out of that?” Since 2012, hundreds of women have transformed their lives there, and the program is readying itself for a major expansion to serve even more.
A year before Eric arrived, CLDI had purchased an old row house near Riverside Middle School. It was used for differed purposes but eventually, Eric envisioned it as a place to reach at-risk kids. The 316 House became an after-school hangout where kids connect, grab a snack and play video games together. Eric knew that hundreds of kids lived nearby. The home could entertain what he called “a captive audience.” He longed to “give them examples for a different way to live.”
By 2016, Eric was starting to look for a new home base for CLDI, to give it a bigger, more visible presence. Multiple times, he looked at the building on the corner of South 29th and First Avenue South, and multiple times, he walked away.
“It was condemned,” Eric says, having sat vacant for years. He remembers an architect telling him, “Eric, this is a can of worms,
you need to run far away from this.”
In the end, CLDI bought the building for $200,000. “The only thing we were able to really keep on the building was literally the shell, the brick exterior,” he says. A mix of private funds and grants helped launch the $3.3 million project. “We saw crazy story after crazy story of just incredible generosity.”
The organization moved into the building in 2018. It provided a community gathering space and 24 studio apartments for those looking to build a rental and credit history, along with CLDI’s offices.
“As you drive by, it’s just this statement. There are good things in this community,” Eric says. “This idea of fostering community, fostering jobs, a gathering place and then right behind it being Mosaic Cottages for seniors. There’s now Tapestry Apartments, literally millions of dollars invested in just in that little corner.” The projects have helped provide more than 100 units of low-income housing to a community desperately in need. While some of the work began with Dave, Eric had a hand in a lot of it.
Across from CLDI there used to be an old gas station that the organization transformed into a vibrant coffee shop. Rail Line Coffee might look like a hip place to get a latté, but it also serves as a job and leadership training program for at-risk youth.
When you ask Eric about what he’s most proud of during his time with CLDI, conversation drifts from buildings, programs and projects to people.
He points to 44-year-old Josh Kroll, a man he calls a mentor and friend. He met him while Josh’s wife was living at Hannah House, trying to rebuild her life. At the time, Josh was trying to rebuild his as well.
In 2018, Josh and his now wife, Tabitha, were charged with a combined 17 felonies for possessing and trafficking drugs from their Billings home. It was the end of a multi-agency sting operation known as Project Safe Neighborhoods.
RAIL LINE PRE-RENOVATION IN 2018
Josh says the dealing started after his recreational drug use got out of control.
“Methamphetamine was our drug of choice. That’s a soul taker,” Josh says. “Our lives spiraled out. I lost my job. I said, OK, I will sell a little bit to make up for the lost income.” Before long, he says, “I couldn’t look myself in the mirror. By then, we lost our children and we couldn’t get clean.”
Being threatened by real prison time didn’t faze him.
“It’s a strange thing when you have DEA agents with assault rifles kick their way into your house and take you to jail,” Josh says. “You’d think that would be enough to change your ways.”
After their conviction, both Josh and Tabitha received deferred sentences, meaning if they followed the court’s guidelines, their criminal records would be wiped clean. His wife entered sober living at CLDI’s Hannah House. The couple was desperate to get their seven kids back.
“If you don’t have support, it’s near impossible to change your life or get clean on your own. That’s a big part of where Eric steps into my story,” Josh says. “He invited us over to his house, which I thought was really strange. Does he know all the trouble I’ve been in?” He added, “He accepted me. He wanted to know me.”
When Josh joined one of Eric’s Bible studies, he discovered God, learned how to pray for the first time and discovered what an authentic relationship looked like.
Today, Tabitha and Josh have their kids, ranging in age from 9 to 24, back. Tabitha is a case manager at Hannah House. Josh works with the nonprofit Love and Sonshine ministries in donor development as well as community and cultural outreach. He leads a Bible study, started a sober living home for men and looks forward to launching parenting classes with his wife.
“Eric has shown me a path of life that I didn’t even know existed,” Josh says. “To have somebody like that who is willing to take the time out of his life and invest in mine, I cannot pay that back. I truly love that guy.”
“The Lord did amazing things in their lives,” Eric says. “We were honored to be a part of it.”
By 2022, Eric looked at all CLDI had done and wondered if it was time for someone else to take the reins.
“When I stepped into CLDI, if you think of it like a horse corral, there were a few horses in the corral,” he says. He was able to grow the organization, the staff, add new initiatives and new pro-
grams. “I was actually on a prayer walk and I came to the conclusion that our horse corral was full,” he says. He felt CLDI needed a different kind of leader, one who could sustain what had been built.
After taking a year to do consulting work with nonprofits all over the Pacific Northwest, Eric got a call asking if he’d be interested in leading a statewide nonprofit known as Child Bridge. The privately funded charity works to find and equip families to care for children who have suffered abuse and neglect. According to Child Bridge co-founder Mary Bryan, if just 7 percent of today’s Christians cared for a single orphan, every child would have a home.
For Eric, the cause was close to his heart. He and Shelly have four children, two biological and two adopted. Their daughter was adopted in Memphis as a newborn baby and their son, from China. Elijah is 18, Ellie is 16, Kai is 14, and Aida is 13.
“As we think about our family, it’s hard to imagine it not being as diverse as it is,” he says. “It’s this tapestry of a family with different stories coming together as one.”
At Child Bridge, Eric knew he wanted that for every one of the 2,200 children in the state’s foster care system waiting in need of a loving home.
“Man, if you could spare a child of a lifetime of hardship by capturing them as a kid — if they had a safe, loving family, how dif-
JOSH KROLL AND ERIC
ferent could their lives be?” Eric says. He calls it an upstream solution to prevent severe trauma from fully taking root in a child’s life.
He’s been on the job a year and already he’s forging new partnerships and has been able to add staff. The organization is literally spending millions of dollars to find and equip foster families. “It’s going to have a generational impact,” he says.
While new seeds are still being planted at Child Bridge, Eric loves looking at the sprouts of growth that continue on Billings South Side thanks to CLDI. He vividly recalls a conversation he had with his eldest son eight years ago.
“We were driving through the neighborhood and he was like, Dad, the neighborhood is getting better. There’s been change. Good things are happening. The houses are nicer and it’s safer,” Eric says.
Don’t ask him to take credit for any of it. He points instead to a strong team and a higher power.
“The older I become, the more trained I become, the more experiences that I have, the more I realize I’m just depending on the Lord to do good things,” he adds, “I’m just grateful to be a part of it.” ✻ TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CLDI, visit cldibillings.org TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CHILD BRIDGE, visit childbridgemontana.org
ERIC VISITS WITH HIS STAFF AT CHILD BRIDGE, A NON-PROFIT
THE FREEDOM MEMORIAL THE FREEDOM
THE FREEDOM
ROAD TO REMEMBERING FALLEN VETERANS
RICK BAKER’S LONG
written by GAYLE SMITH photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
WHEN RICK BAKER stands in front of the metal and concrete structure known as the Freedom Memorial, honoring soldiers from Montana killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, there’s a rush of emotion. The metal work that permanently etched the names of fallen soldiers is his handiwork. He can’t count the hours he worked making this memorial a reality, but he knows the time spent was worth every minute.
“Some gave their lives jumping on grenades to protect the people next to them,” Rick says. “I just want their stories to live on and be told.”
The military is part of Rick’s own story. Like many young men following 9/11, he felt a patriotic duty to join the US Army. At 18, he was assigned to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, the oldest active-duty infantry unit within the Army, nicknamed “The Old Guard.” The unit served at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, participating in the funerals of active-duty military at Arlington National Cemetery.
It wasn’t the assignment he hoped for.
“I was a Montana boy and wanted to shoot and blow-up stuff,” Rick says. Within his unit, he was “the head fold man” on the full-honors casket team, folding and handing the flag off to the staff sergeant who then presented it to a fallen soldier’s family.
“At first I hated it, but after I went overseas and did my tour, I had a whole new outlook on it,” he says.
While on duty, Rick’s unit would often pass by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as they moved through Arlington’s back gate.
“You would see battle buddies sitting there, touching the wall,
crying,” Rick says. He knew it was a place where people could go to grieve, cry, heal and, he says, “hopefully bring some type of closure.”
Sgt. Rick Baker eventually found himself serving overseas during Operation Enduring Freedom. He came home having lost his own battle buddies. The experience changed him and sent him on a path he least expected.
“The service taught me about working together for one common goal and achieving the mission no matter what,” he says.
When he returned to Fort Carson, Colorado, Rick qualified for the All-Army Wrestling Team. Wrestling for him was a childhood passion, so making the team and practicing at the Olympic Training Center seemed unreal. While wrestling, however, he tore his shoulder. Sadly, surgery didn’t go well and neither did recovery. He ended his military career with an honorable discharge.
The year was 2005, before the nation realized it was on the brink of an opioid epidemic. For more than a decade, doctors with Veterans Affairs would treat Rick’s constant shoulder pain with a prescription for Oxycodone.
“I was in a very dark place for over nine years,” Rick says. “I was irrational, out of my mind.” When addiction set in, he tried to nab extra pills by doctoring a prescription, changing the refills from one to four. “I didn’t think they would notice.” Turns out, he was caught and convicted of fraudulently obtaining dangerous drugs. As part of his sentencing, Rick attended District Judge Mary Jane Knisley’s veteran treatment court. He suffered a slipup within the program and with the violation came a two year sentence to the Montana State Prison.
After being released, Rick tried hard to reinvent himself.
“If you give an addict purpose, watch them change the world,” Rick says today.
He went to college for a degree in psychiatric rehabilitation, having a strong desire to help other veterans with drug addiction and PTSD. As he tried to chart a new professional course, he took job with Tumbleweed, an outreach program for homeless, runaway and vulnerable youth. Eventually, he was promoted to case manager, helping victims of human trafficking.
Rick personally knew one of the men whose name would one day be etched on the memorial wall: U.S. Army Sergeant Terry Lynch. Terry and Rick went to school together in Shepherd, and both were passionate about wrestling. Being from a small Montana town, Rick also knew the Lynch family. Terry was killed in 2009 when a roadside bomb blew up next to his vehicle in the Wardak Province of Afghanistan.
“That tie made this feel like the right thing to do,” Rick says. While he knew there were others in Montana communities that paid the ultimate price, “Terry was the inspiration behind Hoodies for Heroes.”
Being a certified welder, Rick had the skills to build the memorial. He had a sketch of the memorial he envisioned, but didn’t have any viable marketing materials to showcase the project or any knowledge of how to build a nonprofit from scratch.
“That was too heavy for me. Between my own PTSD, going to school and working in the field, my brain never got a break,” he says.
That’s when Rick turned to what he knew — welding. He started his company, Metal Tech, and while he was standing in line at the Yellowstone County Courthouse to secure his business license, he had an epiphany.
“I was looking at the Vietnam and WWII Memorials, and I got an overwhelming sense of emotion as I started thinking about the soldiers I lost that I had served with,” he says, realizing that the land just outside the courthouse didn’t hold a memorial for those killed in action in more recent conflicts. “I said to myself, ‘Build them a memorial yourself.’”
That’s when Hoodies for Heroes was launched. The nonprofit had a unique yet simple fundraising model. Rick would sell hoodie sweatshirts emblazoned with the charity’s logo and the names of the Montana soldiers killed in action to help raise awareness of the memorial and later, garner sponsorships to build it.
That’s where Ken Callihan stepped in. Being a fellow veteran, Ken, who now serves as the board president of Hoodies for Heroes, bonded with Rick right away. His expertise helped launch the nonprofit and helped move the project to where it stands today. Rick also credits Scott Aspenlieder with Performance Engineering and City Councilman Bill Kennedy for their roles in the memorial.
Having Ken tackle the administrative side of things gave Rick time to beat the streets, set up tables with hoodies anywhere anyone would let him. His kids helped him pack his car and licked and stamped countless fundraising letters.
Both Rick and Ken spoke to local service clubs and businesses whenever the opportunity arose. Within three years, the organization had sold 3,000 hoodies and raised enough money through donations, $500,000, to break ground on what would become the Freedom Memorial. On Memorial Day of 2024, Rick grabbed a shovel for the official groundbreaking.
Eric Simonsen of Simonsen Architect, donated much of his time to help create the unique, hands-on memorial. Rick described what he envisioned and Eric drew up the specs to make it happen.
“When Rick shared his passion for getting this memorial built, listening to him talk about his dream convinced me immediately that this was a project I had to be part of and for my firm to do our part to help him achieve his very worthwhile goal,” Eric says.
After many hours of bringing the design to life in his Metal Tech shop, Rick remembers placing the first nameplate on the backside of the memorial and having to climb down off his ladder after being overwhelmed with emotion.
“The sense of the whole vision coming together, the sense of grief and sadness of what it represented,” Rick says. “It’s a human, not a nameplate.”
Since Congress doesn’t classify the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan as wars, but instead conflicts, there was no state or federal funding for memorials like this. That’s why Rick gathered the names of all Montanans who died during those conflicts be-
SGT. TERRY LYNCH
ginning with Operation Desert Storm more than 30 years ago.
“That’s why I had to go out and hustle. It’s kind of sad because up until now these 49 names had not been recognized,” Rick says.
Not far from the memorial is the wheelchair-accessible interactive digital kiosk. A tap screen lights up, telling the story of each fallen soldier on the wall. It can be updated with a USB drive.
“If there are any future conflicts, any others killed in action, God forbid — that’s a sad reality of our life — we can update it,” says Rick.
The kiosk will share a brief biography of each fallen soldier, the campaigns they served in, their unit and where they were deployed. The design is interactive and educational, telling these heroes' stories in a way that’s much more than just reading a name on a wall.
“That’s what I wanted to create here in Billings, for the mothers, for the brothers, the sisters, the fathers,” Rick says. “That way they have a place to go and pay homage, knowing that they will be remembered. Their story will live on.” He adds, “This is just a small reminder to stop, reflect, remember, say thank you.”
The night before the 2024 Memorial Day ribbon-cutting ceremony, Charlie Lynch, Terry’s father, came to look at the memorial. Emotional, he said to Rick, “All I wanted was my son to be remembered, and now he will always be remembered.” He added, “People forget. Life goes on, but this will always be there.”
That statement made all the hurdles, hustling hoodies, giving speeches, the learning process, plus the time and effort, worth it for Rick.
“I’ve been told no a lot of times,” Rick says. “No one is going to give
THIS IS JUST A SMALL REMINDER TO STOP, REFLECT, REMEMBER, SAY THANK YOU.
—
Rick Baker
money to a nonprofit whose founder is a felon. No one is going to trust you. You can’t do this.” He adds, “That just put me in another gear and drove me to do more.”
While the memorial stands at Dehler Park, Rick’s work isn’t finished quite yet. He’s got $30,000 left to raise to finish the lighting around the memorial and purchase the software program for the interactive kiosk. Memorial bricks and paver stones that will be etched with the sponsor’s names and laid around the memorial’s entryway will fund the last leg of the project.
“It’s our way to get the whole community involved because not everyone can afford a major sponsorship,” Rick says.
On Memorial Day this spring, the Rotary Club is hosting a parade that will start downtown and end at the Freedom Memorial. That’s when Rick will officially sign over the memorial to the city of Billings.
The move will allow Rick to change gears and focus on another passion, something he knows deeply — helping combat veterans through the V.A. and the Veterans Navigation Network to face their PTSD and addiction issues.
“We want to help raise awareness of the opioid and fentanyl epidemic here
in Montana,” Rick says.
He’s hoping to help connect veterans with resources in the community. “We are already in the process of organizing community workouts for veterans,” Rick says, adding that he hopes other nonprofits join him to provide information on their services.
As you look at the memorial, the words “All Gave Some, Some Gave All” stand at attention at the top of the structure. Sobering words not only for Rick, but the many who will come here to heal.
“I wanted this memorial to be something that people can touch. It makes things real and tangible. It represents the people I can’t touch anymore — the soldiers, my battle buddies that I can’t give a handshake or a hug,” Rick says. “You can have an experience here, take time to pause, reflect and say thank you.” ✻
TO LEARN MORE OR DONATE TO THE CAUSE, visit hoodiesforheros.org. There you’ll find information on the brick and pavor sponsorship program to help fully fund the memorial.
Mission Mission MissionAccomplished Accomplished
WHEN DAN HARGROVE received word of the terrorist attacks carried out on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, his reaction was much the same as the rest of the country: Shock, disbelief, horror, helplessness. But unlike most citizens who were glued to their television screens, Dan was on a mission.
Dan, who is now the director of aviation at Rocky Mountain Col lege, was a squadron commander at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. On most days he was the pilot in the cockpit of Air Force Two, responsible for transporting members of the president’s cabinet and family. On Sept. 11, he was waiting at an airport in Sarasota, Florida. while President George W. Bush read to a group of children at a nearby elementary school.
Dan happened to be flying a backup aircraft for Air Force One. It is a strict rule that wherever Air Force One goes, an iden tical aircraft follows. If something happens and Air Force One is grounded, even for a short time, the backup plane is ready and available to keep the president and his entourage on schedule.
As soon as President Bush arrived at the airport, the two Boeing 757s took to the air. All other flights, commercial and otherwise were grounded.
“We were the only two planes allowed to be airborne in the country,” Dan says.
Their flight plan was top secret. Dan followed as Air Force One flew under the radar, zig-zagging across the country, stopping only at remote Air Force bases. Dan couldn’t help but put himself in the president’s shoes. What was he thinking? Dan wondered.
“My sense was that his staff said we need to stay safe, and the president was saying, I need to address the country from the oval office,” Dan says. “By the end of the day, he’d won. And we were routed to Washington, D.C., where the president addressed the country.”
No one could have predicted the events of Sept. 11, but the shock of the attack could be felt around the world.
“I was just like everyone,” Dan says. “You’re just a guy at work as the whole world changed.”
Dan’s days at work were never ordinary.
He remembers flying Vice President Al Gore on campaign stops around the country, hitting a new state every day, landing on the runway at Jackson Hole to drop Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting dogs off for a long weekend, and flying heads of state and members of the president’s cabinet and family to destinations worldwide. In his time flying Air Force Two, Dan flew around the world three times and visited 90 different countries.
“We were a projection of the United States everywhere we went,” Dan says. “It was like a little part of America was showing up in each of these places.”
While his duties were certainly exciting, he was also the squadron commander, a position that required extraordinary leadership.
“I was responsible for the care and feeding of 120 people,” Dan
says. “It was the very peak of my service, and I was in service to these people. The bottom line is, you serve the mission, so how can I serve you?”
It was his many years of military service that built his leadership philosophy.
Dan’s father was an Air Force pilot, and from the time he was a boy, he wanted to fly. He was drawn to the travel and adventure the Air Force offered, so when he graduated from high school, he applied and was accepted into the Air Force
DAN WAS AN INSTRUCTOR FOR THE AIR FORCE ON THE T-38 TALON
DAN IN THE BOEING 757, FLYING SENIOR POLITICIANS WORLDWIDE
LT. COL. DAN HARGROVE
Academy. When he graduated, Dan moved on to flight school. There, as a newly minted Air Force pilot, he was expected to teach incoming recruits.
“The flying isn’t very hard,” Dan says. “Teaching is a way for a new pilot to get experience and go on to bigger things.”
Dan took off in his new role as an instructor and loved teaching new pilots to fly high-performance fighters, including F-16s, made famous by the movie “Top Gun.”
“There’s an assumption that everyone in the Air Force wants to be Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun.’ I wasn’t one of them. I wanted to accomplish an everyday mission, and I wanted to travel and see the world,” Dan says.
When an opportunity to join the U.S. military’s cargo fleet arose, Dan jumped at the chance and started the second phase of his career. His assignment was hauling military cargo with a giant C-141 Starlifter. The aircraft is retired now, but it was the workhorse of the military’s cargo fleet.
In 1991, Dan was called to serve in the Gulf War. He flew the massive C-141 into combat zones and other destinations across the Middle East. His cargo ranged from military vehicles to personnel and medical equipment to food — anything the troops on the ground needed. Dan was 29 and it was the most satisfying and intense nine months of his life.
“We were flying our brains out,” Dan says. “I flew as hard as you could possibly fly.”
The days were long and exhausting. He was in his prime as a pilot and
IT’S EVERYTHING I LOVE. I GET TO TEACH, AND I GET TO MENTOR STUDENTS, AND I’M SURROUNDED BY AIRCRAFT.
— Dan Hargrove
his peers were too. Dan kept a journal, believing that every generation had their time, and this was his.
“We were the tip of the spear,” Dan says. “This feeling that this is our time, this is what I’ve trained to be, a military pilot.”
Following the Gulf War, Dan was eager for a new challenge and came “home” to Montana. The Madison River Valley was where his grandfather owned a ranch, where his father grew up, and where Dan spent his childhood summers. He earned a graduate degree in mechanical engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman.
“That 18 months brough me back to my Montana roots,” Dan says.
One opportunity led to the next and Dan joined the faculty at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Teaching was like coming home, and it was a defining time in his life.
“I’m a teacher. Yes, I’m a military pilot, but I spent most of my career teaching,” he says.
In Dan’s experience, the basic skills required to fly any aircraft are the same no matter what aircraft you’re flying. What makes a good pilot, he says, are the skills not so easily taught: critical thinking, professionalism, problem solving, collaboration and an ability to adapt to new technology.
Were it not for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly Air Force Two, he might have never left the Air Force Academy, but after seven years at Andrews Air Force Base, he was 20 years in, at the top of his game, and ready for something new. He was far from retirement, but ready to say goodbye to the military.
“I felt God’s leading to make a change,” Dan says.
He had his wife and their four children to consider, and he wanted to be home more. And the idea of settling in Montana was an itch he wanted to scratch.
He retired from the Air Force in 2003. Most of his buddies who were retiring at that time were looking for a job with the airlines, but Dan wasn’t interested in that. He headed to Montana, un-
sure of his future, and before long, he heard about a job as the director of aviation at Rocky Mountain College. It was — and still is — his dream job.
“It’s everything I love,” Dan says. “I get to teach, and I get to mentor students, and I’m surrounded by aircraft.”
Now, he’s leading the department with the same philosophy he led the squadron at Andrews Air Force Base. With Rocky’s 10 aircraft, Dan oversees 21 flight instructors and three mechanics as well as support staff.
He loves it when former students drop by and say they landed their dream job flying for the airlines or are now flying for the military. They’re young people from across Montana and throughout the region who had the same dream of flying that Dan had as a boy.
He believes that the liberal arts education provided by Rocky gives new pilots from their program an advantage over other flight schools. A broad-based education provides students with the life experience that makes a good pilot.
“It’s the liberal arts that is what Rocky Mountain College is about, and yes, of course, we’re going to teach you to fly an airplane,” Dan says. “College is not just to learn a skill so you can get a job. There’s so much more to it.”
When it comes to a career in aviation, Dan has experienced more than most. He’s piloted more than a dozen different military aircraft in peace and at war, has logged more than 5,000 flight hours and logged more than 2,400 hours in instruction and evaluation.
Although he doesn’t fly as often as he did, his mission is clear — to pass on his love for flying to the next generation of pilots. ✻
LAURA BAILEY, writer
Laura is a Red Lodge based storyteller with more than 20 years experience. When she's not tapping away on her keyboard, chances are she's off on an adventure with her family or starting another DIY project. You can find her online at www. penandlight.com.
Setting the Rhythm Billings Billings Billings for
BILL HONAKER HAS MADE HIS MARK
DANIEL SULLIVAN
BILL HONAKER knows the beat. In downtown Billings, he sets the tempo in his business endeavors and pursuits. As a drummer, he creates the rhythm in numerous gigs, plays and performances. He strives to be ahead of the game, setting the pace, ready for realizing his next dream.
“If I had my way, I would be a professional drummer,” he says with a smile. However, early on he acknowledged the importance of being realistic and pursued a career that would give him a more stable income. Often, Bill says, “When you become a professional, you don’t love your work anymore. It just becomes work.”
In his work as a developer and entrepreneur, he manifests his passion and determination to make downtown Billings live up to its nicknames of Magic City and Montana’s Trailhead. He laments, “When I talk to people and tell them I’m from Billings, I feel as though I have to apologize for that. I hope we don’t have to anymore. We need to become our own city. We have our own reasons to be here, to take the good and the bad, and go with that.”
Bill’s ventures began with his redevelopment of the Securities Building at the corner of North 27th Street and First Avenue North. In 2004, he wanted to move his restaurant, Walkers Grill, after it had been in the basement of the Old Chamber Building for 11 years, to a more prominent location. He and his wife, Marcia, gutted and refashioned the five-floor building on First Avenue, created by William Maines Sr. in 1917, to feature their restaurant on the ground floor with residential lofts and office space above. It was a new concept for downtown at the time.
Walkers Grill emerged into the light from a cavernous space to an exposed glass-fronted bar and eatery with an elegant rustic Montana motif. The menu continued to offer modern American
cuisine created with European techniques, along with Walkers Meatloaf and Elsy’s mashed potatoes, a fondly remembered dish from his family’s childhood nanny.
At the new location, Bill had the space for jamming with local and guest musicians on Sunday evenings. Since the pandemic, these gatherings are a little less frequent.
After earning a management degree from Montana State University in Bozeman, he worked for Security Federal Savings in town. For the next four years, he specialized in real estate financing as a banker, and also obtained a real estate license. At the bank, he had opportunities to take on a leadership role.
“When a manager went on vacation in Missoula, I would run the bank for three weeks,” he recalls. He enjoyed being in charge and having the freedom to explore a new city on his own. Mostly the experience energized his interest in commercial real estate development.
Around the same time, Bill met Marcia, his wife and partner for the last 35 years, at a real estate convention in California. With her hailing from Philadelphia, he relocated to the East Coast to be with her. From 1987 to 1993, he worked for Trammell Crow Company, one of the country’s leading commercial real estate development and investment firms, before moving to the KODE Development Group.
Bill says his work involved “getting the ground and planning it.” He adds, I would get the main anchors,” and when 60 percent of the occupants signed letters of intent, he would move onto the next project. “This was a great opportunity for me,” he says. “It put me on the fast track” of learning the business.
For Bill, pursuing a career in commercial real estate required a lot of determination, particularly during the boom-and-bust cycles in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The market went to crap,” he says. This opened up the opportunity for him to work part-time at Jack’s Firehouse, a restaurant founded by Jack McDavid that specialized in “haute country” cui-
sine, emphasizing cooking with locally raised products.
“I walked into Jack’s Firehouse and asked if I could work for free. I had to go back three times,” he recalls. There, he met Mike Callaghan, the sous chef, who became his boss. At the restaurant, he gained experience in kitchen operations, which included washing dishes, cooking and understanding the concept of farm-to-table cooking. He also bartended and oversaw front-of-house service.
Returning to Billings in 1993, he brought with him invaluable business skills. He also brought Callaghan, who stepped in as the chef de cuisine to help open Walkers Grill, named in honor of Bill’s father. He launched the restaurant with his brother, James, whom he calls the “best cook that I’ve ever known. He has the ability to go from cooking savory to sweet. It’s rare amongst chefs.”
James took the lead in developing the menu. “Food is the heart and soul of the place,” Bill says, pointing out the importance of allowing James to realize his vision for the restaurant’s cuisine. Bill then contributed his expertise by overseeing the execution of that vision.
Parker Brown, a local musician specializing in bass and guitar, who has performed with Bill over the years, has seen his support in not only buildings, but in people. “Bill believes Billings can be great, so much so that I think everything he does is to make it better,” Parker says.
“Downtown feels like home to me,” he says.
Bill played a part in bringing back another historical building
NICK STEEN GULLINGS & BILL HONAKER
when he partnered with Greg McDonald and A&E Architects in 2017 to completely renovate McDonald’s building on 29th Street and Second Avenue North, which had been home to a Wendy’s restaurant and the company’s local corporate office.
It was a $4.65 million redevelopment which became the new home to A&E Architects along with a dozen residents on the second and third floors. The project also received $700,000 in tax increment financing (TIF), demonstrating the Billings City Council’s desire to enhance the city’s core.
“Bill cares deeply about the success of his projects,” says Dusty Eaton, a principal at A&E Architects. “He wants to be strategic and careful, very methodical. He wants to make the greatest impact in a very gentle way, doing one project at a time.”
Bill tells his kids, Alex and Will, to “dream big. If you pay attention to your dream, you’re going to get there.” Nowadays, his son lives in Nashville, where he directs, produces and records for various artists, while his daughter, who lives in Scotland, is launching a
Summer Art Academy Camp
June 16 – 20 & June 23 – 27 | Ages 7 – 14
Young artists learn from professional artists in small groups on the campus of Montana State University Billings.
At these Thursday classes, students will tour, explore, and learn to create art. Every week focuses on a different exhibition and technique.
YAM Camp
July 28 – August 1 for ages 6 – 8 | August 4 – 8 for ages 7 – 9 | August 11 – 15 for ages 9 – 12
Young artists spend an entire week exploring and going behind the scenes at the YAM and creating artwork using multiple techniques and mediums.
For more information and to register for camps scan the QR code or visit artmuseum.org.
MARCIA AND BILL
vas. The level of trust he placed in me was unbelievable.” That trust enabled Nick to purchase the restaurant in
The sale meant Honaker could move on to a bigger dream, one that will change the downtown landscape significantly. Adding to his past property development projects at the federal courthouse, Empire Parking Garage, and Home 2 Suites by Hilton, he recently acquired the old City Hall and Park 3 building, along with two parking lots farther south on North 27th Street, and the Rockman Building at 2704 Second Ave. N.
boutique featuring clothing curated from around the world.
Bill took a big step in 2017, when he hired Nick Steen Gullings as executive chef and general manager at Walkers. It was a part of Bill’s exit plan to be able to embark on other projects. Since then, Gullings has been nominated three times as a semifinalist for Best Chef: Mountain from the James Beard Foundation.
“He’s enthusiastic and one of those people who helps you learn about yourself,” Nick says. “Bill provided me with a blank can-
In collaboration with Don Cape Jr., with Bozeman-based JWT Capital, Bill plans to develop an upscale 140-room Marriott AC Hotel on the Rockman site, with demolition planned for this summer. The hotel brand provides guests with a sleek and elegant retreat with a signature rooftop bar that serves artisan cocktails complemented by a lower-level restaurant featuring food inspired by modern European cuisine.
The Park 3 Garage, located across the street, will provide parking for guests while the other lots will be used for staff parking. The City Council showed faith, once again, in Bill’s vision by granting TIF assistance to the tune of $5 million. For the City Hall building, the Yellowstone County Museum is considering using the building for its expansion, with possible availability for other businesses and nonprofits.
THE FUTURE MARRIOTT AC HOTEL
BILL CARES DEEPLY ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF HIS PROJECTS. HE WANTS TO BE STRATEGIC AND CAREFUL, VERY METHODICAL. HE WANTS TO MAKE THE GREATEST IMPACT IN A VERY GENTLE WAY, DOING ONE PROJECT AT A TIME.
— Dusty Eaton
“It’s time to stop building the cheapest structures possible. We need to take risks,” Bill says. “Projects like ours can inspire others to say, ‘Oh, this works.’” Over the years, he and Marcia have invested over $30 million in downtown Billings, with the new development proposed at $41 million.
“I want to create something meaningful and leave a legacy,” Bill says. “It’s really important for me to make the world a better place than when I found it.” ✻
STELLA FONG, writer
Stella divides her time between Billings and Seattle and is the author of two Billings-centric books, Historic Restaurants of Billings and Billings Food. Her writings have appeared in Big Sky Journal, Western Art and Architecture, the Washington Post as well as online at lastbestplates.com.
Keeper Keeper
of the
Vision Vision
BILL SIMMONS HAS GROWN BOTH A BUSINESS AND PEOPLE
written by LAURA BAILEY photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
BILL SIMMONS loves to talk about MasterLube, and more specifically, its employees. When he does, his eyes light up like a bluebird day, and he leans in as he tells their stories.
Simmons, as most people know him, started MasterLube in 1981 with a single quick lube station on 24th Street. Now, Masterlube has five locations across Billings and in Laurel, as well as a hand car wash location. Over the years, the company has employed thousands of men and women, many in need of a second chance or helping hand.
Over the years, he’s taken chance after chance on formerly incarcerated individuals. He’s offered jobs to people off the street and to almost everyone who walked through the door. And he built the business on kindness, fairness and trust. Almost everyone leaves with a sense of purpose.
HE HAD HIGH EXPECTATIONS. I LOVED WORKING THERE. I LEARNED FROM BILL HOW IMPORTANT CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS.
There was an aimless young man who wandered up and down 24th Street, day after day, and Bill took a chance and offered him a job at the first location. There was a young woman who had a history of abuse who found a safe place behind the register of a MasterLube station, and later, with his support, went on to college and started a career and eventually a family. And a young father who mended his relationship with his son.
Bill remembers hundreds of come-from-behind stories.
— Diane Dimich
Diane Dimich remembers working for him in the late 1980s when she was in college at Eastern Montana College, now known as Montana State University Billings. She heard of an opening at MasterLube, and even though she had no automotive experience she applied. She was hired on the spot. Even then, she was struck by Bill’s enthusiasm and generosity.
“He had high expectations,” Diane says “I loved working there. I learned from Bill how important customer service was.”
She put her customer service experience at MasterLube to work in her own business. Diane owns the Napa Auto Parts store in Red Lodge. She also watched and learned from Bill’s interactions with employees. Now, decades later, she tries to do some of the
same things for her employees.
fell into step with the new procedures. Customers were wowed by the speed and efficiency of the crew.
“You need to treat your employees with dignity and provide a living wage and benefits,” Diane says. “I want to be sure my employees don’t just survive here in Red Lodge; I want them to thrive. I learned a lot of that from Bill.”
MasterLube was born in 1981 when five investors took a chance on Bill and sold him a failing service station. He was determined to turn it around, even though he had zero automotive experience and no idea how to run a business.
“I had nothing to lose,” he says. “It was finally a job I couldn’t be fired from.”
He hadn’t been running the business long when he had a light-bulb moment in the middle of the night. A single thought ran through his mind.
Bill had another light-bulb moment.
“Every one of these guys were working at a level three times the level I was paying them. Every hour they work for me, I’m going into debt to them,” he says.
He realized that he couldn’t pay his employees what the were worth, so he made a promise to them.
THE REALITY IS, THESE GUYS WORKING FOR ME ARE REALLY GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO. THEY DO EXTRAORDINARY WORK AND THEY’RE EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE.
— Bill Simmons
“The reality is, these guys working for me are really good at what they do. They do extraordinary work and they’re extraordinary people,” Bill says, remembering the moment his whole perspective changed. “I’d looked at them and made a judgment, based on an unrecognized bias. I needed to quit putting people in a box. I told myself, knock it off!”
He set off to transform the little service station into a 10-minute oil change location. The idea was new to Billings, and his techs
“I’ll use every resource available in the community to help you become whatever it is that you at your core want to be. And that’s when MasterLube was born,” he says.
He established a personal development program based on an article in Harvard Business Review published in 1989, and he began sharing his story with his employees. That personal approach hasn’t stopped since.
“Everyone in the company knows my story,” Bill says. “Every employee in the company knows I was just like them, unemployed, unable to pay my bills, fired from my job, doing dumb things.”
Bill then asks them to share their story. The vulnerability he shows them is always matched. They open up every time.
Empowering Seniors
TO LIVE THEIR BEST LIVES AT HOME
Myth: I am too old to exercise.
Truth: Exercise is important for people of all ages. Incorporating movement into your daily routine can improve your heart health, help you prevent falls, and maintain your strength. Exercise also plays a key role in supporting mental health and reducing cognitive decline.
Myth: Seniors don’t need as many nutrients.
Truth: As we age, our nutritional needs shift. For older adults, this often means needing more of certain nutrients, such as calcium, to support bone health or healthy fats to support brain health. The truth is,
that it is just as important for seniors to have a balanced diet as anybody else.
Myth: Healthy meals and regular exercise are just not accessible and affordable for seniors in Yellowstone County.
Truth: Adult Resource Alliance provides several affordable exercise classes through a partnership with Billings Parks and Recreation and serves healthy meals at 11 meal sites throughout the county. Fitness classes are held every weekday and are designed to fit a variety of interests and skill levels. Nothing beats an Alliance lunch: nutritious food, friendly faces, and good conversations, all for just $6 for those over 60.
“All I do is talk about possibilities and get behind the disguise,” Bill says.
From those early coffee conversations, Bill and the leadership team at MasterLube have developed a formal employee development program.
Through small group and one-on-one coaching, employees are encouraged to discover their personal strengths — their greatest personal skills, their core competency. They are also asked what they want to do with the rest of their lives and are encouraged to think big. Through coaching, they identify short-term and longterm goals and develop a realistic map for how to get there. The personal development training continues no matter how long an employee is with MasterLube.
MasterLube employees have access to financial management classes, parenting classes, communications classes and many other individualized training opportunities.
Bill and his leadership team recognize that MasterLube’s workforce is temporary, and they embrace the idea. He’d just like them to stay long enough to have a plan for their lives.
“Other businesses invest in their employees to get them to stay. We want to invest in them to leave,” he says.
When an employee leaves, it’s called a launch. Whenever possible, MasterLube leadership provides a pathway to their next step and facilitates the transition. Each employee is celebrated, and their photo goes on the alumni wall at the store where they worked.
“I love this company,” Bill says. “The people are the heart of this company. They are all extraordinary people, and they should be recognized and held up.”
While Bill is nearing retirement, he still spends most days in the MasterLube office, where he’s known as the “Keeper of the Vision.”
“My job is to keep everyone focused on that spot on the horizon,” he says.
Zane Luhman, the president and CEO of MasterLube, came to the company because of the culture and business philosophy.
“The idea that business isn’t just about making money. It’s about lifting others up,” Zane says. “It’s not just about changing oil in people’s cars.”
That spot on the horizon that Bill refers to, that’s a deep commitment to the service of others.
“Just looking to lift people up around you isn’t that crazy of an idea, but to stay true to that idea in the good and the bad times, that’s when it matters,” Zane says.
Bill believes that it’s his leadership team and every single employee in the company who make MasterLube a success.
“Everyone knows that they finish on the shoulders of everyone who came before them,” he says. “And hopefully, what they get from me carries them on to their finish line.” ✻
BILL SIMMONS AND MASTERLUBE PRESIDENT & CEO ZANE LUHMAN WITH CASSIE MORGRET, A MASTERLUBE EMPLOYEE
Physical Therapy
IN BILLINGS, MONTANA
CUTTING-EDGE PAIN MANAGEMENT
OWNER OF CONCIERGE HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Q: How did you decide on the concept of Concierge Health and Wellness and what makes it unique?
Over 20 years in the healthcare industry as both a healthcare provider and as a patient across three states and in various treatment settings, we saw key areas that were lacking in the individual patient experience and an even greater gap in preventive and proactive alternatives for pain management that didn’t involve injections, pain meds, or surgery.
We came up with a model that blends the latest technology available and the specialized expertise of physical therapy to create an individualized experience for the fastest possible way to manage and eliminate musculoskeletal pain.
Q: What makes you passionate about your business?
It’s the incredible results that we witness day-to-day. It’s restoring hope to those who have given up on ever living pain-free. It fuels our passion to keep pushing to help as many people as we can.
Q: What is your best business advice?
The best advice I can give is to make sure to offer a product or service that you believe in and can wholeheartedly stand behind, so that you have the stamina to push through for the proverbial marathon.
And think outside of the box in terms of how to reach the people that would benefit most from what you offer. Keep the products or services at a level that challenges you, but that you can maintain consistent customer service and quality.
Q: What is the process of becoming a new patient at your clinic?
It is a quick and easy process and there are no waiting lists. One would need to just call the clinic or go on our website to request an appointment. We also offer consultations and introductory prices on our specialty technologies for your first visit.
LDING RS H H LDING DO DO RS
AS HE OPENED THE DOOR to the car so I could slide in, my grandson said, “I need to find a girlfriend who will allow me to behave like this.” We have taught him chivalry, manners, and that showing respect for others is showing respect for yourself. He opens doors, offers to carry boxes, gets dressed to go out in public and rails against those that don’t. He has also been berated for doing those things.
After hiking an icy trail with a couple of technical aspects that he had to help me over, I said, “I wouldn’t do a trail like that when I am by myself, so you don’t have to worry about me.” He looked at me quizzically and said, “Oh, I guess I didn’t think to worry.” That made me laugh, because he has been raised around tough women, women who can and will do just about everything that needs done, on their own, but we still allow gentlemen to open doors for us, and we’ll hold doors for them if we arrive first.
His mom owns more power tools than I do cooking pans, and while she and I embrace independence, and self-sufficiency, we also enjoy long marriages to men who appreciate strong women. So, my grandson is not trying to keep his girlfriend down, in-line, or under his thumb.
Like the men in his life, he just wants to show the people he spends his heart on appreciation. Appreciation can be shown in so many ways, but I like that, for him, one way is to hold the door.
In our family, we also encourage the ones we care about to grow. We encourage each other to try new things, go on adventures with and without us, and to continually both discover and be who they are with us cheering their journey. Currently we are in a 100 squats a day challenge. I am trying to decide if this is truly growth, or some sort of voluntary torture, but I enjoy the daily reports of satisfaction over pain.
In a world full of divisiveness, I often find myself contemplating what we need to do to support one another just a little bit more. Maybe even a whole lot more. What would it mean if each one of us chose someone to mentor? What if each one of us sponsored a young artist as they did for the grand masters of old? What if each one of us asked how can I help you instead of how can you help me? What if we truly used our skills to help someone else build their skills? In the National Geographic series called “The Blue Zones,” there are nine essentials for a long and happy life. Move Naturally. Know your
family in ZooMontana’s 14thzoomontana.org Chase December Finals Montana. Memorial during
purpose. Down shift. The 80% rule. Plant slant. Friends at five. Positive pack. Belong. Wine at five.
As I look at that list, I know that I do some of those things very well, and some marginally. I do love a good salad, a long walk, and down shifting, but it is in knowing my purpose that I find myself most at home. The thing is, I wouldn’t know or live my purpose without a few key men who helped me to find it, and so it makes me very happy that this magazine, designed for women, is taking a pause to celebrate men. While I should celebrate my ever supportive and tirelessly encouraging husband, it is my son-in-law who gets top billing.
Beauty & the Beast
When Nick Enslow came into our life he had green hair, great jokes, and sang camp songs at dinner like I did, much to the chagrin of our partners, who don’t sing camp songs at dinner, especially in public. I like to say I grew up poor, that I had it tough, but I really didn’t have it all that bad. We had beds, and food, and love, and a regular schedule in a safe home. That’s what I thought was tough. Privilege blinds us. Nick, who is a director at Boys & Girls Clubs of Yellowstone County, gently introduced me to kids without enough food and houses without enough love, and to just how hard it is to make it in a world that is often too large to manage on foot.
Billings Studio Theatre presents “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Junior,” January 10th-13th. Brainy and beautiful Belle yearns to escape her narrow and restricted life including her brute of a suitor, Gaston. Belle gets adventurous and as a result becomes a captive in the Beast’s enchanted castle! Dancing flatware, menacing wolves and singing furniture fill the stage with thrills during this beloved fairy tale about very different people finding strength in one another as they learn how to love.billingsstudiotheatre.com
F R inge Festiva L
Venture Theatre presents its Fringe Festival, January 18th-19th and 25th-26th.The festival features four nights of shows featuring local and regional performing artists of all types including dance, standup comedy, theater improv, one act plays, musicals, performance art, spoken word/poetry, and puppetry.venturetheatre.org
s ou L s t R eet d an C e
to tell me how to fix it. He sent me, the woman who could not speak to three people without crying, the woman who didn’t have enough courage to ask for help or say no (which is why I was elected) to Toastmasters.
Here is where the story of generational wealth and kind respect comes together. You see, I was scared. I could not breathe, I could not let go of the podium, and tears ran down my face. That is when two men, one on either side of the table, stood up, as if on cue, and they each came to my side and put a hand on my shoulder. One whispered in my ear, “You can do this.” I did it, but I didn’t do it well. Two weeks later, I tried again, they took their places, one whispered in my ear, and I got through that speech.
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. WOMEN. MEN. GIRLS. BOYS.
KAREN GROSZ
He stands on his morals every single day, diligently making a difference to these kids and their families, and he did it on purpose. Nick is one of those people who is intelligent beyond reason, and could have been anything he wanted to be, so he decided that he would be the person who showed up. The person who had not just passing impact on a youth but stuck with them for years. He would build relationships, inspire greatness, and rail against the hypocrisy of philanthropy by encouraging generational wealth of mentorship.
This high energy show comes to the Alberta Bair Theater on January 19th and presents a new era in dance, while pushing the artistic boundaries of street dance. Soul Street concerts consist of a mix of movement that will keep you at the edge of your seat. The music is combined with an electric mix ranging from hip-hop to classical. It’s a show that will make you laugh and keep audiences of all ages entertained.
His TEDX talk is a masterful telling of his passion, and his passion inspires me to give more than I should and to ask more questions than I did before the curtain of my privilege was thrown open.
a
Con C e R t F o R the w ho L e Fami Ly
I get to help because another man, Don Grosz, my father-in-law, was honest with me when I was elected PTA president. In a voice that shook the timbers, he told me I would fail. While that sounds harsh, he was brave enough to tell the truth and then kind enough
Billings Symphony presents its Family Concert on January 26th at the Alberta Bair Theater. Four time Grammy nominees, “Trout Fishing in America,” will perform along with the Billings Symphony. Trout Fishing in America is a musical duo which performs folk rock and children’s music. billingssymphony.com
Because of them I charge thousands for a keynote. Can you believe it? Me. I still can’t, but when I step on a stage, I recall the warmth of their support, two men whose names I can’t recall, and I open my mouth without crying. Two strangers changed my life, and because of that I have changed my family’s life, and impacted countless others. Because of the life we’ve built, my grandson gets a weekly dose of manners and etiquette training as an added bonus. I’m certain he appreciates those lectures.
We are all in this together. Women. Men. Girls. Boys. And I think that it is worth celebrating, championing, and Down Shifting respectfully. We should, as the Blue Zones suggest, maintain a Positive Pack where we ALL belong, and say thank you when someone, anyone, holds the door for us. ✻
KAREN GROSZ, writer
Karen Grosz is a local Team and Leadership Development coach and motivational speaker. She owns Canvas Creek Team Building, is the author of “What’s Next” and “Quiet Leadership” and founding voice of the Facebook group “I’ll Help”- Billings. You can find more from Karen at karengrosz.life.
By Karen Grosz
QUIET LEADERSHIP
will help you discover your capacity to operate as a Quiet Leader for yourself, your team and your community. www.quietleadership.group Order your copy today on Amazon!
Destination Destination
relaxation7
GENTLEMEN, you know comfort and practicality play their part when you want to pull off that effortless look. For vacation style, lightweight shirts, casual shorts and slip-on sandals can help you stay cool and relaxed. The weekend calls for layers with that sporty vibe. And, don’t forget a blazer for those date night outings! No matter what the destination, the key is to stay comfortable without compromising on style. ✻
written by MELANIE
photography by
weekendthreads7
DATE NIGHTready5
Tap Flavor Tap Flavor into the
SERVING UP BEER INSPIRED EATS
“BEER IS PROOF that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
Ben Franklin might be credited with the quote, but those of us who have tapped into the local brewery scene in Billings can attest there is lots to celebrate. What better way to pay homage to the brew than to craft a meal that highlights its unique flavors.
A Beer Cheese Sauce is a great starter while drinking and conversing with friends. How about a Beer Bread to serve with the sauce? And, for a main course, there is nothing tastier than shrimp steamed in beer’s rich flavors.
While we do suggest beer styles to pair with these recipes, it really boils down to personal choice. Use what you have, or use what you like. Prefer an IPA to a stout? Go for it. Love the light and rich flavor of lager? Have at it.
As for the quote from Franklin? Turns out the topic of the quote was wine and not beer. In doing some checking, however, we found other more quotable quotes about the rich and foamy beverage.
“Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example,
there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.” ~ Humorist Dave Berry.
“I liked the taste of beer. It’s live, white lather. It’s brassbright depths, the sudden world through the wet-brown walls of the glass, the tilted rush to the lips and the slow swallowing down to the lapping belly, the salt on the tongue, the foam at the corners.” ~ Welsh writer, Dylan Thomas.
So, with that inspiration at heart, grab your favorite fermented form of malt barley and hops and discover new ways to savor that flavor.
Enjoy! ✻
KAY ERICKSON, writer
Kay has spent her professional career in public relations and broadcast news, currently at Yellowstone Public Radio. Her journalism degree is from Northern Illinois University. Her passions include her family, sports and food. Her mom and an aunt taught her the finer points of cooking and instilled a love of good food and family mealtime.
BEER BREAD
2 c. self-rising flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
12 oz. beer, preferably a Belgian white 2 T. sugar
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven at 375 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. (You can line the pan with parchment paper for easy removal.)
In a large bowl whisk together both types of flour and sugar. Pour in the beer and use a wooden spoon to incorporate the beer into the flour mixture. Do not overmix.
Pour into the prepared load pan and bake at 375 degrees for 55 minutes to one hour until the bread is golden-brown on top.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool.
BEER CHEESE SAUCE
1 lb medium cheddar cheese, grated
1 T. unsalted butter, ¼ t. salt
¼ t. paprika
½ t. dry mustard
½ c. pilsner beer
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
DIRECTIONS: In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter and seasonings. Add grated cheese. As the cheese melts, add the beer gradually. Whisk constantly until well blended and smooth. Add the Worcestershire sauce.
Serve with crackers or pretzels and of course, some of your favorite beer.
BEER AND OLD BAY STEAMED SHRIMP
2 lbs shrimp in the shell
1-12 oz bottle of beer (can be flat)
½ c. water
3 T. Old Bay seasoning
DIRECTIONS: In a large pot, bring the beer, water and seasoning to a boil. Add the shrimp to the pot of the boiling beer, cover and turn off the heat, Check shrimp after 3 minutes for pink color throughout. Remove the shrimp and transfer to serving bowl.
RETIRING in style7
SHEILA AND JACK COLLISHAW love sipping coffee from their deck while enjoying the perfect view of the South Hills of Billings. Jack, a native of Montana and now retired, heard the call to return here after a career spent in central California.
The Collishaws’ home on the far West End, and its surrounding 10 acres, is serene and offers well thought out amenities for re-
tirement in the country.
When first approaching the 5,400-square-foot, three-bedroom, 3½-bath home, you see a two-level patio with magical views of the South Hills.
owner of
Jake Nienaber,
Zuhaus Construction; Ellie Lowe, coor-
style7
POLISHED WEST-END HOME OFFERS RELAXATION WITH A MODERN DESIGN
written by GAYLE SMITH photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN
dinator of Zuhaus Interiors; and Jason Loyning of JL Kitchens by Home Yellowstone, collaborated with Sheila to realize her vision of blending a love of black with lighter wood tones, spacious rooms and an elegant yet relaxed design throughout, something that made their home distinctive.
“Sheila wanted something unique and different,” Jake says. “We
love it when a client is as adventurous as we are. Our goal is to not follow trends but to create them.”
The home’s exterior siding is a black LP SmartSide with ledgestone accents providing a touch of brown. The garage doors in a rustic cedar unite the color scheme.
THE OVERSIZED PENDANT ISLAND LIGHTS ADD A POP OF UNIQUENESS AND STYLE, YET ARE SIMPLE AND CLEAN.”
— Shawna Eckhart, One Source Lighting.
A beautiful gold veining runs through the kitchen counters. The quartz Strata Surfaces in Calacatta Equinox from The Countertoppers blends perfectly with the home’s gold accents.
While the home still has an overall modern feel, you can see touches of mid-century modern, mountain modern and even old-world design.
Eighteen-foot tall open ceilings and timber beams above the great room are a warm and spicy brown, complementing the space. “The Douglas fir timber accents throughout the home match the solid core interior doors,” says Jake.
The house, with its full-length semi-custom glass front door, is composed of the living area, a distinctly designed kitchen, family eating space and a formal dining room, walled in with glass and sliding doors. Around the corner is a coffee bar, an additional full-size beverage refrigerator, laundry room and pantry.
“The main level reflects that modern look in the tile, lighting and kitchen,” Ellie says. “We were able to create a unique centerpiece for the home with the upstairs fireplace’s offset hearth.”
Sheila put a lot of thought into the home’s layout based on their lifestyle, keeping in mind that this house would be their forever home.
“The entire home is custom to the homeowners, including many unique characteristics,” Jason says. “The Collishaws love to entertain, so the open floor plan reflects that.”
The main level of the home also has a bifold door opening the entire wall up to a covered patio with endless views.
“We spend so much time outside it was a no-brainer,” Sheila says. “Being outside is our happy place.’
WE LIFE Power
THEY MADE IT EASY. THE COLLISHAWS BROUGHT SUCH GREAT IDEAS AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN THE PROJECT.
— Frank Nienaber, Studio 4 Architects.
The black aluminum windows and bifold doors in the D406 Design Series from 406 Window Company complement the colors of the home both inside and out.
“Even with large openings, we make sure a home exceeds the standard in energy-efficient windows and doors,” says Brian Reay, owner of 406 Window Company.
JL Kitchens designed and custom built the cabinetry throughout the home as well as the shelving and cabinets surrounding the fireplaces on each level. The main floor fireplace is surrounded by quartz, which matches the kitchen countertops and backsplash.
Hidden in the gold frame seen above the fireplace mantel is a television set that, when turned off, appears to be decor.
In the kitchen, with the exception of the Wolf stove and oven, major appliances are hidden from view with matching panels, including double dishwasher drawers within the island. Along the kitchen wall sits a Subzero refrigerator built within the cabinetry and covered with cabinetry panels. All of the appliances were purchased without their fronts, making them what’s known as “panel ready.”
“The lower kitchen cabinets were built two inches taller for ease of use for the Collishaws, so we adjusted the height of the Maple, silver-umber upper cabinets as well,” Jason says.
The formal dining room is separated by glassed-in walls with sliding glass doors. It was all Sheila’s idea.
“Our dining room is everything I’d hoped it would be,” Sheila says. With an artistic flair, she found a distinctive design that graces the dining room wall. The home’s master suite is conveniently located on the main floor as well, with his and hers walk-in closets.
The color scheme, black with light wood maple cabinets, continues in their spa-like bath, complete with a tiled shower and a Jacuzzi soaking tub. Euro floating cabinets are accented by black half-moon drawer pulls, adding a modern twist.
— Jake Nienaber, Zuhaus Construction
Downstairs you’ll find a walkout basement, accessible by both stairs and an elevator, which opens to a spacious family room complete with big screen TV, an oversized wet bar, beverage refrigerator, ice maker and built-in storage drawers to keep clutter at a minimum. The space is also equipped with spare bedrooms and baths, perfect for overnight guests.
Just outside the elevator sits a unique custom designed door that opens up to the couple’s wine cellar. “The owners wanted a rustic arched door that you might find in an old 18th century winery. It
☛ Huge selection of bags, belts and filters for over 2,000 different vacuums.
☛ Personal instruction on the features of your new vacuum cleaner.
☛ FREE assembly on all vacuums we sell.
was made to our specifications from reclaimed Douglas fir and handmade iron hardware,” says Jake.
“With hopes to finish her wine room with old-world flair, we decided to bring a bit of that style into the basement with the tile in the downstairs main bathroom and stone on the fireplace, yet maintain a flow with the rest of the house,” Ellie says.
The lower patio has two sets of French doors that open to the walk-out patio complete with an outdoor theater system and
plenty of games for friends and family.
“Sheila was confident in her personal style, yet open to new ideas. She is great at stepping out of the box and making something her own,” says Ellie.
With it’s fresh mix of modern design and rustic elements, the Collishaw home offers peaceful relaxation. For Sheila and Jack, it’s their one-of-a-kind dream home, perfect for retirement. ✻
by
StyleSHOWCASE IN
THE PERFECT THRIFT TO SHOW OFF MINIATURE COLLECTIBLES
I’VE BEEN ON THE LOOKOUT for a special place to store and display my collection of miniature treasures. Over the years, I’ve gathered all sorts of tiny things — everything from little pieces of nature I’ve found on walks, to miniature objects I’ve bought, and even gifts I’ve received.
These treasures hold sentimental value for me, so I’ve always wanted to keep them safe while also showing them off in a way that makes them feel special. I spent months searching for the perfect display piece, something unique that would blend well with the items I treasure.
One day, while browsing through a local thrift store, I stumbled upon something that immediately caught my eye: an antique letterpress drawer. These drawers were originally used to hold individual letters, numbers, and symbols for an old-fashioned printing press. They have a rustic charm, with lots of small, organized compartments that were designed to keep everything in order.
As soon as I saw it, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Not only is it a piece of history, but the small compartments were the perfect size for my miniatures, offering a functional and aesthetic way to store and display them. Plus, the antique vibe it exudes would give my collection a unique, curated feel, as though the items had been carefully gathered over time.
The first thing I did was clean it up. The drawer had some dust and dirt from years of storage, so I gave it a good scrub with a gentle wood cleaner to make sure it was fresh and ready for its new purpose. Afterward, I applied a coat of furniture wax to give it a subtle shine and protect the wood from wear. The wax also brought out the natural grain of the wood, giving it a richer, more polished look.
Next, I flipped the drawer over to attach the nail hangers to the back. I made sure to position them evenly so that the drawer would hang straight on the wall. This part took a little time and patience to ensure everything was level, but it was totally worth it. When the hangers were in place, I carefully chose the perfect spot on my wall. The drawer would serve as both functional storage and an eye-catching display piece, so I wanted it to be in a spot where it could be appreciated.
Finally, I filled each compartment with my miniature treasures. I love how each little item now has its own little space —each tiny compartment showcases the objects in a way that makes them feel like they belong together. Whether it’s a small dried flower, a vintage button, or a tiny carved animal, each item tells a story, and the letterpress drawer creates a beautiful, organized way to tell that story.
This display is not only a creative way to showcase my collection but it’s a reminder that the things we collect are not just objects — they hold meaning and memories. If you’re a collector, keep an eye out for something similar next time you’re thrifting — it could be the perfect way to showcase your mini treasures in style! ✻
RACHEL JENNINGS, writer
JEREMY VAN WAGONER has a knack for walking into a room and seeing a finished remodel in his mind before he even draws up a physical design or swings a hammer. Now the owner of Pinnacle Remodeling, he grew up in the trade. Working alongside his father, Roger Van Wagoner, he was doing trim work and cutting counters by the time he was 12.
“I swore I was never going to do this work,” Jeremy says with a laugh, adding that he didn’t want the stress of owning a construction company. But when he went out on his own, he says, starting with decorative concrete work and then moving into handyman and remodeling jobs, “I started getting more complicated work and I started to enjoy it more when I had to think through the process.” He says it awakened a creativity within him.
By 2003, Pinnacle Remodeling was born. Jeremy always loved the word Pinnacle, defined as being the most successful point, the culmination.
What set him apart was his ability to switch gears at any point during a project.
“I have experience as a cabinet designer, contractor, general contractor, carpenter, designer, structural modification specialist,” Jeremy says. “Because I have experience in all those fields, it’s made it unique. It makes the project feel more seamless.”
While he can facilitate all aspects of a project, those who work with him say it’s his creative eye that sets him apart from the rest. Matt Jansen, also known as Matt the Painter, has been in business for 18 years. He’s worked with contractors from all over the area and has been working with Jeremy going on five years.
I HAVE EXPERIENCE AS A CABINET DESIGNER, CONTRACTOR, GENERAL CONTRACTOR, CARPENTER, DESIGNER, STRUCTURAL MODIFICATION SPECIALIST. BECAUSE I HAVE EXPERIENCE IN ALL THOSE FIELDS, IT’S MADE IT UNIQUE. IT MAKES THE PROJECT FEEL MORE SEAMLESS.
—
Jeremy Van Wagoner
“It’s something to shoot for,” Jeremy says today. Back then, you could find him working out of his truck, visiting clients and hauling cabinet samples in the back of his rig. He’d often meet at coffee shops. He chuckles as he shares stories of helping clients choose elements of their remodel over the hiss of an espresso machine. He was beginning the slow process of building a reputation and a portfolio to show off his style.
“I’m not easily impressed,” Matt says, “but every one of his projects when it’s done has that ‘wow’ factor. He can come up with something that is so unique and cutting edge that it really makes a statement. It’s on another level.”
You witness that as soon as you walk through the door in the Pinnacle Remodeling showroom and design center. Front and center is a waterfall countertop with a mixture of wood and granite right in the middle of a functioning kitchen display. A precision water jet cut both elements to seam them together perfectly, forming a jagged edge that resembles a mountain top.
“After we did this, one of our reps came from Washington and
said, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve never seen anything like this,’” Jeremy says. “I had no idea. I didn’t study what’s trendy. I just loved the idea and thought it looked cool.”
Putting the idea in play was a structural feat.
“Normally a granite countertop counterweights itself when it hangs over the bar,” Jeremy says. With half of the counter being wood, he says, “We had to do a steel plate underneath the entire thing to support it.” He then used a metallic epoxy to cement the two pieces together.
Jeremy credits Troy Kale from Magic City Granite for his help on the water jet.
“Troy is pretty creative. He loves doing these kinds of things,” Jeremy says.
If you glean anything about Jeremy, it’s that he’s not dissuaded by complicated design. Take, for instance, a project he led five years
ago when Jeff Dyk with Yellowstone Valley Parts and Equipment asked for his help designing a space for his employees that showcased the company’s mission of being a salvage yard parts supplier for all things Caterpillar.
“Jeff wanted it to be an extension of the business, and he wanted it to feel industrial,” Jeremy says.
Opening up the space and removing a bearing wall proved to be Jeremy’s first challenge.
“They actually had a suspended concrete ceiling with a wall support,” Jeremy says. “The ceiling was supporting 70,000 pounds.” He knew a steel beam across the room was needed, along with some heavy-duty steel posts.
Yellowstone Parts and Equipment sits on 20 acres crammed with more than 31,000 Caterpillar parts. Walking the land was all Jeremy needed to nab a vision for the project.
who grew
while building
make
NINETY PERCENT OF THE BATHROOMS I REMODEL HAVE BACKLIGHTING, TOE KICK LIGHTING, LIGHTING IN THE SHOWER INSERTS. IT JUST ACCENTUATES THE CREATIVITY AND SHOWCASES THE DESIGN.
— Jeremy Van Wagoner
“I went out back and I saw these hydraulic arms,” Jeremy says. “How cool would it be if we could take and make them the beam supports for the room?” In short order, Jeff was having his welder take out the pistons and weld a stopper so that the arms would no longer compress.
“Jeff had his guys in the shop welding and repainting the arms, polishing them to make them look brand new again,” Jeremy says. “Then we had to get a forklift in with lifts in place to lift and hold the beam up while we were adding these hydraulic arms that were then bolted into the concrete.”
In the end, Jeff got a man cave outfitted with Big Chill appliances coated with a custom yellow to match the iconic Caterpillar color. Jeremy used an old intake hood to create unique sconces on the walls. Corrugated metal on the base of the kitchen island added to the industrial flair as did the stainless steel and frosted glass upper cabinets and the vintage laminate style counters with a metal edging.
“I’m probably the only guy in this city that has a man cave that looks like that,” Jeff says with a chuckle. The roughly1,000 square feet of space is the perfect hangout for his employees and is decked out with a pool table, foosball table, shuffleboard, big-screen TVs and a bar area.
“It turned out absolutely amazing,” Jeremy says. “It kind of blows people’s minds because they are like, gosh, I never thought that was even possible.”
Regina Griemsman witnessed Jeremy’s design prowess when she took a poorly designed bathroom with quirky flow and created something clean and light with a modern edge.
“He’s so willing to throw ideas out,” Regina says. “He will say, I think this will look cool, what do you think?” Regina remembers walking the lot at Magic City Granite when a slab of royal-blue granite caught her eye. She remembers asking Jeremy, “I really love this piece of granite. What can you do with it?”
It was too small to use as a counter.
Sam Van Dyke
“We used it as an art piece to tie all the colors together,” Jeremy says. “We put a plate on the back, wrapped it with lighting and then mounted it to the ground.”
In the end, Regina has a stunning blue accent on her wall with lighting that can be dimmed.
“That’s something I never would have thought of,” she says.
The blue draws the color from the colorful pebble ceramic tiles that adorn one of the bathroom’s walls and accents the shower. Brushed silver light fixtures with LED light strips add the “jewelry” to the room. And, in true Jeremy style, he added impact by cutting the mirrors into partial circles to create visual interest.
“It’s clean and modern,” Jeremy says. “I love the marbling of the granite. You have the stark contrast in color. From that standpoint, it’s one of my favorites.”
On the front of Jeremy’s design center it says, “Concierge Contracting.” It’s a model he’s built his entire business on.
“Have you ever gone into a really nice hotel and there’s a concierge that just takes care of any problem?” Jeremy asks. “I’ve always loved that. That’s always been a part of my motivation when taking care of clients. I found a passion in the serving part of the business. I’m taking care of people.”
And, he’s fueling a creativity that he never knew existed when he stepped onto his first job more than 30 years ago as a teen, working alongside his dad.
“What I love doing with clients is asking, ‘If you could do anything and there were no limitations to what we could do with
this space, what would you do?’”
From there, he puts his mind to work trying to bring that vision to life.
“I love having to figure it out,” he says. “That’s something that I can attribute to my dad. One of the most important things he instilled in me was the gift of faith that nothing is too hard. You keep trying until you figure out a way to make it work.”
As Jeremy flips through the photos on his now well-rounded portfolio, he has a story behind every project and a way he took his design and overcame a challenge to make it work.
“When you have a passion for what you do,” Jeremy says, “It makes you better.” ✻
