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Three women. Three missions. One commitment to protecting the vulnerable

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Letter Editor FRO M TH E

EVERY YEAR, summer

our communities. We are planners, organizers, and problem-solvers. While those qualities serve us well, summer offers a gentle reminder that not every moment needs to be productive to be meaningful.

arrives with a list.

Projects we want to tackle. Montana adventures we want to take. Patios we want to sit on. Beach reads we hope to devour. Sunsets we want to enjoy. Friends and family we want to share a summer meal with.

Sometimes the unfinished project can wait.

By the time July rolls around, many of us are already measuring our progress against the expectations we set when the season began. Yet, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that life rarely unfolds according to our carefully crafted plans.

Sometimes the laundry can stay in the basket.

Sometimes the greatest gift we can give ourselves is permission to pause and savor the season.

The truth is, some of our most cherished memories happen in the spaces between the things we intended to do.

Yesterday was a perfect example. I woke up with no plans and ended up enticing my husband to take down the kayaks for our first float of the summer. It was glorious. The water was brisk, and the wildlife was on overdrive. An eagle with its bright white tail soared over us as we floated by. We caught up with family and giggled later as my grandson dodged bathtime running around in his birthday suit trying to get away from his dad (my son). The night brought a perfect sunset and was capped off by sitting outside under the patio lights, looking for stars. None of this was on my calendar. None of this was intended. It was spontaneous. It was perfect.

As women, we often carry the weight of making things happen— not just for ourselves, but for our families, our workplaces, and

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As you turn the pages of this issue, I hope you'll find inspiration, encouragement, and perhaps a few ideas for making the most of these fleeting summer days. But more than anything, I hope you'll make room for the unexpected moments, the ones that can't be scheduled, planned, or checked off a list.

Because when summer fades and autumn arrives, those are often the memories we hold closest.

Wishing you a season filled with sunshine, laughter, and a little space for life's beautiful surprises.

Enjoy this issue! ✻

Julie

Morgan Stanley is proud to congratulate

The Fangsrud Stone Group Named one of Forbes’ Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams Being named to Forbes’ 2026 Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams list is a testament to your experience, focus, and dedication to your clients’ financial future.

Thank you for the work you do each day and for carrying forward the standard of excellence at our firm.

The Fangsrud Stone Group at Morgan Stanley Wesley Fangsrud Kyle Stone Senior Vice President Financial Advisor 406-238-8911 Wesley.A.Fangsrud@morganstanley.com

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L-R: Wesley, Kyle, Kayla Source: Forbes.com (Awarded January 2026) 2026 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams. This ranking was determined based on an evaluation process conducted by SHOOK Research LLC (the research company) in partnership with Forbes (the publisher) for the period from 3/31/24-3/31/25. Neither Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC nor its Financial Advisors or Private Wealth Advisors paid a fee to SHOOK Research LLC for placement on its rankings. This ranking is based on in-person, virtual and telephone due diligence meetings and a ranking algorithm that includes: a measure of each team’s best practices, client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations, and quantitative criteria, including assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research LLC and may not be representative of any one client’s experience; investors must carefully choose the right Financial Advisor or team for their own situation and perform their own due diligence. This ranking is not indicative of the Financial Advisor’s future performance. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC is not affiliated with SHOOK Research LLC or Forbes. For more information, see www.SHOOKresearch.com. © 2026 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

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what 's i nsid e

j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 2 6

on the cover

14

a vo i ce for v ic t ims

For prosecutor Arielle Dean, seeking justice isn't just a career — it's a calling

2 0 " no o ne bel ieved t h em " How Kasodie West found her calling fighting for survivors

26 some o ne's dau gh ter

Survivors and advocates work to expose the brutal reality of human trafficking

featur es

36 packe d wit h p u r p ose

Purse a Palooza 2026 sets its sights on a record-breaking year

4 0 mak i ng a d if fer En ce

A family legacy of generosity continues to shape Billings and beyond

4 4 f ro m ho m ebou nd to h o p e fu l

20

Billings woman reclaims her life

4 8 the le nd ing c loset

Free medical equipment and one woman's vision to help neighbors in need

52 ae ri es ta kes f l igh t

St. John’s United’s luxury senior tower prepares to rise as the silver tsunami descends

66 ho no r , h op e and h eal in g Local garden club honors Gold Star Families

70 fo reve r val j ef f r ies

Celebrating a life marked by leadership, adventure, generosity and love

74 shuffle, s tac k , connec t

A passion for mahjong sparked an unexpected business and a growing community

78 w o me n, wil d er n ess & waggi ng tail s Hiking together…and so much more

52

90 t he s we et f u t u re of a bi lli ngs i con New technology, same beloved cookie

94 f lami ng s'mores anyone ?

Making summer memories at The Burger Dive

96 coo l bea n s

Japan's refreshing coffee jelly is the perfect summer treat

in every issue

64 kare n grosz : Not Done Yet 84 fa shi o n: Celebrate with Style 10

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ISSUE 155

m eet the STAFF

Te r ry P e r k i n s

gay le s m i t h

t r i sh scoz z a r i

Sales Executive

Sales Executive / Writer

Sales Executive / Writer

m e l a n i e Fa b r i z i us

da n i e l s u l l i va n

Design

Photography

N i co le B u rte l l Distribution

we

k ay l a g r ay Social Media

sue olp Copy Editor

ou r commun ity partn ers

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g n i d Stan

i n t h e Ga p

THREE WOMEN. THREE MISSIONS. ONE COMMITMENT TO PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE

SOME PEOPLE SEE A PROBLEM and

wish someone would do something about it.

Others step forward and become that someone.

In Standing in the Gap, we meet three women whose work is changing lives right here in our community. Whether fighting for survivors of human trafficking, seeking justice for women and children in some of the state's most difficult criminal cases, or holding institutions accountable when they fail to protect the vulnerable, Penny Ronning, Arielle Dean, and Kasodie West have dedicated their careers to standing up for people who need an advocate. Their stories are different, but their mission is the same: to make sure no one has to face injustice alone. ✻

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Voice

A for victims FOR PROSECUTOR ARIELLE DEAN, SEEKING JUSTICE ISN'T JUST A CAREER — IT'S A CALLING written by JULIE LOVELL photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

AS CHIEF DEPUTY COUNTY ATTORNEY for Yellow-

Arielle says. “Getting to do that for them and for this community is a great gift.”

One case she’ll never forget: a violent attack on a sweet and spicy 3-year-old girl.

One aspect of Arielle’s job involves working with undercover detectives in sting cases that target online sexual predators. In 2024, the Department of Homeland Security honored her with the HSI Denver Partnership award for successfully prosecuting several of those cases. Arielle says it was a complete team effort and was very rewarding to see Yellowstone County recognized for proactively fighting online crime.

stone County, Arielle Dean is on the frontlines in a war against crimes targeting women and children. She spends her days fighting for some of our community’s most vulnerable — domestic abuse victims and children targeted by sexual predators.

“This bright, beautiful girl was brutally beaten by her mom’s boyfriend at the time,” Arielle says. “If she hadn’t received medical care, she was probably within about 10 minutes of dying. We ended up going to trial and got a good outcome. The amount of love the girl’s family has for her and the progress she was able to make because of her support system is incredible.”

YOU NEED TO BE READY TO ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. IT’S A VERY FOCUSED MINDSET AND YOU MUST BE CONSTANTLY THINKING BIG PICTURE, OUTSIDE THE BOX AND ON YOUR FEET.

“Being able to identify and prosecute predators before they had committed a hands-on offense was great,” Arielle says, adding the cases sparked awareness. “I hope some of the takeaways from that were people helping their kids be safe online, being aware of who they’re talking to online.”

— Arielle Dean The cruelty of the crimes hurts Outside the courtroom, Arielle is Arielle’s heart and fuels her desire known for her warmth and kindfor justice. As the head of criminal ness. Many will tell you it’s a diflitigation for the county attorney’s ferent story when she takes on the office, Dean and her team of 14 atrole of a prosecutor. torneys prosecute everything from homicides to violent robberies to assaults. Arielle specializes in “You need to be ready to roll with the punches,” Arielle says. “It’s prosecuting perpetrators of violent crimes against women and a very focused mindset and you must be constantly thinking big children. Most people wouldn’t have the strength or skills to hanpicture, outside the box and on your feet.” dle that type of work. But this mother of three not only loves her job; she sees it as a calling.

Arielle was born and raised in Billings. She earned her undergraduate degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane before “I tell my kids all the time, ‘Mommy’s job is to keep you safe,’” JULY/AUGUST 2026

15

heading to the University of Denver for her law degree. Before landing the job with the Yellowstone County Attorney’s office in 2020, she worked for four years in the largest district attorney’s office in the Denver metro area. In her final year there, she was promoted to the Special Victims Unit, where she learned valuable skills for prosecuting sex offenders and advocating for victims, especially children. That big city experience has paid off here in Billings.

The job requires a tough stomach, grit and perseverance. Arielle is the first to admit some days are very tough emotionally and mentally.

“In terms of crimes against women and children, she kind of took the bull by the horns,” says her boss, Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito. “She’ll take tough cases to trial, which I think in turn empowers the office, empowers the law enforcement agencies we work with, and more importantly, empowers the folks affected by crime — whether that’s a victim or perhaps a witness.”

In the last few years, Arielle and her team at the county attorney’s office have won convictions in several difficult cases, including the rape of a blind woman and sex crimes that a Billings restaurant owner committed against several employees. Arielle also successfully argued for a prison sentence for a man who physically assaulted a baby girl, leaving her blind and disabled.

Many of the violent crimes the county attorney’s office handles are committed against victims who can’t fight for themselves.

Montana Department of Corrections statistics show that in 2024, male criminal defendants were found guilty of 27 counts of sexual abuse of children in Yellowstone County. That same year, there were 19 partner or family member assault convictions and 15 convictions on charges of strangulation of a partner or family member. Proving these types of cases isn’t easy, but Arielle likes the challenge.

The violence, brutality and life-changing impacts on victims and families are difficult to witness, but on tough days, Arielle draws strength from a surprising source: the resilience of survivors who have suffered devastating abuse.

“I like being able to think creatively,” she says. “What are other ways we can corroborate what a child says or help a victim of domestic violence or sexual violence?”

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“I’ve had some really horrific cases where we got good outcomes at the end of the day, where there is relief for the victims,” Arielle says. “There are challenging days, but there are some extremely rewarding days, and those keep you going.”

“I think the human spirit is so powerful and, for children in particular, they are way tougher than people give them credit for,” she says. “They can overcome things that most adults look at and think ‘there’s no way,’ and then they do and prove everybody wrong.”

What is harder for Arielle to accept is the fact that no matter how hard she fights, some of the victims she encounters will never be made whole.

Be Part of a Summer Where Everyone Thrives

“The most challenging aspect of my job is knowing that there are times where no matter what we do and no matter what the outcome, no matter how great the sentence, we can't fix the damage that has been done,” she says.

Arielle stresses that dealing with violent crimes against women and children requires a strong team — one that includes not only her co-workers, but community partners like the Billings and Laurel police departments, the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office, Child and Family Services and the Yellowstone County Child Advocacy Center.

“This community is amazing,” Arielle says.

“We have such incredible people here and it’s an honor to support those people and also hold accountable those who need to be held accountable.”

Each month, a multidisciplinary team of community partners meets to discuss current cases and best practices for conducting forensic interviews. Questioning women and children who are victims of sexual violence is particularly challenging because it requires getting at the truth in a

way that doesn’t further traumatize victims.

“Arielle is very passionate about that and making sure we, as interviewers, are asking the correct questions and asking them in a nonthreatening way,” says Tricia Loving, the director of the Yellowstone Valley Child Advocacy Center. “We want these bad guys to go away, and we want to know what happened, but what comes first is these children and not traumatizing them.”

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“When a child comes forward and makes a disclosure, usually they’re not lying about that. “Research tells us how we support it in that moment really impacts how they’re able to talk about things down the road,” she adds.

One of Arielle’s strengths is her ability to connect with victims and help them fully understand their cases and the legal system.

“She really takes the time to sit down and reach out to them and try to be really communicative and transparent,” Scott Twito says.

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Arielle says she feels for domestic abuse victims who often believe they are trapped and unable to leave their abusive partners.

“I talk to survivors a lot who express concerns like, ‘I don’t have anywhere to go; he pays all the bills,’” Arielle says. “It is totally understandable why people have a hard time getting out of those situations.”

When abuse is reported, those cases are taken seriously, she says. “Between our office and the city attorney’s office, there has been a ton of work toward good outcomes.”

Arielle wants victims to know support is available if they do decide to come forward.

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If you ask Arielle, educating the community is critical to reducing violent crime. She’s also made it her mission to teach law enforcement about changes in Montana laws that impact how they process different types of violent crimes.

THERE ARE REALLY GREAT ORGANIZATIONS TO HELP SUPPORT THEM, LIKE THE FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER AND THE YWCA. ALSO, WHEN A CHILD GOES TO A FORENSIC INTERVIEW WITH THE CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER, THERE ARE A WHOLE BUNCH OF RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO THEM THERE AND THROUGH RIVERSTONE HEALTH. — Arielle Dean

“There are really great organizations to help support them, like the Family Justice Center and the YWCA,” she says. “Also, when a child goes to a forensic interview with the Child Advocacy Center, there are a whole bunch of resources available to them 18

there and through Riverstone Health.”

“We actually have really great laws here in Montana,” she says. “Specifically, with our sexual intercourse without consent statute and some others, there is what’s called a Jessica’s Law provision covering children aged 12 and under. A person convicted must serve 25 years in prison before they’re even eligible for parole.”

In 2019, another law took effect that helps prosecutors like Arielle seek justice in sexual crimes against children. Before then, a statute of limitations restricted the amount of time a victim had to seek charges against someone who had sex with a child. For cases of sexual abuse of

children that have occurred from 2019 forward, that statute of limitations was wiped away. That can help young victims seek justice, since it’s common to see long delays in reporting those types of crimes.

With often heavy cases, Arielle says she works to find balance and makes the most of family time with her husband, Austin, and their three children.

“It’s really important is to try to compartmentalize as best I can,” Arielle says. “I try to take care of myself and my mental health so I can make sure I can show up and be the best person I can be at work and at home.”

Family has always been important to Arielle. Her roots run deep here in Billings, and longtime residents may remember a young Arielle appearing with her dad, Shawn Hanser, in TV commercials for Hanser’s Automotive many years ago. She credits her dad with pointing her toward a legal career. She’s not the first Hanser, however, to work in the county attorney’s office. Her great uncle, Harold Hanser, served as Yellowstone County attorney for two decades.

Arielle finds deep meaning in her work, and, at just 34 years old, she hopes to seek justice for crime victims for many years to come.

“I’m honored and happy to be a voice for people who are unable to stand up for themselves,” she says. “I just love getting to be that voice.” ✻

JULIE LOVELL, writer Julie is a former Billings news anchor who loves sharing positive news stories. After spending a decade in Georgia, her family is happy to back home in Montana. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her volunteering for special needs organizations, stretching her faith and getting reacquainted with the joys of life under the Big Sky!

JULY/AUGUST 2026

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“No One

d e v e i l e B Them”

HOW KASODIE WEST FOUND HER CALLING FIGHTING FOR SURVIVORS written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

Editor’s Note: Please note, this story contains explicit details relating to sexual assault and may be upsetting to readers.

BY THE TIME KASODIE WEST walks into a courtroom, she already knows something crucial about many of the women she represents. They’ve spent months, if not years, wondering whether anyone would ever believe them.

In two separate cases this year, at least 32 sexual-assault victims got the answer to that question. In one court case, their abuser landed a 40-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting them while he served as an emergency room doctor. In another, the women impacted by the sexual abuse got an eight-figure settlement tied to institutional failures.

Kasodie and her partner, Andrew Van Arsdale, represented 28 of the women.

“Hands down, without a doubt, this is one of the biggest things I have done. One of my biggest accomplishments,” she says.

The allegations against former emergency room doctor, Tyler Hurst, were deeply disturbing. Women reported entering the emergency room for issues like headaches, back pain, or even an ankle injury, before their exams escalated into sexual assault “He would do this by shock and awe,” she says. “One of the vic-

tims went in for a headache and he would say, ‘Well, let’s make sure you don’t have anything else. Does it hurt if I press here?

Does it hurt if I press here?’ And he would go further down the body. They would ask, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’

He would give them Dilaudid (a potent opioid) to drug them and make them (feel) out of it.” Kasodie adds that the physician tended to target minorities or women with substance abuse issues — “People he thought no one would believe.”

Stacey, whose last name we are withholding to protect her identity, is a 44-year-old mother of three. She went into Community Medical Center in Missoula for what she feared was a severe kidney infection.

“I had blood in my urine, and I was running a fever,” Stacey says.

“They brought me down to a room, which was down a kind of dark hallway. It wasn’t anywhere near the nurse’s station.”

After a nurse put in an IV, Hurst told her he was going to give her something for the pain.

“The pain medicine seemed like it was way too much, and so I was really out of it,” Stacey says. That’s when Hurst told her he’d like to do a physical exam.

“When he went to listen to my breath sounds, he lifted up my shirt, all the way up so it exposed my breasts,” she says, her voice shaking. “That made me super uncomfortable. I pulled my shirt back down, and he pulled it back up.”

JULY/AUGUST 2026

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TYLER HURST, COURTESY OF KTVQ

Then things escalated. Stacey described the events that led Hurst to pull down her pants and attempt to rub her genitals under the premise of easing her pain. When she screamed and told him to stop, he stuck his ungloved hand inside her.

“I was so shocked and out of it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, did that just happen?’”

Before it was over, Hurst would assault her again, this time violently, becoming physically aroused in the process.

“At this point, I am completely freaked out.

My heart is pounding, and I am literally in tears,” Stacey says, adding Hurst apologized and later told her, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Emery. That went way too far.”

Surveillance footage showed Hurst spent nearly 40 minutes alone with Stacey during the attack.

ports to the medical center, but still, Hurst ended up practicing in Missoula for more than seven years.

“Kasodie swore to me, ‘We will get him. We will hold him accountable,’” Stacey says. With Hurst now behind bars for the next 40 years on seven charges of sexual assault, Stacey says she feels she can finally begin to heal. “I hate that this happened to me, but one thing that changed it all for me was having somebody stand up for me and all of those other women,” she says, I HATE THAT THIS HAPPENED adding that’s where Kasodie shines.

TO ME, BUT ONE THING THAT CHANGED IT ALL FOR ME WAS HAVING SOMEBODY STAND UP FOR ME AND ALL OF THOSE OTHER WOMEN.

“You get angry. How did this happen?

Why did this happen? Why is this person getting away with this?” Kasodie says.

“Doctors aren’t supposed to cause harm.”

Today, as a partner at AVA Law Group, Kasodie is one of, if not the only, female civil — Stacey , One of Hurst's Victims litigator in Billings who has made a career out of fighting for sexual abuse survivors For 24 hours afterward, she says, “I laid in on a large scale. While she does focus on my room, bawling my eyes out.” She endperpetrators, she uses the legal system to ed up calling 9-1-1 to report the incident. force institutions to answer for the harm When she later talked to a detective, she they allowed — or, worse yet, ignored. told the officer she wanted to make sure Hospitals. Treatment facilities. Systems what happened to her never happened to anyone else. “That’s that failed to protect vulnerable people. when he told me, ‘I really hate to say this, but you are not the only one.’”

“I think what really impresses me about Kasodie is her ability to show compassion and build connections with victims of sexual The investigation showed many of his 32 victims had made re22

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DIDDY: IN PLAIN SIGHT

assault in a way that engenders trust,” says Teague Westrope, Kasodie’s partner at AVA Law. Teague calls her “wicked smart” and says, even when he was a prosecutor working in the city attorney’s office, he knew she was a standout.

“There is just a dynamic energy about her.”

One of the very first cases Kasodie worked on at AVA Law was the sexual abuse case against the Boy Scouts of America. It was a case with 80,000 victims, a dozen of whom called Montana home.

“I think the Boy Scouts case surprised me. How did this systematic abuse happen for so long, and the Boy Scouts covered it up and didn’t take any precautions to protect children?” she says.

Today, that case is in the victim compensation phase after the court reached a settlement valued at more than $2.4 billion.

gal complaints become the punchline of a Saturday Night Live joke.

AVA Law Group's sister company, Reciprocity Industries — a Billings-based legal services and call center operation — became a primary intake hotline for those reporting sexual abuse allegations against Combs. Calls deemed credible were referred to AVA Law for review and potential legal action. Several of the cases landed on Kasodie’s desk, including one involving a man who alleges that, at 17, he was sexually assaulted backstage by Combs after filming an episode of the MTV reality series, “Making the Band.”

Not long after she filed the man’s case, she and her husband were watching Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update when comedian Michael Che talked about the sexual assault allegations, ending his commentary saying, “I hope he made the band.”

The case that thrust her into the international spotlight, however, came when SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS she began helping with the civil litigation against rap mogul Sean "Diddy" “I think I was so shocked that it was Combs — a case that led to her appearance as a source in the even happening. I was just really taken aback,” she says. “It just BBC documentary “Diddy: In Plain Sight” and had one of her legoes to show how sexual assault allegations are taken in our society.”

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After an eight-week trial in June 2025, a jury convicted Combs on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but cleared him of the most severe charges — sex trafficking and racketeering. He was handed a 50-month prison sentence.

“I had a really hard time with that case. I just think it set us back so far. The prosecution brought the case prematurely and didn’t have the evidence they needed to back the claims that they were making,” Kasodie says. “They shouldn’t have brought it if they couldn't prove it.”

The disappointment still lingers because even though the civil cases have yet to be heard in court, Kasodie believes the criminal case represented something bigger.

AVA Law Group's sister company,

RECIPROCITY INDUSTRIES INDUSTRIES, RECIPROCITY

a Billings-based legal services and call center operation, served as a primary intake hotline for individuals reporting sexual

abuse allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs.

“It could have been a moment where we said, ‘enough is enough,’” she says. “Just because you have power and money, doesn’t mean you get to get away with it.”

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In Kasodie’s office, a framed sign sits behind her desk that reads, “Thriving, surviving, and occasionally crying.” When asked about it she laughs, “Yes, it’s true. I cried in this office yesterday. I just have a mashed-potato heart.”

She never wants to lose that, knowing that empathy helps her when she is fighting for sexual-abuse victims. Her mission with this work is to make the world a little better, especially for her 2-year-old son and infant daughter.

“I wish there didn’t need to be a sexual-assault civil attorney. Ever. But here we are,” she says. “I want to be a really good female role model for my daughter and for my son. That’s incredibly important to me.”

There’s little doubt that her job comes with long hours that can be mentally exhausting. She says that when she walks out of her

office, however, she tries very hard to be fully present in the lives of her family.

“Did you ever watch that Shonda Rhimes graduation speech? She talked about the fact that when she was excelling in her career, she wasn’t excelling at home. When she was excelling at home, she wasn’t excelling in her career.

And she said, ‘I think women, whether they're stay-at-home moms or if they are out in the work force, it is something that each and every one of us struggles with every day,’” Kasodie says. “Sometimes I balance, and sometimes I fail at balancing. I can be very vulnerable about that part of my life because it is really, really hard.”

Regardless, she feels blessed to balance life between her family and fulfilling work.

“I am really lucky to be in the position that I am to help women in this community. I have to remind myself that I get to do this every day and I get to make a difference every day,” she says. “This is the most meaningful, cup-filling work for me.” ✻

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so m e o n e ’s

Daughter SURVIVORS AND ADVOCATES WORK TO EXPOSE THE BRUTAL REALITY OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

Editor’s Note: This story contains mature content. We have

gal system. Her first case was a 15-year-old girl whose mother had died and whose father abandoned her at birth.

THROUGH HER VOLUNTEER WORK, Penny Ronning

“Her mother willed her over to a meth dealer,” Penny says frankly.

“At 15, she knew if she didn’t get out of that home, she probably wouldn't live much longer because it was so violent.” The girl ended up running, trying to survive on the street before eventually landing in the foster care system.

changed the names of the human trafficking survivors interviewed within this story to protect their identities. Their traffickers still move through and operate within Billings.

has become privy to some of the ugliest crimes known to man.

It’s gritty work. She’ll tell you it’s often hard to carry, but her heart is tied around it for reasons that came long before she was born.

“I’m the daughter of a trafficking survivor,” Penny says.

From the time Penny’s mom was 5 years old until she was 9, she was sold for sex by her 16-year-old brother, Penny’s uncle.

“For four years, she and my aunt were raped every day and sold to neighboring farm boys to do with whatever they wanted,” Penny says.

“She lived with that shame and that trauma.”

“She didn’t want to be there and so she ran away,” Penny says.

By the time she was found, Penny adds, “She had been already drugged and raped. So now you have this trauma added on to all the other layers in her life."

THE YELLOWSTONE HUMAN TRAFFICKING TASK FORCE (YHTTF)

includes more than 1,000 members from a wide range of professions and backgrounds.

The organization has helped strengthen state and federal laws to combat human trafficking in Montana and has trained more than 65,000 people to recognize the warning signs.

Penny admits, that because of the damage to her mother’s body, it was a miracle that she and her sister, Nita, were born.

When Penny came back to Billings in 2013 to take care of her mom after years of working and living elsewhere, “I wanted to give back to this community that raised me.” She wanted that work to honor her mom.

The Day Penny’s Eyes Opened Penny became a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), standing beside foster children as their cases went before the le-

Penny helped the teen heal and watched her succeed, despite her seven different foster placements over the next 11 months.

By her senior year, the girl was getting straight As and landed her first job.

“She gets a job in a fast-food place where there was an employee there that saw every vulnerability in her and began to traffic her out of that restaurant for drugs,” Penny says. “That was the wake-up call for me.”

As Penny took a closer look at some of the files on the CASA caseload, she was shocked to learn how many of the children in their care had been trafficked. She made a call to the FBI. Not only did an agent and a victim’s witness specialist lead a training with CASA workers to identify the warning signs, it sparked a relationship that would plant the seeds for what would soon become the Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force (YHTTF).

Within months, Penny helped launch the task force. Today, it has more than 1,000 members made up of those within government, law enforcement, medical, education, nonprofit agencies, victim’s services, business, state and federal justice systems, along with JULY/AUGUST 2026

27

human trafficking survivors. It has championed changes to state and federal laws, making it harder for traffickers to operate within Montana, and has trained more than 65,000 people to identify warning signs.

Owned by Organized Crime Lynne was just 19 when she met a handsome man whose charm and affection, at first, concealed his dark side.

Ten years later, Penny is still one of the task force’s leading voices.

“When we started this task force 10 years ago, there were no victims or survivors who were willing to tell their stories.

Zero, zip, none,” Penny says. “No one was talking about trafficking. Law enforcement still saw it as prostitution.”

So, Penny started talking and she invited trafficking survivors from other states to help put a face on the crime. Slowly but surely, she gained the trust of survivors here and, over the years, she’s helped many of them find their voices.

“We started talking every day, and he slowly pulled me away from my family and friends.

He fed my addiction by giving me drugs.

He gave me lavish gifts and outfits that I wouldn’t normally wear,” Lynne says, THESE PREDATORS adding that the clothing was provocative. The drugs only heightened her WORK FOR MONTHS GETTING YOU addiction, which she now knows TO EARN THEIR TRUST UNTIL, was intentional.

BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, YOU’RE IN A SITUATION THAT IS SUPER DANGEROUS AND ALMOST ALWAYS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OUT OF. I BECAME THE PROPERTY OF AN ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILY. — Lynne, Human Trafficking Survivor

“They speak out. And they lay that groundwork, they sow those seeds,” Penny says, sharing that a handful of them are now standing beside her, leading anti-human trafficking trainings statewide. “They don't always get to see the physical impact because it happens in so many different ways, but you look at where we are today versus where we were 10 years ago? That’s because of the courage survivors had to tell their story.”

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“He was desensitizing me to that lifestyle,” she says.

The man was the textbook case of what’s called “Romeo grooming.”

This type of trafficker begins slowly with gifts and affection, building trust with each move.

“I just wanted to be loved,” Lynne says.

Over the next two years, his subversive control deepened. By the time Lynne boarded a plane to Las Vegas at 21, she believed she was making her own choices. Today, there is no doubt in her mind she was being manipulated.

“These predators work for months getting you to earn their trust until, before you know it, you’re in a situation that is super dan-

LYNNE COVERED THE GANG TATTOO WITH A FEATHER TO SHOW SHE'S FREE, NO LONGER A HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM BUT A SURVIVOR.

gerous and almost always impossible to get out of,” Lynne says. “I became the property of an organized crime family.”

For the next four-and-a-half years, Lynne was exploited by a network that moved her through 27 strip clubs in Nevada, New Mexico, Indiana and Ohio. She was forced to meet a daily quota of $1,500. If she didn’t, she stayed in the club until she did, at times days on end without sleep or food. She was forced to sell drugs to make up any difference.

And then there was the late-night meet-up with a tattoo artist hired to mark Lynne and two other girls as gang property. The ink of the gang’s initials landed on the skin right under her collar bone.

“I remember crying and begging and pleading. I didn’t want a gang tattoo,” Lynne says. “I didn’t understand it was a branding at the time,” she says. The second part of her initiation? She and another woman were forced at gunpoint to sleep with the gang’s leader.

“Instead of the whole gang raping me, I had to sleep with the guy in charge. He was well into his 70s,” Lynne says, shaking her head. She remembers crying afterward, her trafficker promising the man would never touch her again. Lynne knows now that it was a classic example of what a trauma bond looks like — a cyclical pattern of abuse and manipulation followed by brief periods of intense affection. Lynne says it’s a mental game that made it difficult to leave.

Over time, Lynne was passed between several traffickers. Each time, the physical abuse and mind control deepened. She begged them to let her go.

“They told me that I could but if I did, they were going to replace me. They slid two pictures across the table. They were pictures of my younger sisters who lived in Billings, going into their schools.

They were in elementary and junior high at the time,” Lynne says.

“I would rather it be me than one of them.”

The violence got so bad, Lynne didn’t think she’d live to see 26.

“I took a chance,” Lynne says. She called her mom. “What’s the difference if I die trying to leave or because my trafficker finally strangles me to death? That was his go-to form of abuse.”

She told her mother the whole, ugly truth.

“I explained to her that it wasn’t just one person. It was an organization. I was really scared,” she says. She begged her mom not to call the police.

So her mom did something uncanny. She romanced the romancer.

“My mom befriended him,” Lynne says. “She was able to see past her rage and her fear and stay calm enough to play the part. It was absolutely amazing to me. Every narcissist loves having their ego stroked.”

It took a little more than six months to build the relationship.

Then, Lynne’s mom put the escape plan in motion. She pretended Lynne’s grandfather was sick and said Lynne needed to fly home for a few weeks.

Her trafficker let her get on the plane.

Lynne describes the day as if it were yesterday. She kissed him JULY/AUGUST 2026

29

goodbye and started to move through airport security. Every time she looked back to see if he was still watching, she’d blow him a kiss and wave. The second she moved around the corner out of sight, “I just dropped to my knees and started bawling because I felt like I could breathe for the first time in four-and-a-half years,” she says.

Lynne returned home at 25, still battling addiction and trauma.

Today, at 36, she is a mother of five and continues to navigate nightmares, hypervigilance, and the lingering effects of years spent in survival mode.

“My head is always on a swivel,” she says. “My nervous system has never really come out of fight-or-flight.” Her groomer still lives in Billings and has ties to this multi-state ring.

That fact hasn’t stopped Lynne from becoming a survivor leader with the Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force. For the past few years, she’s joined Penny to help facilitate anti-human trafficking trainings with everyone from first responders and those in the medical field to hoteliers and service providers. Earlier this year, she became the first survivor to lead a statewide call in Montana, helping unite agencies, law enforcement and organizations working to combat exploitation.

By her teens, Elizabeth turned to methamphetamine and eventually became deeply involved in the drug world, selling to support her addiction. Looking back, she says the childhood wounds left her vulnerable to the kind of person who knows exactly how to exploit brokenness.

“Predators can sense vulnerability like a dog can sense fear,” she says.

When she was 23, a man entered her life and said all the right things. He convinced her he loved her and that if she just did this one thing, namely sell her body for sex, they could build a future together. As time went on, Elizabeth became a young mother with a strong desire to leave that life behind. That’s when the threats against her and her daughter started.

“At that point, I was doing what I needed to do to keep my daughter safe,” she says.

The abuse escalated quickly. When she tried to leave, her trafficker took her to California. “That’s when I knew I was in danger,” she says. “He started pulling guns on me.”

For years, meth kept her awake through the darkest hours of the night, when traffickers said the most lucrative calls came in.

Last year, brought one of her proudest moments — the day she spoke before the Montana Criminal Justice Oversight Council.

Not only did she share her story in detail, “I got to give my opinion on all the different laws or statutes that need to be in place to make Montana safer.”

“I remember there were times I would be like, ‘why can't I find a prostitute serial killer?’ I was so low,” Elizabeth says, tears forming in her eyes.

When her beloved grandfather, the man she says never left her, became gravely ill, she fled and boarded a bus homeward bound. Federal marshals were waiting.

She was arrested on outstanding drug warrants and sentenced to three years in prison.

Her top priority is a requirement that all law enforcement undergo trauma-informed training so they can better identify what trafficking truly looks like.

She remembers telling the council, “No officer ever made me feel comfortable enough to disclose what was really happening in my life. I was treated as a criminal, just another addict, another problem, when in reality, I was someone’s daughter being sold.”

LOUIS VENNING

She is very candid about the realities of human trafficking.

“Our stories aren’t rare,” she says. “They’re just stories that are rarely told.”

“Prison Saved My Life.”

Long before Elizabeth was trafficked across state lines, her story began as a little girl whose cries for help went unheard.

She was just 2 years old when her stepfather began sexually abusing her. At age 12, when she gathered the courage to speak out, instead of protection, she says, “Everything was kind of swept under the rug.”

Not long after, she was molested by a neighbor. This time, she stayed silent.

“I had already felt the shame of what speaking up does to you the first time,” she says. “I didn’t feel like my life was worthy.”

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YVW MAGAZINE

What might seem like another tragedy, however, became the turning point.

“Prison saved my life,” she says.

Even though she feels prison was the catalyst to help her get clean, it’s also a classic case of what often happens to trafficking victims — forced criminalization that leads to prison time.

“The majority of women in prison in Montana, that’s the story,” Penny says.

A study by Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking nonprofit, revealed that 80% of trafficking survivors who had been arrested or detained were incarcerated for crimes they were forced to commit while they were actively being trafficked.

“Law enforcement failed them,” Elizabeth says.

Released in 2021, she is taking what she calls “baby steps” toward a future she once believed she would never have. At 37, she is working with Penny to become a survivor leader. It’s her mission to use her voice to strengthen protections for children. She believes when children are heard, believed and empowered after speaking out about sexual abuse, they are less vulnerable to trafficking and substance abuse later in life. She would also like to see harsher sentences for predators and more trauma-informed

EVERY SINGLE ROOM THEY WALK INTO, THEY WALK IN WITH THIS GRACE. THEY WALK IN AND SAY, ‘I'M GOING TO SIT HERE AND TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE WORST TIME OF MY LIFE.’ THEY DO IT BECAUSE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT, SOMEONE’S LIFE IS GETTING SAVED THAT THEY MAY NEVER MEET. — Penny Ronning

responses from the justice system. All of those things, she says, could prevent countless lives like hers from being derailed.

He offered exactly what she desperately needed — drugs, shelter and promises of stability.

“I shouldn’t have seen the inside of prison walls before my abuser did,” she says.

It took months, but when her trafficker began beating her to the point of blacking out, a family member rescued her. That's when she became one of the 13 Jane Does to testify in a federal case against Venning.

Today, her daughter is 10. Elizabeth is fiercely protective of her.

“For the first time in my life, I feel like I actually have a future,” she says. “I feel like my voice is no longer going to be silenced. I know this is my life’s mission.”

Bringing Down a Multi-State Trafficking Ring On any given week, Penny might field calls from a half-dozen people tied in some way shape, or form to human trafficking. On one week in 2019, Penny took a call from Denise Boggio, a member of YHTTF and an administrator with Yellowstone County Self-Help Law Center. She was helping a woman fill out the paperwork for a restraining order when red flag after red flag popped up. It all pointed to human trafficking.

“Denise called me and said, ‘I have this person sitting here.’ I said, ‘Convince her. Do everything you can to convince her to walk over to the FBI office,’” Penny says.

The woman, known only as Jane Doe, was one of the three women who sat down with YVW to talk about the realities of trafficking. She was the only one of the three who was trafficked out of a handful of Billings hotels. As she spoke about the drugs, coercion and intense violence, she wanted it to be made clear that human trafficking doesn’t always look like women chained up in basements.

The man who enticed her into the life called himself “December,” because, as he said, he was “cold, like a winter night.” His real name was Louis Venning.

While Louis Venning pled guilty in November 2021 to sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking a minor, as well as cocaine possession with intent to distribute, authorities believe over the course of nearly 10 years, he exploited more than 80 women and minors as part of an interstate human trafficking ring. He’s now serving 30 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

After sharing her story and all the intricacies of the Billings human trafficking scene, the woman decided a few weeks later she wasn’t ready for the intimate details of her case to be shared. We honored that request.

“Jane’s trafficker was brutal,” Penny says. “There are two of his victims that can’t sit and tell their story. So, Jane speaks for them.”

‘I still have work to do’ In time, Penny would love to turn the role of advocacy over to survivor leaders like Jane, Lynne and Elizabeth.

“Every single room they walk into, they walk in with this grace.

They walk in and say, ‘I'm going to sit here and talk to you about the worst time of my life.’ They do it because on the other side of that, someone’s life is getting saved that they may never meet,” Penny says. “They give voice to the fact that, ‘This is what we look like and we are right here in front of you.’”

Penny says that in the beginning of her advocacy, people weren’t always willing to listen.

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massage businesses per capita than New York City. There were just shy of 30 with each running three to five girls. After gathering firsthand knowledge from women forced to work in this setting, she learned one woman could earn upwards of $18,000 a month. It was an estimated $17 million-dollar annual industry in Billings.

Just to give you perspective, last year, Billings took in $15.4 million in gambling revenue.

“The number is astounding,” Penny says.

In 2021, Mayor Bill Cole signed an ordinance that prohibited 24-hour massage parlors. The ordinance prohibited blacked-out or darkened windows. It required workers to maintain detailed logs of services and among other things, required fingerprinting to obtain a city license.

The ordinance also permitted the city to conduct unannounced inspections of the premises during business hours. While the ordinance faced a legal challenge in late 2025, a federal appeals panel largely upheld the ordinance as constitutional limiting only inspections on homebased massage businesses.

By 2022, the ordinance led to the closure of every known illicit massage business operating in Billings. Today, it continues to serve as an effective mechanism for shutting down new establishments as they appear. It’s been so effective that other cities are taking notice. The city of Colorado Springs recently asked Penny to help them craft a similar ordinance.

“It was a fight,” she says. It took years to bring her education to Billings Public Schools, to both hospitals, to hotels. “We had physicians tell us that this doesn’t happen. It’s not our problem. That is the language we would get coming back at us.”

In addition to education, Penny has been driven by concrete policy changes. “That's what keeps me going, and that's where my heart is,” she says.

Through her work, she’s helped get 15 state laws and five federal bills passed to strengthen laws targeting trafficking and exploitation. She’s also fought to expand investigative capacity, and was a strong voice to get the first two human trafficking detectives assigned to the Montana Department of Justice’s Criminal Investigation Bureau.

One of her toughest battles, however, was in 2018, when, as a Billings City Council member, she fought to regulate massage businesses. The goal was to have a tool to shut down illicit massage businesses where human trafficking took place.

“That was a brutal fight,” Penny says. “I got called every word in the book.” Legitimate massage therapists didn’t want added regulation.

Before Penny stepped onto the council, Billings had more illicit 32

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But even with progress, Penny can’t forget the startling facts still alive within the world of trafficking today. After Back Page and City X Guide, two of the most profitable sites for escort ads, were shut down for aiding in human trafficking and money laundering, those websites moved overseas, out of the reach of federal law enforcement. You can still use them to find dozens upon dozens of ads promoting trafficking victims here in Billings. On top of that, the rise of technology more easily targets children with online video game chat rooms becoming prime spaces for predators. Once ensnared, a 14-year-old can sell for up to $900 an hour. The younger the age, the higher the price.

“Think about who can pay that price,” Penny says. “It’s not the homeless guy out there on the street. These are cash businesses.”

Sitting next to Jane, Penny looks at her and says, “I have love for this community, but at the same time, this is also the community that bought this beautiful human being. We have to reconcile that the reason trafficking happens here is because there are buyers here.”

As Jane gets up to leave, she gives Penny a tight embrace and whispers, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

It’s just the fuel Penny needs to go to battle another day.

“I can see the wins,” she says, nodding. “I can see the wins.” ✻

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

A N A T N O M IN

88

%

Because Billings is centrally located, it is a convenient meeting spot.

From here, the highways can take you east, west, north or south.

OF TRAFFICKING SURVIVORS HAD CONTACT WITH A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL while they were being trafficked

IN 2025, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AGENTS WORKED

64

— Lynne, Human Trafficking Survivor

WHAT DOES HUMAN TRAFFICKING LOOK LIKE?

KNOW THE SIGNS A young person who avoids eye contact, seems fearful or appears tired, malnourished or physically abused.

Difficulty answering basic questions such as their name or where they are.

Clothing that is inappropriate for the weather or situation.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASES

IN MONTANA

REPORT HUMAN

TRAFFICKING In May of 2026, The Montana Department of Justice launched SIMPLY REPORT, a new reporting tool available through mobile app and online.

☛ Agents with the Montana ☛ To date, the tip line has Department of Justice monitor responded to more than 640 tips in real time. calls, text messages and live chats.

MONTANA HUMAN TRAFFICKING TIP LINE

Few personal belongings, often no ID.

1-833-406-STOP

Accompanied by someone they appear afraid of or who seems controlling.

REPORT ONLINE

SIMPLYREPORT.COM

IF YOU SUSPECT HUMAN TRAFFICKING, DO NOT INTERVENE.

CALL 9-1-1 IN AN EMERGENCY, OR CALL OR TEXT 1-833-406-STOP IN NON-EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. 34

YVW MAGAZINE

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FOR 50 YEARS, Tumbleweed has provided second chances, and it’s only been possible because of you.

the addresses of at least

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for the escort’s location.

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Law enforcement estimates that

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JULY/AUGUST 2026

35

Packed Purpose PURSE A PALOOZA 2026 SETS ITS SIGHTS ON A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR written by JENNIFER ALBRIGHT photography by YWCA & DANIEL SULLIVAN

36

YVW MAGAZINE

AT FIRST GLANCE, the purses look like glitzy little show-

pieces — some curated with gift cards or spa packages tucked inside, others draped in soft luxuries like silk scarves or clipped with coordinating sunglasses, all meant to entice the highest bidder. But their true value lies in what they make possible. This year, as the community mourns the tragic passing of another local young woman and mother in a presumed act of domestic violence, each purse at Purse a Palooza 2026 becomes more than an offering at an annual fundraiser — it becomes a lifeline, a night of safety, a step toward freedom for someone who needs it now.

As YWCA Billings gears up for its annual signature event in October — Purse a Palooza 2026, or simply “Purse” to the team — the push for a record breaking year feels less like ambition and more like urgency, a response to a need that grows more pressing by the day.

“When we're providing services to survivors at no cost, we need to raise all that money. Purse allows us to do that,” says Erin Lambert, YWCA CEO and co chair of this year’s event.

Last year, Purse came just shy of raising $200,000, a number the team is determined to surpass this year. Renee Toscan, YWCA administrative director, says it would be an amazing milestone.

“Every dollar raised at this fundraiser supports the survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking we serve at YWCA Billings,” Renee explains. “Specifically, it funds our Emergency and Transitional Services, the programs that give survivors the tools they need to thrive.”

What began as a small, intimate gathering in the YWCA gymnasium at 909 Wyoming Ave. in Billings has since blossomed into a coveted downtown tradition at the Northern Hotel. This year’s event is expected to feature more than 100 purse offerings in the silent auction, along with a spirited live auction, buffet dinner, music, and connection — what Erin sums up as “the ultimate ladies’ night out.”

In the months leading up to the event, volunteers fan out across the community, collecting donations from local businesses — gift certificates, spa cards, sunglasses, scarves, and other accessories chosen to complement each purse — while also relying on the generosity of women throughout the region who donate the JULY/AUGUST 2026

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purses themselves. The goal is simple: keep the purses inviting, creative and accessible. Some will be fully styled and ready to bid on; others will be offered with nothing added so buyers can put their own personal stamp on them.

“It’s so fun,” Erin beams. “There’s such a wide variety of purses, from simple cross body athletic styles to Louis Vuitton. We’ve got Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors … there’s truly something for everybody.”

Some donors love putting together incredible purse packages with all kinds of filler items, Renee says. “Others go all out with full-themed bundles,” she adds. “We’ve had ones inspired by movies, popular book series — you name it. There’s always something for everyone.”

Erin

2026 VISION: HOPING FOR A RECORD BREAKING YEAR Continuing at Pursea-Palooza this year is the showstopper: the Golden Ticket Raffle, giving participants the chance to win a luxury designer purse. “This year, our Golden Ticket purse sponsor is Stockman Bank,” Renee says.

For $100 a ticket, participants get the chance to win a high end bag — often valued around $4,000 — the kind many people might never splurge on for themselves.

The Purse team encourages local businesses to sponsor tables and fill them with women from their organizations. “Three years ago, my employer purchased seats for any woman who wanted to attend,” Tonia says. “I went, and, as they say, the rest is history.

I fell in love with this incredible organization, and now I have the privilege of helping plan this year’s event and serving on the board.”

Purse a Palooza means so much more to Tonia than just planning an event. “It’s an opportunity to give back to an organization that has such a powerful impact on our community,” she explains. “Seeing people come together in support of the YWCA’s mission — while having fun and building connections — is incredibly rewarding. I’m honored to play a role in something that helps I’M HONORED create lasting change for TO PLAY A ROLE IN women and families.”

— Tonia Wiseman

Tonia JOIN THE FUN Attend Purse-A-Palooza October 2, 2026 Northern Hotel

Tickets are on sale now!

And the best part, Renee says, is that the raffle is open to everyone, not just event attendees.

Co chair and YWCA Board Member Tonia Wiseman says she’s most excited about elevating the entire experience for guests this year.

“Each year, we build on the energy by enhancing our silent and live auctions, but we’re also introducing new activities and interactive elements that make the evening even more engaging and fun,” she says. “It’s exciting to see people not only support an incredible cause but truly enjoy the night, knowing every dollar gets us closer to our $200,000 goal for 2026 and directly impacts YVW MAGAZINE

A CALL TO COMMUNITY

SOMETHING THAT HELPS CREATE LASTING CHANGE FOR WOMEN AND FAMILIES

“We’ve raffled Louis Vuitton purses the last couple of years. We don’t have this year’s picked just yet, but it’s such a fun opportunity,” Erin says. “Buy a ticket or two, and maybe get lucky.”

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the YWCA’s mission.”

And while the heaviness of domestic violence is never far from heart or mind, Erin emphasizes that the event is also meant to be a celebration. “We don’t want to focus on the sad parts or the hard parts. We want to focus on empowerment, on having a good time, and hopefully taking home a new — or new to you — purse that ups your style a little bit.”

Success isn’t just measured in dollars, though those dollars are essential, Tonia adds. “It’s measured in the energy that fills the room, the excitement around the auctions, the laughter during the activities, and the sense of community that carries the night,” she says. “If guests walk away feeling proud to support the YWCA and are inspired to stay involved, the event has done its job.” ✻

JENNIFER ALBRIGHT, writer Jennifer Albright has been a published writer locally and nationally for more than 20 years.

After stepping away to work in healthcare and earn her Master’s in Health Administration from Montana State University-Billings, she’s pleased to return to Yellowstone Valley Woman, exploring the intersections of community, wellness, and everyday life that inform, empower, and connect readers.

fashion2 WHERE

MEETS COMPASSION DONATE A PURSE. CHANGE A LIFE.

YWCA BILLINGS prefers new purses dropped off at the

YWCA at 909 Wyoming Avenue, Billings, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. They don’t need to be expensive, Erin notes.

“Donate your favorite purse — whatever you love and would like to see at the auction. Outlet finds from Coach, Michael Kors and similar brands are always welcome.” ✻

billings2 YWCA

AT-A-GLANCE ALWAYS CONFIDENTIAL & SURVIVOR CENTERED

Who They Serve: Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking.

What They Provide: • Up to 90 days of safe, no cost housing for those fleeing domestic violence in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties • Services Navigators to provide safety planning • Danger assessments, referrals and guidance for anyone experiencing relationship violence • Civil legal advocacy from a staff attorney to help survivors navigate divorces, parenting plans and orders of protection • Housing Navigators to help locate housing, address barriers, improve credit and apply for housing programs • Northern Lights Family Justice Center partnered with the City of Billings to provide on site prosecutors, victim witness specialists and domestic violence investigators, making it easier and safer for survivors to access the justice system if they choose; reporting is never required JULY/AUGUST 2026

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making a2 D i f f e r e n ce A FAMILY LEGACY OF GENEROSITY CONTINUES TO SHAPE BILLINGS AND BEYOND written by JULIE KOERBER photography by DANIELLE MOORE AND A&E + SMA DESIGN 40

YVW MAGAZINE

WHEN FESTIVITIES BEGIN for

the 43rd Billings Clinic Classic, guests will be celebrating more than a premier fundraising event. They’ll be honoring a family whose generosity has helped transform healthcare across Montana for generations.

Danielle Moore and her mother, Lesly Smith, members of the Fortin family, are serving as co-chairs of Billings Clinic's annual fundraising event, helping lead the final push to complete the hospital's Level I Trauma Center initiative and emergency department expansion.

Their involvement is fitting. For more than 73 years, the Fortins have quietly invested in the health and well-being of Billings residents.

So much so that there are few corners of Billings untouched by the Fortin family’s generosity. In the past 17 years alone, their foundation has directed an estimated $200 million in charitable giving.

Families facing homelessness have found stability through gifts to Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley. Neighbors struggling with food insecurity have received help through Family Service, whose expanded facility was made possible in part by a Fortin Family Foundation gift. Children have discovered creativity through programs at the Yellowstone Art Museum. Across the city, from healthcare and education to homelessness and the arts, the fingerprints of this family can be found everywhere.

"We decided a long time ago that it was important to the legacy of the foundation that we continue to fund the place where it all started, which is Billings," Danielle Moore says. "If we can help, we want to help."

It’s a chain of giving that started 73 years ago with the patriarch

of the family, Phil Fortin.

A Legacy Born in Montana Phil Fortin's story began in northern Montana, where he was born in 1890. A successful oilman, Fortin built a thriving career and eventually split his time between Billings and Palm Beach, Florida.

Despite his success, those who knew him remember a man far more interested in helping people than drawing attention to himself.

"Phil Fortin was absolutely loved by everybody who knew him," says longtime family friend and Fortin Family Foundation Board Member, Nick Cladis. "He was a very successful oilman, but he always had enormous respect for his hometown and wanted to share his resources with Billings."

That commitment only deepened when he married Mary Alice Stockard.

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Family lore recalls the evening the two widowers met at a dinner party in Palm Beach that Mary Alice almost didn't attend.

care throughout the rural West, and improve countless aspects of patient care.

"Her friend told her she couldn't skip because it would ruin the seating arrangements," Danielle says with a laugh. "So she went, sat next to Phil Fortin, and I swear, six months later they were married."

Now, the family is helping shape the future of emergency medicine.

The pairing would become one of philanthropy's great partnerships.

"My grandmother was from New York and didn't know much about Montana," Danielle says. "But she grew to love Billings as much as Papa did."

When Phil died in 1986, the family could have concentrated their efforts in Florida, New York, or California, where family members lived and worked, Nick says.

“They could have easily chosen to move their interests elsewhere, but they made a decision to continue supporting Billings,” he says. “People would be taken aback by what they have given.”

Are We Making a Difference?

The question that has guided the family's philanthropy for decades is remarkably simple.

“Are we making a difference?”

According to those who worked alongside Phil Fortin, it was a question he often asked when evaluating charitable investments. That question helped the foundation fund more than 50 nonprofit organizations in Billings, along with major gifts to organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul, Boys & Girls Clubs, the Montana Rescue Mission, churches and countless smaller organizations that often struggle to attract major donors.

B i l l i n gs C l i n i c C l a ss i c 2 0 2 6

A TOP GUN–THEMED EVENING FOR A POWERFUL CAUSE

AUGUST 15, 2026 At this year’s Billings Clinic Classic, guests will be immersed in the excitement of a Top Gun-inspired evening, featuring aviation-themed décor, live music, raffles, a silent auction, and a high-energy party atmosphere. Proceeds from the event will support the expansion of Billings Clinic’s Emergency Department, helping to increase access to lifesaving care through additional treatment rooms, a new trauma bay, expanded ambulance capacity, advanced imaging technology, and increased patient capacity. Scan the QR Code to learn more.

In the 1970s, Phil Fortin made what was then the largest philanthropic gift in the hospital's history, funding the construction of a critical care wing that helped pave the way for Montana's first open-heart surgery.

That gift also planted the seeds for something much larger.

"Mr. Fortin is truly the reason the Billings Clinic Foundation exists today," says Nichole Mehling, president of the Billings Clinic Foundation. "He understood the vital role philanthropy plays in sustaining a nonprofit, community-governed hospital."

Over the decades, Fortin family gifts have helped modernize hospital facilities, establish the Mary Alice Fortin Health Conference Center, expand mental health services, strengthen psychiatric YVW MAGAZINE

"When the project was brought to us and we realized there wasn't a Level I Trauma Center within several hundred miles, it was exciting. Healthcare is really the cornerstone of communities these days," Danielle says, adding the consequences of limited access to care reach far beyond the patient. “It’s not just the expense of healthcare itself. It's what an illness does to the entire family. It's the comprehensive stress it places on everyone." She adds: “Everyone deserves first-class healthcare.”

★ Top Classic ★

Perhaps nowhere is the Fortin family's impact more visible than at Billings Clinic.

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A $7 million Fortin Family Foundation gift is helping complete the final phase of a multi-year effort to establish the region's first Level I Trauma Center.

Leading by Example For Nichole Mehling, Danielle’s and Lesly’s involvement in this year’s Classic feels especially meaningful, saying both were among the very first supporters of the $32 million Level I Trauma Campaign.

“They have been with us every step of the way — from believing in the vision at the outset to celebrating the dedication of the Fortin Trauma Tower last summer and now helping us put the finishing touches on this transformational project,” Nichole says. “It just feels right to celebrate their leadership and commitment as we work to complete the final chapter of this journey.”

The Next Chapter As the Fortin Family Foundation enters its eighth decade, its leaders remain focused on putting resources to work in ways that strengthen communities and improve lives. They hope it’s contagious.

"I certainly hope people of wealth will see the need and step up to help Montana," Danielle says. "I hope they see the good things that are happening and jump on board."

As for Phil Fortin’s famous question, “Are we making a difference?” Nichole says that’s a question she can easily answer.

“The answer today is a resounding ‘yes,’” she says, adding that his spirit is now living on through his daughters and granddaughter.

“Generosity is at the heart of everything they do." ✻

JULY/AUGUST 2026

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Hopeful

F rom H om o m e bo un d to

BILLINGS WOMAN RECLAIMS HER LIFE written by JENNIFER ALBRIGHT photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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CAROL & DR. ERICA BRUEN

FOR MOST OF HER LIFE, Carol Raschkow was the one doing the caring.

A floor nurse, a home care administrator, a mother, a grandmother, the Billings woman spent decades on her feet, moving quickly, solving problems and tending to others. But by her early 50s, her body began to change in ways she couldn’t outrun.

Degenerative spine disease. Severe arthritis. Epilepsy. Compression fractures. Years of chronic pain. And, like so many patients in the early 2000s, long term opioid use slowly became its own burden.

“I was on crutches for 17 years,” Carol says. “I kept working as long as I could. But by 2020, I was really struggling to get around. The pain was so bad I couldn’t stand, couldn’t walk, couldn’t even sit upright for long. I was homebound for over a year.”

The decline was swift and steep. The depression that followed was a dark descent of its own.

But today, Carol is standing again in physical therapy. She’s traveling independently to appointments. She’s rebuilding strength in her legs and shoulders. She’s setting goals she once thought impossible. And she credits that transformation to one constant in her life: her long partnership with her primary care provider, Dr. Erica Bruen at Intermountain Health in Billings.

A PARTNERSHIP YEARS IN THE MAKING Carol has been with Dr. Bruen for more than a decade, a continuity that became essential as her health challenges grew more complex.

“She’s just been excellent,” Carol says.

“She researches everything. She doesn’t just send you to any specialist — she finds the one who’s the best fit.”

As Carol’s mobility declined, her doctor coordinated referrals to pain management, neurology, orthopedics and physical therapy. She arranged spinal injections, helped secure specialized equipment, and even challenged insurance to approve a second wheelchair when the first one caused pressure injuries, something that normally requires a five year wait.

“She goes the extra mile,” Carol says. “She arranged medical transport when I couldn’t sit long enough to ride in a car. She made sure I could still get MRIs and appointments. She never gave up.”

When Carol became fully homebound, their relationship didn’t pause — it shifted online during the COVID epidemic, when virtual appointments became mainstream.

“For four years, I mostly saw her through virtual visits,” Carol recalls. “Those virtual visits were my lifesaver.”

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CAROL & PHYSICAL THERAPIST SHELLI VICARS

Telemedicine allowed the Intermountain Health physician to monitor symptoms, adjust medications and keep Carol motivated through some of the darkest months of her life.

“When COVID hit, she was so immobile, she couldn’t even come in to see me,” Dr. Bruen says. “Video visits became the only way to take care of her.”

TURNING POINT: LETTING GO OF OPIOIDS One of the most significant changes came when Carol made a decision — on her own — that she knew would be difficult: She asked for help tapering off long term and multiple opioid medications.

“I was on heavy doses for nearly 20 years,” Carol says. “But the pain was still there — and the depression was getting worse.” She finally told her physician: “I want off of this.”

“When patients get off the heavy opioids, they often feel so much better,” Dr. Bruen says. “Their pain isn’t necessarily worse, but their energy improves, their mood improves. That’s what happened with Carol.”

— Carol Raschkow

“It helps with the pain,” Dr. Bruen says, “but it doesn’t cause a lot of the side effects that we get with the traditional opioids.”

With a careful, medically managed plan, Carol slowly transitioned off the earlier medications. Today, she uses only a very low dose of one opioid, and with much more success.

YVW MAGAZINE

Once Carol began tapering, the change was dramatic.

I COULDN’T EVEN LIFT A COFFEE POT BEFORE. NOW I CAN STAND AT THE PARALLEL BARS. I CAN TAKE STEPS WITH SUPPORT. THESE THINGS MIGHT SEEM SMALL, BUT TO ME, THEY’RE HUGE.

Dr. Bruen, however, knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. Stopping long-term opioid use, especially after years of dependence, can be dangerous if done abruptly or without medical supervision. In her research, she identified one opioid alternative that would work to replace the multiple opioids, one that would hit a different receptor in Carol.

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“Those chronic pain medications she’d been started on before my time with her were causing more problems than good,” Dr. Bruen says. “They were contributing to the depression, the sleep problems — all the side effects.”

LOSING 135 POUNDS — AND GAINING A SECOND CHANCE As her pain and mental health improved, Carol turned her focus to nutrition and overall wellness because she desperately needed a hip replacement, but was in a BMI category that wouldn’t allow for the surgery. The weight began to come off — slowly at first, then rapidly as her mobility improved.

“I had to lose weight before I could have surgery,” Carol says. “When the pain got really bad, I started losing it fast.”

She ultimately lost 135 pounds, enough to qualify for the hip surgery she had long been denied. The procedure, completed in late 2024, became another turning point.

“She started with real momentum,” Dr. Bruen says. “One little thing led to another, then another. It was amazing. I couldn’t believe it.”

Adds Carol proudly: “My worst day now is better than my best day back in 2024.”

REBUILDING STRENGTH, ONE STEP AT A TIME Today, Carol attends physical therapy twice a week at Intermountain. She works on leg strength, shoulder mobility and the everyday tasks most people never think twice about.

“I couldn’t even lift a coffee pot before,” she says. “Now I can stand at the parallel bars. I can take steps with support.

These things might seem small, but to me, they’re huge.”

She travels independently using ADA public transit and hopes to drive again someday.

“I’ve gone from only being able to pivot from one chair to another to standing and training my legs again,” she says.

“It’s a remarkable change.”

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Carol says she also owes a significant part of her recovery to the home health team from Compassus in Billings that Dr. Bruen helped arrange. “That’s how I was able to remain in my home. The team she sent in was a Godsend, and I’ve built some lifelong friendships because of them,” Carol says.

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For Carol, the story isn’t just about her own perseverance — it’s about the provider who walked every step with her, literally, emotionally and virtually.

Dr. Bruen looks at it as a partnership.

“It was a team effort,” she says. “Carol was motivated, and she advocated for herself. Without her motivation and advocacy, she wouldn’t have been very successful.”

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“Dr. Bruen has been my map,” she says.

“My guide. My lifeline. As a retired nurse, I’m so grateful there are still doctors this dedicated to individual care.”

She’s hoping her story inspires others.

“If this can help one person transition off longtime opioid use, or help one person stay independent in their home, it would be a blessing,” she says. “It’s been a blessing to me.” ✻

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Lending2

The

c loset

FREE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND ONE WOMAN'S VISION TO HELP NEIGHBORS IN NEED written by BROOKE WAGNER photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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FRANKIE (SEATED) AND HER TEAM OF LENDING CLOSET VOLUNTEERS

“GO WITH GOD and find your purpose.” Those were the

words Frankie Swope heard at the end of every counseling appointment she went to, seeking healing from the loss of her husband of 54 years. It took some time, but Frankie found her purpose as the founder of The Lending Closet, a labor of love that offers medical equipment and home health tools free of charge to the community.

Located at King of Glory Lutheran Church, “The Closet,” as it is affectionately known, houses essential medical items like wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, shower chairs, bedside commodes and other mobility or recovery equipment to anyone in need. There are no rental fees, no complicated paperwork, and no barriers for families who are likely already navigating difficult circumstances.

Frankie’s mission began after she fractured her foot in July 2025 and needed a knee scooter and boot that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. After calling several places in town, she realized the cost (upwards of $90 per month) could keep her from healing as quickly as she should.

“I was so tired when I got home that I sat down and fell asleep in my chair,” Frankie says. “As I was waking up, I distinctly heard the words ‘serve others.’ That’s what I’m trying to do.”

What started as a simple effort to help neighbors has grown into a meaningful community service that continues to impact lives across the Billings community. The Lending Closet operates fully through donated equipment, volunteers who clean, inspect, and repair equipment, and community support. When someone no longer needs a walker, wheelLOCATED AT chair, or other medical device, they reach King of Glory Lutheran Church out to Frankie and arrange a donation so another family can benefit.

Provides FREE medical equipment

“THE CLOSET”

such as wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, shower chairs, bedside commodes, and other mobility aids to anyone in need.

NO RENTAL FEES, NO COMPLICATED PAPERWORK, AND NO BARRIERS TO GETTING HELP.

“I was just getting my feet on the ground after losing my husband and thought ‘I can’t do this on top of everything else,’” Frankie says. She finally found a knee scooter she could borrow from a friend in Columbus, but all the hassle got her thinking about how to make the process easier for others who might be in a similar situation.

People in need of medical equipment call to set up an appointment to “shop” in the Closet, borrowing the items at no cost and with no strict time frame.

The result is a cycle of generosity that keeps valuable equipment out of storage rooms and garages, and places it directly into the hands of people who need it most.

Patients recovering from surgery, families caring for aging parents, and even residents in long-term care or navigating hospice have all found relief through The Lending Closet. For most, the Closet not only eases financial strain but also restores a sense of hope during difficult seasons.

Frankie recalls a gentleman who called to request some equipJULY/AUGUST 2026

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ment for his wife. She had run a marathon in January, but woke up one morning in April not feeling well. After a visit to the emergency room, “just to be safe,” the couple received a devastating diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized to her bones and liver.

“I met him at the church, and as we were looking at equipment, he said ‘I just can’t believe this is happening,’” Frankie says. That Friday afternoon, after helping him select some items to bring home, Frankie offered a hug and prayers for his wife.

Sadly, Frankie got a call on Monday that his wife had passed away. In that moment, Frankie became not only a practical source of relief for one man and his family, but an emotional support as well. “He called to tell me and just cried,” Frankie says. “All I could do was listen.”

Those who know Frankie best would describe her as compassionate, humble, and deeply committed to helping others. Rather than seeking recognition for herself, she points to the tireless efforts of her 11 volunteers, ranging in age from 62 to 83. She laughs, “I’m in the middle! I turned 78 in May!” A repairman, Reuben, won’t divulge his age, but Frankie says, “He shuffles along. He is so good at tinkering and fixing anything!” She turns more serious as she emphasizes, “It’s not about me. I don’t want people saying that

IT’S NOT ABOUT ME. I DON’T WANT PEOPLE SAYING THAT I HAVE DONE SOMETHING REALLY GREAT OR UNUSUAL. IT’S THE GROUP THAT DOES IT. — Frankie Swope

I have done something really great or unusual. It’s the group that does it.”

It truly is a team effort, as volunteers take shifts throughout the day to man the phone, and answer the call when it rings. In true Frankie fashion, she even stepped away from our interview to take a call from a community member in need. “The Lending Club, how can we help?” she asked cheerfully. She took a moment to assure the caller that, of course, they could keep the walker for another month and return it when they were ready.

Frankie hurried back to the interview, and added, “We loan equipment out for a month at a time. If we don’t hear from them after a month, we call them to check in and see how they are doing and if they are ready to set up an appointment to return what they borrowed.”

For Frankie, the idea came from recognizing a problem many families face: Medical equipment is often needed suddenly, sometimes temporarily, and can be incredibly expensive. After only a few minutes speaking with her, it’s evident that she is not one to wait around for a solution. She becomes the answer.

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YVW MAGAZINE

souL stReet danCe “I fractured my foot in July, and we were giving out equipment

by October. We haven’t stopped yet,” she says. In a time when healthcare costs continue to rise, The Lending Closet stands out as a reminder that kindness still fills the gaps. Through one woman’s vision and the support of a generous community, countless people in Billings have gained access to the equipment they need to heal, recover and maintain dignity. Frankie Swope may not consider herself extraordinary, but to many families in Billings, she absolutely is. ✻ BROOKE WAGNER, writer Brooke is a music therapist and proud parent of three wonderful kids. She’s passionate about using the power of music to support healing and connection.

To have your events listed here, email When she’s not working or spending time with family, you’ll likely find her curled up with a good book, trying jessica@billings365.com out new recipes in the kitchen, or sipping a warm cup of herbal tea.

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 the edge of your seat. The music is TOatCONTACT 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.

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a ConCeRt FoR whoLe FamiLy (406) the 371-3650 Billings Symphony presents its Family EMAILConcert on January 26th at the Alberta Bair Theater.

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AERIES

takes flight7

ST. JOHN’S UNITED’S LUXURY SENIOR TOWER PREPARES TO RISE AS THE SILVER TSUNAMI DESCENDS written by JENNIFER ALBRIGHT photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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LISA SORENSEN & SHELBY GRIMSTAD

THE GROUND HASN’T YET BROKEN on a $120 million, 12-story, 55+ luxury community set to redefine senior living but the project is already drawing regional attention.

St. John’s United in Billings is preparing to break ground this year on Aeries. Already, 65% of residences have been pre-sold and it recently received the Blue Sky designation for its team’s operational excellence.

At the heart of that momentum are Lisa Sorensen and Shelby Grimstad, sales advisors for the Aeries project and longtime St. John’s United team members.

Their combined decades of experience and mission driven approach have made them the face of the development. “It’s a big project,” Lisa beams. “We’re really excited.”

Lisa reflects on how the old model no longer works. “I think there was a time in history where you could live your life and then say, oh, now is probably the time when I want to make a move, and you could just walk in the door somewhere and get those services.

But with this silver tsunami coming, that's not the case anymore.”

The team strongly advocates for making a plan, sooner rather than later, before entering crisis mode.

IF YOU WANT TO BE WHERE YOU WANT TO BE, YOU NEED TO PLAN. PUT YOUR NAME ON A WAITING LIST NOW AND MAKE A RESERVATION FOR A BUILDING THAT'S A FEW YEARS OUT FROM BEING COMPLETED.

“If you want to be where you want to be, you need to plan,” Lisa says.

“Put your name on a waiting list now and make a reservation for a building that's a few years out from being completed.”

Lisa’s point becomes even clearer when looking at St. John’s own Mission Ridge, which is experiencing a five year waiting list. That growing demand is exactly what pushed St. John’s to rethink what senior living could look like.

Their enthusiasm is grounded in urgency — Lisa Sorensen because the landscape of aging in America is shifting faster than ever. The U.S. is entering what industry leaders call the “silver tsunami,” with 27 million more Americans aged 75+ expected in the next “We’re trying to figure out how to two decades. Montana—already one of the oldest states by memeet that demand for an even more independent resident,” says dian age—is feeling the pressure. Nearly 100,000 Montanans will Kevin Sider, chief marketing information officer for St. John’s turn 80 between 2020 and 2030, even as the state has seen a 28% United. “That kind of led to the development of Aeries being a decline in skilled nursing facilities since 2015. In Billings, 24.5% 55-plus community.” of seniors live alone, increasing the need for supportive, connected communities.

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A New Model for Senior Living—From the Ground Up From the earliest sketches, local architectural and building teams collaborated and partnered with St. John’s United on Aeries with a bold premise: senior living should be designed around living, not aging.

“We wanted Aeries to be designed around connection, wellness, purpose and community,” says Dusty Eaton, CEO of A&E + SMA Design, the architectural firm partnering with St. John’s on the project.

Dusty and his team envisioned a vertical neighborhood, a place where residents enjoy the privacy and beauty of their own homes while being surrounded by opportunities to connect. Community spaces were intentionally layered throughout the tower rather than isolated on a single floor. Dining, wellness, recreation, and gathering spaces appear at multiple levels, encouraging spontaneous interaction.

The tower’s height and hilltop location became a defining design asset.

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“Architecturally, it is rare to have the opportunity to design a project that is simultaneously innovative, sustainable, socially impactful, and regionally significant,” Dusty says. “Aeries accomplishes all four and creates a lifestyle experience that has never existed here before.”

Whether looking toward the rimrocks, the Beartooth Mountains, or the Pryor Mountains from the tower’s residences, the building is designed to immerse residents in Montana’s expansive landscape.

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Designing for the Next Generation of Montanans Aeries is built for the incoming wave of baby boomers who, as Lisa points out, “don’t want what our parents had. We want something different. We want bigger, better opportunities.”

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The residences reflect that shift with 95 homes that offer 20 different floor plans to chose from, 11-foot tall ceilings with exposed mass timber beams, three-season sunrooms and private outdoor balconies and an open-concept layout. The generous square footage—larger than anything St. John’s has built before—opens the door to unprecedented choice.

“We offer homes up to almost 3,000 square feet,” Lisa says. “So, it gives people a lot of different options.”

Dusty echoes the generational shift. “Historically, many people have viewed downsizing as giving something up. Aeries flips that narrative. Instead of compromise, it offers an opportunity to gain something new.”

Mass Timber: Beauty, Sustainability, and a Distinctly Montana Feel But the innovation at Aeries isn’t only about lifestyle – it’s also about how the building is made. The use of mass timber introduces both unique opportunities and challenges. The material—European spruce sourced from Austria—was selected for its consistency, lighter color, and advanced manufacturing process.

Unlike traditional construction, mass timber requires extensive

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planning up front. Much of the building is designed in a detailed digital model before being fabricated off site, says Braydon Sinclair of Langlas & Associates, Inc. and senior project manager for Aeries.

“It’s essentially like assembling a very large, highly precise puzzle manufactured thousands of miles away that must come together seamlessly once it arrives on site,” he explains. “What makes this project stand out is the combination of innovative construction methods that allow us to complete a high quality residential building on an accelerated timeline.”

(406) 259-3426 2850 Grand Ave, Billings, MT Zach Wilson, Owner rockymountainglassmt.com info@rockymountainglassmt.com 60

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Along with mass timber, the project incorporates prefabricated exterior wall panels, arriving with windows and doors already installed and prefabricated balconies craned into place. “This level of prefabrication and coordination showcases the future of construction in many ways,” Braydon says.

Dusty emphasizes the human impact: “Research continues to show that exposed wood environments can positively influence well being, reduce stress, and create a stronger connection to nature.”

The environmental benefits extend beyond the timber. Aeries will be heated and cooled by 120 geothermal wells drilled into the center of campus, Shelby says.

“The water from those wells heats and cools the building throughout the year.

Once they’re all in, you won’t see them,” she explains. “They will connect into the building and heat and cool the entire building.”

A Campus Built for Connection The first three floors of Aeries will house amenities, dining, wellness, and public facing spaces connected through The Centrum, a hub designed for intergenerational activity.

“I like to call it a cruise ship on land,” Shelby says.

Among the amenities are a full-length swimming pool, spa and hot tub, pickleball courts, a fitness center, pharmacy, multiple dining venues plus retail space.

Dusty notes that these spaces were never meant to be add ons. “We created opportunities for interaction throughout the tower – gathering around a meal, meeting

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friends for pickleball, enjoying wellness activities, or simply sharing a conversation while overlooking the city.”

A Landmark for Billings—and a Blueprint for the Future For the architectural team, Aeries stands apart from anything they’ve designed before. It introduces new construction technology to Montana, expands St. John’s continuum of care, and creates a lifestyle experience that hasn’t existed in the state.

“We were happy to start with building services for low-income with Chapel Court, then moderate-rate housing and new patio homes, and now a new luxury project with Aeries,” Kevin says. “These efforts expand the continuum for a wide spectrum of financial abilities and desired services.”

Dusty sees it as something even more enduring. “I believe Aeries will become much more than a building. It will become a landmark, and a place where people can continue to live actively, independently, and meaningfully.”

For Lisa and Shelby, that sense of preparation is the heart of the work. Even when someone chooses not to reserve one of their units, they consider it a success if they’ve helped that person plan ahead to feel less overwhelmed.

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“We not only educate about Aeries, but we educate about senior living options altogether,” Shelby says. “Our biggest encouragement to people, our biggest hope, is that people make a plan.” Lisa echoes that thought adding, “The stress of that situation is very hard, so people are very excited to remove that strain from their own children and to give them that gift of a plan for the future.” ✻

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Not Done Yet

Y VW COLUM NIST

written by KAREN GROSZ

WHY RETIREMENT MAY BE THE START OF LIFE'S MOST INTERESTING CHAPTER

OF ALL THE THINGS I AM, loyal is probably the most

fervent, for better or worse. When I choose a brand, it is my brand. When I chose a spouse, well, come hell or high water, I knew he would be mine to the end. We’ve tried to avoid hell but have waded in some pretty high waters. My favorite hiking boots failed me on a 12-mile desert hike and I came home with a blister the size of Pittsburgh. I know, that seems large for a foot blister, but there it was. I then kept those boots for three months after they were replaced, partly because I loved them, partly because I wanted to get just the right photo of them.

I am loyal to restaurants (Jimmy, at Fancy Sushi, has my beverage of choice on the table quicker than lickety split); to boutiques, like Gypsy Wind; to my socks; and — much to Tana Re’s chagrin — to old bras. Yes, I even apologized to one of my AI agents when I fed it a research paper another AI agent had created. Towns, loser friends, my favorite work gloves and a candle fragrance called Grandpa’s Chair all have won a place in my list of keepers.

And yet. When I am done, I am done.

I have fired employees I thought were disloyal (I know, that itself seems disloyal); walked

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away from favorite foods that caused a reaction I didn’t appreciate; and, more than once, have changed jobs, industries, complete directions, simply because I was done.

I had done what I needed to do, learned what I needed to learn, or simply became interested in the next thing. Thus, my third book’s title, “What’s Next?” I wrote that book because people kept asking for my time so I could help them figure out their own “Next.” I thought I’d answer their questions by handing them some words. It kind of worked because they read it. Some re-read it, gave it to friends, read it again. Others hired me to do keynotes about it, and made the idea that I’d save time if I simply had a book to hand out laughable.

Still, I could not give up on the idea that Nexts were as important to me as loyalty.

While we were in Phoenix for the winter, I spent a lot of time hiking and, afterwards, nibbling bagels with people who were embracing their final act, retirement. Now, I knew that we would someday get old, well, of advanced age — not old, I hope. But retirement didn’t really have an appeal to me. I like to go-see-do, then get up and do it again. I love my work, my clients, and the fact that I get to do much of what I do right at home with a pup beside me, the patio umbrella above me and

happiness in my heart. Why would I retire?

Well. I won’t. At least not yet. I am barely old enough anyway (I mean I am still just plenty nine!) and I have a lot of energy that needs to be poured into something besides washing the windows … again. Still, I came home with a fire in my heart to do my Next thing. To slowly back out of team building, quicky run into community building, and to help the people I know, love, sometimes barely tolerate, or have yet to meet, retire happily.

That quest has led me down quite a trail. I have a new book called What’s Next? Retirement! The Art of Living Forward, a new online community called Nexters, and a passion to stay ahead of the game for a little bit longer. I am transparently using AI to help me refine my materials so I can easily do more and more.

Figuring out how to use AI, well, has been harder than I expected, but also absolutely worth the effort. For the book, I tell a story, Claude, my AI tool, adds some researched facts, and I close the chapter. It took a few tears and almost throwing the computer out the window (unclean window by the way) to figure out a system that felt authentic but current. Once I did, well, I had a boost of “Let’s Go!” I tell you this because my life, books, articles, and online posts have always been about life in real time. You have been with me when my family donned our Christmas shorts for a photo shoot, and when my mom died, and when we got a new puppy. What a privilege. So, it seems only right that you should know I am admitting my age, pivoting to a very inclusive Next, and learning so dang much I truly worry about what is being pushed out to make room in my head.

I also tell you this, and have shared this over the years, because the scariest thing I used to see when we owned In Good Glazes were the grandmas who would come in to be with the family, but not participate in the fun. They were unsure of their skills, afraid to be wrong, worried they might get dirty. Some of them came in time and again, and over the years I watched their fear let their lives get smaller and smaller.

Join her online community at either Nexter.circle.so or Nexters.life By the way, men are welcome in Nexterville!

into an “I don’t matter now that I don’t have a title” chasm, l e t ’s g e t o u t there and rock some attitudes about aging.

L e t ’s l e a r n some things, see some things, fix some things (because there is a long list of things that could use a little elbow grease) and let’s get up and get going in the morning so we can take a well-deserved and oh-so-delightful afternoon nap.

You can find Karen’s new book here: www.amazon.com/dp/ B0H2WJHNDZ

I had a grandma-in-law that I probably told you about years ago.

Grandma Ada told the dang truth, and not just to family, but to complete and unprepared strangers. She would then turn to whomever was beside her and, with a satisfied grin, remind us that it was her life’s work to tell people what no one else would.

I find, as I get nearer and nearer to the age she was when I first met her (she seemed so, so, old) that I want to do the same thing.

I want to tell people what no one else will. Aging is an act of living.

Retirement is not an end; it is a step in the right direction. You are not, no matter how set in your ways you are, too old to learn something new.

Now, let’s get out there and get to it. We are not done, and I, for one, am loyal to a happily ever after kind of story. Well, after a nice nap.

(Note: AI was not used for this article, and I’ll always tell when it is used. -K) ✻

You and I, well we are not going to do that. You and I have been through hell and high water together and if we get to age together, let’s get to doing it. Joyfully.

KAREN GROSZ, writer

There are ten major things people worry about as they age, besides health and finance. Of those, I think three are rather fascinating: Permission to enjoy the time you have earned. The fear of becoming invisible. Why get up in the morning.

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.

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HONOR, HOPE HOPE HONOR, and HEALING HEALING ★★★ LOCAL GARDEN CLUB HONORS GOLD STAR FAMILIES ★★★ written by TRISH ERBE SCOZZARI photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN 66

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COMMANDER CHARLES NOLAND SPEAKING AT VETERANS PARK

THE THREE FLAGS flying over the American eagle sculp-

ture stationed at Veterans Park waved silently in the breeze as retired U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret Bob Crandall and other local veterans of war gathered with family, supporters and garden club members.

They showed up on the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend to honor the servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price in defending their country. It was a perfect morning for the Gold Star Memorial Marker dedication.

“This is something new for Billings,” said Joyce Hendricks, who served six years in the U.S. Air Force, and works with the local Thumb-R-Green Garden Club. “The national garden club started this to honor Gold Star families. Northern communities in Montana have these markers already. Our club talked about it and eventually undertook the fundraising for a Gold Star Memorial Marker. The (marker) cost is $2,700.”

Fundraising over the past couple of years has gone very well, Joyce said. “People, especially veterans, are very generous,” she said. “The Big Sky Iris Club, local businesses and individuals have been a huge help, as well. The Billings community really did respond, and the city of Billings Parks Department has been good support.”

Thumb-R-Green vice president Tori Francis welcomed everyone to the dedication, saying, “Joyce and Ron (Joyce’s husband) are here Saturday mornings tending this garden. They make it their personal passion.”

Red roses mingle with clusters of red and white geraniums, filling the garden with color and life. Joyce pointed out that “we even have blue ones in the mix.” The vibrant sanctuary stands as a living patriotic tribute to military families.

“It’s surprising how many families have suffered loss from World War II through today,” she said. “People, in general, don’t talk about it.”

At the ceremony, however, U.S. Army Major Charles Noland, commander of Worden’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 7407, highlighted the profound sacrifices of Gold Star families as he delivered a stirring tribute.

“Since 1936, America has 1.7 million Gold Star families, Montana has 3,330, and Yellowstone County has 198. We owe a debt we can never repay to those service members who gave their lives in defense of our country and the cause of freedom,” the commander said. “We also owe a great debt to those families who have lost a service member to these noble causes.”

The name Gold Star reflects a more modern reference to the service flag or service banner that families post in their yards or in their windows. It is recognized as an American military tradition that started during the First World War. “The Gold Star moms are very dear to our heart,” says Boots Mordeaux, who served eight years in the Army Reserve and is a member of VFW Post 7407 Auxiliary. Her husband, Corry, who dressed for the day in the vibrant red VFW-branded shirt, as are other Post colleagues, served 27 years in the Army.

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IN QUIET DIGNITY, SPECIAL FORCES VETERAN BOB CRANDALL WATCHES FROM HIS WHEELCHAIR AS COMMANDER NOLAND AND THE COLOR GUARD ADVANCE TO PRESENT THE COLORS

“We have a friend in Colorado who lost her son,” Boots said. “He was a navigator on an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) plane.”

After the Presentation of Colors by members of VFW Post 7407 and American Legion Post 117, Boots delivered a heartfelt invocation. “We pray for Gold Star families and moms, and all who served and are serving,” she said.

BOB CRANDALL

BOOTS MORDEAUX OF VFW POST 7407 AUXILIARY GIVES THE INVOCATION 68

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I WAS ALWAYS AROUND THE MILITARY. I ENLISTED RIGHT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL WHEN MY DAD WAS IN VIETNAM. I DID TWO TOURS. AS A TEEN, I REALLY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO. — Bob Crandall

Billings Deputy Mayor and former Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Boyett posed a familiar question: “Are there any vets in the house?” He went on to say that “freedom is never free. We honor Gold Star families and we honor the heroes you gave to our country.”

Mike served in the Air Force during the Vietnam era, living in the Minute Man silos at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. He encountered some harrowing events during his time in underground site, but said that life is good today.

“The fact that we’re getting together with nice people on a beautiful day, I enjoy this, I really do,” he said.

Bob Crandall, the seasoned Vietnam veteran and Special Forces Green Beret, sat in his wheelchair, flanked by several other veterans. He had wheeled himself from his residence blocks away to attend the dedication.

Wearing a Warrior Wishes of Montana shirt and cap, his eyes glistened as he shared the heaviness that

DEPUTY MAYOR MIKE BOYETT CHATS WITH JOYCE HENDRICKS

weighs on his heart and why this day was important.

“I come from an Army brat,” Bob said. “I was always around the military. I enlisted right out of high school when my dad was in Vietnam. I did two tours.” He paused for a moment, then said, “As a teen, I really didn’t know what I was getting into.”

During Bob’s second tour overseas, he was injured playing football. “I didn’t get this injury in combat,” he said.

The worst injury Bob deals with now is the guilt he still carries. “It has stayed with me,” he said. “It’s related to the two teammates I lost near a mountain. I was with them when they were killed, so I’ve had families who lost their husband and their brother from my team.”

In the last 15 years, Bob has reunited with other men from his team. “A captain of mine was killed in action when I was there (in Vietnam) in ’69. I went to where the captain was buried in Wisconsin. I was welcomed by the (Gold Star) families. There are no questions asked by these families.”

As the final notes of TAPS faded across Veterans Park, the crowd stood in quiet reflection beneath the fluttering flags. The new Gold Star Memorial Marker, surrounded by blooms of red, white and blue, now joins the landscape as a permanent reminder of sacrifice, loss and remembrance.

THUMB-R-GREEN

56 YEARS OF GROWING COMMUNITY If you’d like to join fellow green thumbs, the Thumb-R-Green Garden Club meets at First Baptist Church, located at 218 N 34th St., on the fourth Monday of every month at 10 a.m. Please email garden club president Bob Wicks at bobwix@hotmail.com for more information, on how to become a member, of if you wish to donate. There are close to three dozen members. One of their major projects is tending the gardens at MetraPark and Sunset Memorial Gardens.

★★★★

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BLUE STAR

MEMORIAL

At Veteran’s Park Thumb-R-Green Garden Club also maintains the Blue Star Memorial Marker that was dedicated more than a decade ago. The blue star represents hope and pride for living service members.

★★★★

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For Gold Star Families, the marker represents loved ones whose service ended too soon. For veterans like Bob Crandall, it stands for brothers-in-arms whose absence is felt every day.

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"The guilt stays, whether it's appropriate or not," Bob said softly.

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FOREVER

s e i r ff e Val J CELEBRATING A LIFE MARKED BY LEADERSHIP, ADVENTURE, GENEROSITY AND LOVE written by STELLA FONG photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN AND STELLA FONG

VAL JEFFRIES gave me an F-Bomb. With a cautious smile, she handed me a small gauze bag with a round silver charm containing a burning wick and the capital letter “F” emblazoned on it. “I got one for myself and thought you should have one,” she said of the gumball-sized trinket she was handing me as we sat at the Billings Clinic Radiation Oncology waiting area.

She, in her thoughtful way, was unsure of how I would react to the offering, but I laughed, wanting to bring some levity to the situation. She giggled as she grabbed my hands in relief, but the usual spark in her eyes was eclipsed. While we waited for her first radiation treatment, a year after her remission from triple negative breast cancer, she gave me the gift. I did not realize that, a month later, it would be something I would dangle from my purse as a reminder of her.

after finishing four days at the Boundless Arizona Training Camp for runners at the end of February. This was a camp for those who tackle challenges such as the Leadville Trail 100 Run, an ultramarathon for the uber elite athletes. In the training, she navigated through long dark night runs, avoiding cacti and rattlesnakes, to days later discovering that her cancer had spread into her body.

TRAVEL SHOULD BE THE PREREQUISITE FOR LIFE. IT TEACHES YOU TOLERANCE. THERE’S MORE TO THE WORLD THAN YOU THINK THERE IS.

How could this be? In all the years she traveled as the regional district manager for Holiday Gas Stations, now Circle K, she made healthy food choices and ventured outside for exercise every morning. She had come out of her chemo and radiation treatments two years before stronger and fiercer because she was determined to conquer the evil “C” and even more, to keep it away forever. Her positive attitude alone would have conquered all things bad.

She was disciplined, adhering to eating two bowls of fruit and vegetables daily. She mostly chose to eat salads and always, if available, salmon. Her only vices were fried chicken and hot, crispy French Fries and, perhaps, sips of wine. At home, she made a mean paella and was just venturing into making sourdough bread.

— Val Jeffries

When I sent her a thank-you card for the gift, I joked that the letter “F” did not have to only represent the four-letter word of contempt, anger or defiance. “F” could represent more positive feelings, such as fun, festive, fabulous, fine, fortunate and forever. Unfortunately, deep down inside, we both sensed the larger sentiments of this little bomb.

Val got the results from a blood exam for her cancer recurrence 70

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In 2005, Val joined the wine group that Cara Schaer and I started when I was studying for my wine professional certification.

VAL & HUSBAND, ALLE

N POWERS

As a member of the “Swirl Girls,” she was always an enthusiastic participant and a willing hostess. She loved the camaraderie and learning so much that she started her own group in her Shepherd neighborhood, bringing women in the hood together and calling themselves the “Attitude Adjustment Council.”

Val retired from Circle K two summers ago, while finishing her cancer treatment. During most of this time she would gear up in the mornings before the sun rose to put on a headlamp and shoe lights to run the two-lane roads near her home. Afterward, she journaled with her cat, Electra, on her lap, and later, used her master gardener knowledge, working her small vineyard, determined to grow enough grapes to make her own wine, cultivating her vegetable and flower gardens, and tending to her bees.

Jeff Reed, senior district manager at Circle K, who worked many years with Val, says of her, “Val was a true people leader who never stopped leading, even after retirement. She continued checking in on her people, offering guidance, support and encouragement whenever it was needed.”

John Brewer, President/CEO, Billings Chamber of Commerce, says, “Val left a legacy as a compassionate leader who repeatedly proved you can accomplish great things while lifting others up and working together.”

She volunteered at the Yellowstone Art Museum as a docent. In years past, she had served as a member of the board of directors, but more recently wanted to learn more about the art and share the knowledge with those who visited the museum.

Jessica Kay Ogdin, director of the museum remembers Val as a “lifelong learner at heart,” adding that “Val was endlessly curious and generously shared her knowledge and enthusiasm with those around her, including the K-12 students on tours of the YAM galleries.”

Val graced her home above the Yellowstone River with art created

by Nancy Halter, Phoebe Knapp, Brian Scott, Sherri Cornett and so many more artists. She prided herself in creating a sanctuary for herself and her husband, Allen Powers.

During one of the last conversations I had with Val, she said, “I want to make it clear that I’ve had an incredible, wonderful life.

Mr.Po (a nickname for Allen) made that happen for me.”

Whenever Val asked for help or support, she was always quick to return the favor. After completing a new garage with an upstairs retreat that she affectionately called the “Diva Dive,” she wanted to celebrate the space's debut by inviting Teresa Danielle Morse to perform what Val described as “my lounge piano music or perhaps something a little more uptown.” The garage was transformed into a cozy performance venue with carefully arranged seating and lighting, while, upstairs, Connie Herberg showcased her artwork in the Diva Dive, adding to the festive atmosphere.

“Val was one of a kind — the good kind,” Teresa says.

Val’s last good advice was: “Travel should be the prerequisite for life. It teaches you tolerance. There’s more to the world than you think there is.”

Val embraced the world and the people in it. She sparkled with her spirit and beautiful smile that was wide and generous. She captivated us with eyes that always saw the best in us.

Although the angry four-letter F word crosses my mind every so often for the loss of my friend Val, I am truly grateful for having been with such a fine and fabulous human being, but saddened that it was not forever. F-Bombs have been distributed to the Swirl Girls, the Attitude Adjustment Council and a few special friends to form the V-Bombers. From Val’s gift of one F-Bomb I now have 17 V-Bomber sisters, all because of her. ✻

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.

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Shuffle, , k c a t S Connect A PASSION FOR MAHJONG SPARKED AN UNEXPECTED BUSINESS AND A GROWING COMMUNITY written by STELLA FONG photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

BROOKE MURPHY remembers watching late night TV

when actress, Julia Roberts talked about her recent obsession, playing mahjong.

During the interview with Stephen Colbert, Roberts explained how mahjong could create order out of chaos based on the random drawing of tiles. “It’s sort of like life,” she told Colbert. “Every day we try to make a little bit of order out of the chaos of life just with our random acts of hopefully wisdom and kindness.”

The words stuck, and before Brooke knew it, “Curiosity became an obsession,” she says with a laugh. “I was playing online, soaking up info.” She reached out to her friend, Randi Ellis. It was only a matter of time before Randi was hooked too. Brooke remembers saying, “If we love this so much then we have to tell others.”

For Brooke, it was a way to overcome what she calls “the empty nest thing,” adding that after she dropped her youngest daughter off at Boise State University, “I burst into tears.” As the mother of three, over the years she would travel for kids’ sports. “There was a lot of camaraderie,” she says. In fact, that is how she and Randi connected. That camaraderie was something she missed.

When mahjong became their shared passion, Brooke refashioned a portion of her basement into what she calls her “mahjong den.”

Over the past few months, she started inviting women to gather there and learn the game.

On a Sunday afternoon, I descend the stairs to her den filled with

the clicking and clacking sounds of shuffling tiles. Chatter and laughter quickly bring back memories of my childhood. My parents, aunts and uncles often played in our small third-floor apartment in the San Francisco Bay area. Taking each step feels a little nostalgic.

Instead of the banter I was accustomed to, the women at the tables talk politely. Most of them just recently learned how to play the game and most of the conversation and concentration is focused on following the rules of play.

“This reminds me of playing card games with my family,” Hedyieh Haider, one of the women, says, “I also played board games growing up. Honestly, it’s a great way to find community.”

Jan Lee, another player at the table, loves games and had seen people playing mahjong on social media and Tik Tok. “Then I saw the Chinese mahjong featured in the movie “Crazy Rich Asians” and decided to give it a try,” she says. “Mostly, I love things that make me think. It’s so fun to have a hobby and show up with people you’ve never met before.”

In mid-August, Brooke and Randi will take the next step, throwing open the doors to the Montana Mahj Tile House, at 2528 Grand Avenue. It will be the first dedicated mahjong club in the state.

The newly renovated space sports a chic vibe inspired by Asian art. Large dramatic chrysanthemums, daffodils, wisteria and peonies in colors of pink, red and blue anchor the walls of the main playroom while art deco floral chandeliers reign above the

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I ENJOY PLAYING MAHJONG BECAUSE IT CREATES SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES WHILE SHARPENING THE MIND AND REDUCING STRESS. I LOVE THAT IT COMBINES SKILL AND STRATEGY, ALONG WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK. IT’S CHALLENGING BUT IT’S A GAME THAT EVERYBODY CAN ENJOY. — Heather Bergeson

half-dozen playing tables.

Upstairs, a lounge with blue Japanese pine bonsai wallpaper lines the alcove with a large counter providing space for drinks and snacks. Three rooms off to the side allow for private play.

Fuchsia pink wallpaper with bird heads wearing flower collars dominate one room while the other shows off more masculine notes in shades of orange and blue with images of peacocks among flowering branches.

Just as the walls share an artistic flair, Randi says the tiles used for play can be just as expressive. “They go from less expensive to Cartier or Tiffany and could cost $15,000,” she says.

Brooke laughs about the $42 set she bought on Amazon, which still gets quite a few compliments. When it comes to play, “We have one rule: You have to pay attention,” she says. “This is a game that requires putting your phones down for playing with something beautiful and tactile.”

The game requires focus and attention so there are small side tables at each main table for players to put their phones on.

Randi adds, “There is evidence that this game is good for brain activity.”

Back in Brooke’s basement, among the crowd of players, sits Heather Bergeson, who caught onto the game quickly. On a recent trip to Arizona, she even jumped into a mahjong studio to free-play with strangers.

“I enjoy playing mahjong because it creates social opportunities 76

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while sharpening the mind and reducing stress,” Heather says. “I love that it combines skill and strategy, along with a little bit of luck. It’s challenging but it’s a game that everybody can enjoy.”

A portion of the new business will operate on a membership basis, with card access to the studio available from morning to midnight.

“We want it to be accessible for everyone,” Brooke says. The studio will host not only open play but offer lessons to anyone who wants to learn.

As Randi and Brooke reflect on their new business, and more importantly how they got here, it never ceases to amaze them. After all, Brooke is an attorney in charge of a civil litigation practice.

Randi is a practicing physician assistant. On top of that, the two just learned how to play the game last fall. By February, they were shopping for studio locations.

“I never thought I would do this. To do something of this caliber, I wouldn’t have done this without this woman next to me,” Brooke says. Randi jumps in, adding, “We have marched this together.

We take turns talking each other off the ledge.”

Both know when the doors open, the love of the game will be contagious.

“People need community,” Brooke says, adding someone can come in alone and leave with friends. “They can meet people immediately. This is a fun, engaging way to meet new people.” ✻

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Women,

WILDERNESS & WAGGING TAILS HIKING TOGETHER…AND SO MUCH MORE

written by LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA photography by WILDERNESS WOMEN AND ADVENTURE HOUNDS

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THE PREMISE SEEMS too good to be true: provide a plat-

form for women to connect for a wide range of activities — with emphasis on inviting their dogs to join in.

That’s precisely the goal of the Facebook-based group “Wilderness Women and Adventure Hounds.” Though the name suggests hiking and camping, in truth the group connects women for just about any activity a member can dream up — from an evening walk on the Rims to a monthly book club; from a meet-up on the ski slopes to an afternoon of pickleball or a spring flower shopping event.

“The only real limit to the type of event someone can create is their imagination,” says Heather Dabney.

She, along with Niki Serafin and Kelsie Hitchler, founded the group two years ago.

While events can be as “exotic” as next winter’s planned manatee adventure in Florida, they can be simple as simple as two members getting together for coffee.

“Sometimes there are more dogs than people,” Kelsie says, smiling.

The core group of active members numbers about 50, ranging in age from 20 to 70. They also range in their capabilities. Most live in Billings, but several come from surrounding communities. Hiking events typically draw five or 10 members and usually trend from moderate to more difficult.

WE WANT THE BARRIERS OF ENTRY TO BE AS LOW AS POSSIBLE. WE’VE HAD PEOPLE WHO’VE NEVER HIKED BEFORE AND OTHERS WHO ARE PRETTY EXPERIENCED. MOST CAN PUSH THEIR COMFORT ZONES A LITTLE BIT AND FEEL SUCCESSFUL. — Kelsie Hitchler

“This group is meant for people to say ‘anyone want to go for a walk? A bike ride? A hike? Coffee? Beer?’” Niki says.

It’s little surprise that the concept has taken off. The women first formed the group in April 2024 as a private, invitation-only way to meet up with friends and friends-of-friends. After going public a year ago, Wilderness Women and Adventure Hounds has grown to 400 members. And that’s not even counting the canines.

“We want the barriers of entry to be as low as possible,” Kelsie says. “We’ve had people who’ve never hiked before and others who are pretty experienced. Most can push their comfort zones a little bit and feel successful.”

The three founding members come from very different backgrounds.

Niki, now 56, said she wasn’t exposed to hiking and camping as a child — though she has fond memories of her aunt taking her skiing. Later on, as a married mother of two and working fulltime, life just got in the way. “I always liked it but I just didn’t have a lot of opportunity to do it,” she says.

But life took a turn when her husband passed away. As a widow and empty nester working from home as a nurse, the Billings native decided to “make her life what she wanted her life to look like.” And that included outdoor activities.

Then she met Heather, 38, on a walk along the rims. Heather, a native of Northern California, was also working from home and the two hit it off. “Heather and I have the same hiking pace and JULY/AUGUST 2026

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pretty much the same availability for hiking,” Niki says.

Up until then, Heather’s outdoor activities were primarily linked to hunting and fishing.

“niche” included their dogs. Niki and Heather each have three.

Kelsie has one. They stress, however, that having a dog is not a prerequisite. And there are certain situations when the pups just can’t come along.

“I didn’t hike for the fun of hiking until I found this group,” she says. “I now crave hiking and spend a crazy amount of time planning and researching hikes.”

Today, the three ladies strive to keep things informal. Yet, for safety reasons, they require all members to follow the few rules stated on their online site. The rules refer to risks inherent in out-

Not much later, Niki met Kelsie on the ski slopes. Kelsie, 34, had grown up in Southern California, hiking in the Sierras with her father. Now, as a vet tech doing telehealth — also from her Billings home — Kelsie, too, was eager to meet others and explore the area.

Despite the age difference, the three became fast friends. And that chemistry inspired them to share their adventures.

“They were both encouraging me to start my own group,” Niki says.

Heather remembers wanting it to be “a supportive, inclusive community for women of all ages, interests, and physical abilities to be able to meet other women, create friendships and maybe tackle some life goals they have been putting off due to lack of support.”

Kelsie emphasizes the power of women supporting women.

“Women tend to prefer to try new things in the presence of other women,” she says.

“It’s just been fulfilling to create that type of environment to explore those things without pressure.”

Beyond female company, the three saw a niche they thought they could fill. And that JULY/AUGUST 2026

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NIKI SERAFIN & HEATHER DABNEY, FOUNDING MEMBERS

door activities, reminding members to know their own limits and to voice their concerns if pushed too far.

“We are not guides,” Niki emphasizes. “We are not wilderness trained. We just prefer not to go solo when enjoying the great outdoors.”

Their site also encourages sharing rides and sharing gas expenses. “We love to carpool — it’s one of the best ways to connect with each other,” Niki says. “It’s a great way to make new friends and it’s much more fun than driving solo!”

In addition, they’ve got rules for the dogs.

All pups must be vaccinated and must get along well with other dogs. Likewise, the dogs’ women must always carry a leash and be prepared to use it.

“With multiple dogs on the trail, things can get tricky,” the rules state. “A bit of space and a leash go a long way in preventing any unexpected doggy drama.”

Niki, Heather and Kelsie insist they’re not the only leaders of Wilderness Women and Adventure Hounds. In fact, they strongly encourage members to host their own events via chats on the group’s Facebook page.

All three women say doing things with other women has upped their level of confidence.

— Heather Dabney

“I’m still working on health, but I have made new friends and done some short walks,” she says. “It seems any time I want to do a walk, I have someone now.”

Jan Shanks joined the group to discover hikes around Billings. “I actually never thought about all the wonderful ladies I’d get to meet too!” she says. Another unexpected bonus, she says, is learning about new restaurants, handy outdoor gear or “just about anyYVW MAGAZINE

“And, yeah, for me, I definitely have more physical endurance.”

WE ARE JUST A GROUP OF ADVENTUROUS WOMEN, TRYING NEW THINGS, MAKING FRIENDS AND GETTING ACTIVE.

Member Theresa Pacheco said the group has opened up new possibilities. She’s enjoyed the camaraderie and has participated in less demanding activities.

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thing.”

“It’s cool to see where I am with outdoor activities today versus five years ago,” Niki says. “Most women, once they give it a chance and step outside their comfort zones, realize how much fun it is.”

Heather sums up the group in one simple sentence.

“We are just a group of adventurous women, trying new things, making friends and getting active,” Heather says.

Oh! And with a pack of dogs along for the fun. ✻

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.

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t e e w S re u t u F THE

OF A

BILLINGS ICON NEW TECHNOLOGY, SAME BELOVED COOKIE written by STELLA FONG photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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I AM WARMING A Caramel Cookie Waffle on top of my steaming cup of coffee. Impatiently, I wait for the heat to soften the caramel center, making it soft and gooey. As I take my first bite of this Dutch-style stroopwafel, thin strands of caramel stretch from the middle layer, sandwiched between two thin vanilla-cinnamon-spiced waffle cookies.

with that.”

Two years ago, the new owners moved the cookie-making operation to a dedicated production facility on top of the Rims. A temporary oven jury-rigged from a machine in storage provided interim production of cookies until mid-April of this year.

A new oven now lives in the 5,000 square foot space, Lilly says, As I think of my special ritual with Billings’ most iconic cookie, speaking of the large custom-created machine delivered from I am standing in front of the stroopwafel “speakeasy.” A “speakthe Netherlands. “It arrived in a big shipping container (and) easy” because this place deserves to have a coveted code word Erin was here to help take it out.” Alongside to enter the building with the nondescript Erin, her father, Al Blain, assisted in putdark-gray metal façade. There is no signage ting the system together. identifying what is inside, but I want to shout to the world that the Caramel Cookie Waffles “This was my brainchild,” Lilly says of the IN THE SAME TIME that Jan and Judy Boogman first baked more contraption she helped design that’s situthan 40 years ago are being churned out here.

THAT IT TOOK TO BAKE ated in the main space, with a long conveyer belt that snakes into the next suite. She Three years ago, Lilly Corning-Thompson, excitedly talks about a machine that now Erin Heringer and Katie Edwards, purchased is more efficient in producing more conCaramel Cookie Waffles from the Boogmans, COOKIES, THE sistent cookies at a faster rate, 17 minutes. when the couple made the decision to retire.

AUTOMATED SYSTEM She figured out the cooling curve for the The white storefront with the large blue-letcookies, from when they leave the cast iron tered sign on 17th Street West remains mostNOW PRODUCES skillet at 140 degrees to cooling to room ly the same, except that Jimbo is gone. Jimbo temperature. was the beloved name given to the original

1,200

stroopwafel oven from Gouda, Holland, with its eight rotating skillets.

4,000

OF THESE CARAMELLADEN CREATIONS.

Jan still recalls his tenure as owner. “The days were generally long, very long,” he says, “because I had to go in at 2:30 in the morning and get things going, and then the employees came in.” On those mornings, the hard-working employees and the heat of the oven literally left sweat on the storefront windows. The steaming of the glass indicated the oven was on, with a line of people spreading caramel on the freshly cooked wafers and sandwiching them together by hand.

The Boogmans had opportunities over the years to relocate to another location for increased production, but Jan says he preferred to keep his business more intimate. “We became the gathering place, a community gathering spot, and I felt very comfortable

The dough is mixed in the mornings, at 5:00 a.m., in a tent where the enclosure keeps the flour dust from floating into the workroom. After the oven warms for 20 minutes, four round dough balls are extruded from the hopper onto one of the 22 iron skillets. The top plate of the skillet closes as it moves clockwise over flames and opens back up when cooking is complete, to then slide a hot cookie down a ramp. The cookies are trimmed into a circle and then split horizontally into two thin halves through a piano wire. After caramel is dispensed onto one of the wafer halves, the halves are pressed together. The cookies travel on a conveyor belt that moves from the main room through plastic sheeting strips into the next room that is set at a constant 60 degrees. After traveling about another 20 feet in the cooler space, the cookies arrive at the end, where workers are ready to receive them and put them JULY/AUGUST 2026

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into clear packaging for two cookies or a package of eight.

The three partners created a world-class facility that is easier on the employees.

“Sam used to get to the bakery at 4:00 a.m. Now she comes in at 7:30 a.m.,” Lilly says. Not to mention the increased cookie production. In the same time that it took to bake 1,200 cookies, the automated system now produces 4,000 of these caramel-laden creations.

Growing up with the cookies and visiting the bakery, the three partners have nostalgic memories of Caramel Cookie Waffles.

“I would go with Joanne Corning, my grandmother. She would take me there for lunch dates where I was treated like an adult,” Lilly says of her special times.

Katie admits with a laugh, “The caramel cookie was not my favorite and I ate a lot of them.” But the more she tasted them, she learned to like them and appreciate how they were made.

Erin shares how their business idea came together. “Lilly texted me about Christmas time, three years ago, and said, ‘Hey, you’re never going to believe what just came up for sale,” she says. “At first, we were joking about it, but then, when we actually looked at the numbers, we realized that it looked like this business had legs.” When the pair went to visit Katie, their banker, she immediately insisted on being a partner.

Adds Lilly: “We have a huge gratitude to Jan and Judy. They worked with us and thought we would fulfill their vision.” The trio even received expert advice from Robin Béquet, who started Béquet Confections in Bozeman, one of the nation’s premier caramel companies. Locals like Peter Yeagen provided electrical and mechanical expertise.

The new owners closed the bakery for two weeks last August. “All of us deep cleaned. We painted, organized the whole back,” Lilly says of cleansing and reorganizing over four decades of accumulated history. They put in a new freezer, moved out the original oven, took the art off the walls and moved the dessert case closer to the cash register.

The offerings remain the same, with almond crescents, curry chicken salad and sunflower bread still being made with Judy’s recipes. “There are affordable lunch options at Caramel Cookie Waffles,” Katie says especially when “this is a hard industry to

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The trio got creative when it came to outfitting the production facility.

“We needed freezers and we had no money to buy brand new ones. Lovable Pets was going out of business, so I sat at the auction for the freezers that were last to be auctioned off,” Lilly says of the effort paying off as they got the equipment “pennies on the dollar.”

“We looked through the Billings classifieds. We became Facebook marketplace queens,” Katie says, describing their other efforts to save money. Then Erin had the connections to heavy equipment to get everything in place.

Most stroopwafel companies, “outsource their cookie making to Canada” Katie says. “We want jobs in Billings.”

“We so strongly believe in the product and the team,” Lilly adds.

Production manager Sam Biesheuvel believes the changes are good. “It’s more mechanical than before,” he says, no longer having to remove the cookies from the iron with a spatula or spread caramel onto the wafers. “Things go more smoothly so I enjoy doing it.”

Sam laments that Jan has not visited the new facility. “I basically took over his position,” he says. “I would love to see Jan, to show him what we’ve done. I want him to be proud of what we have done.”

What they have done is produce more cookies that can be distributed to more people who can practice my ritual of warming a Caramel Cookie Waffle atop a hot cup of coffee. ✻

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g n i F lam S’mores, ? e n o y n A

MAKING SUMMER MEMORIES AT THE BURGER DIVE written by STELLA FONG photography by DANIEL SULLIVAN

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TONIGHT I FULFILLED every child’s dream. I ordered des-

sert first — a Flaming S’mores shake at the downtown Burger Dive. It is more than dessert. It’s a show. The shake is flambéed right at your table with a literal torch.

I am mesmerized as server Maria March carefully moves the hissing flame shooting out of a large propane canister back and forth over a small pile of marshmallows. Perched safely at the edge of the retro chrome table is a stainless-steel malt cup filled with ice cream goodness that lets off a sweet and toasty aroma.

know, I am supposed to have a burger with my shake, but I just can’t do it. I believe ice cream should be saved as the grand finale of a meal. Over the years, the Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Mint shakes have been my regular choices, but I am very curious about the Roasted Garlic Salted Caramel and Strawberry Balsamic shakes and look forward to trying them at my next visit.

“The garlic shake started ironically as a joke,” Brad says. “Some ladies came in frequently and got garlic burgers and garlic fries.

They jokingly suggested a garlic shake. We tried it, and it worked.”

“When we first opened the Burger Dive over 15 years ago, we started with the basic chocolate, butterscotch, vanilla and strawberry shakes,” co-owner Brad Halsten says. He credits his wife and business partner, Andi, for masterminding the flavors on the shake menu.

Over the years, he adds, “We have put our own unique twist on things” from the shakes to the burgers. The Iron Maiden Burger, dressed with guajillo barbecue sauce and roasted poblano peppers, bacon and cheddar chipotle mayo, will be the newest addition to the menu.

Maria turns off the propane and immediately the fire dissipates.

She drops a spoon inside the cup and slides it toward me, along with a straw. With the spoon, I lift a couple of charred marshmallows to taste smoky sweetness and bite into welcome gooeyness.

As I stick the straw into the cup, I savor the distinct flavors of graham cracker, chocolate syrup and vanilla.

A year ago, the Halstens opened a second Burger Dive, at 1603 Grand Ave., with son, Brendan, managing both operations. The Bob’s Big Boy statue of a cartoonish caricature of a cheerful, chubby boy with a pompadour hairstyle welcomes the guests (delete: here) at the midtown Billings location. The neon sign of a beer dispenser and the black-and-green neon clock, along with tie-dyed T-shirts for sale, continue the retro vibes found at the restaurant downtown.

Explaining the origin of the shake, Brad says, “Andi saw a similar shake made at a restaurant in New York City, and she always wanted to play with fire at work.”

I am usually too full to have a milkshake after eating the restaurant’s award-winning 2016 World Food Champion, the I’m Your Huckleberry Burger, or the Spicy Tuna Burger, as portions are beyond generous and accompanied by more-than-ample fries. I

The true diner feel dominates the space on North 27th Street, with red-and-white checkered floors, yellow-painted walls, counter seating with views of the grill, and a Blockbuster sign.

Both restaurants have good old-fashioned friendly service and award-winning burgers. And, just like I discovered, cold, rich shakes that are so delicious, you really should eat them first. ✻ JULY/AUGUST 2026

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Cool Beans JAPAN'S REFRESHING COFFEE JELLY IS THE PERFECT SUMMER TREAT written and photography by LOVELY HITCHCOCK

COFFEE JELLY has been cooling off Japanese summers since the turn of the 20th century. Inspired by the molded jellies popular in Britain, Japanese confectioners created their own version using kanten, a seaweed-based gelling agent, instead of traditional gelatin. The result was a light, refreshing dessert with a distinctly Japanese identity — and one that is naturally vegan-friendly.

In Japan, coffee jelly is a popular summer treat that's sold just about everywhere — from convenience stores and cafés to bakeries and restaurants. While living in Japan, making it at home

Kanten VS. Gelatin WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Kanten (agar-agar) is a flavorless, plant-based gelling agent made from red seaweed. Unlike gelatin, it creates a firmer texture, holds its shape well in warmer temperatures, and is completely vegan. While it begins setting at room temperature, chilling it in the refrigerator helps it fully set. You can find kanten at places like Isabela Asian Market in Billings or on Amazon.

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YVW MAGAZINE

never crossed my mind. Now that I am back in the United States, I decided it was the perfect excuse to whip up a batch myself! ✻

LOVELY HITCHCOCK, writer/photographer Balancing comfort zones with occasional leaps of faith, Lovely embraces life as a mother, friend, craft junkie, foodie, and sporadic gym-goer who now considers simply showing up a victory. A risk-taker yet a problem avoider, fierce yet wimpy, she has recently discovered a love for solo adventures and will always be a pixel shooter.

coffee jelly 2 ½ c. strong brewed coffee 2 ½ c. water 2 tsp. kanten powder 1/3 c. sugar 1 can evaporated milk 1 can sweetened condensed milk DIRECTIONS: In a small saucepan, mix 2½ cups strong-brewed

coffee, 2½ cups water and 2 teaspoons of kanten powder. Whisk well and bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. You’ll want to make sure the kanten powder is completely dissolved or the mixture will not solidify. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, continue whisking the mixture for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and add 1/3 cup sugar. Pour the hot mixture into an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking pan. Let it cool at room temperature, about one hour, until it begins to set, and then refrigerate for at least 5 hours. It is best enjoyed within two days of refrigeration.

TO SERVE: Cut the jelly into cubes and transfer them to serv-

ing bowls. Meantime, whisk together one cup of sweetened condensed milk and one cup of evaporated milk or heavy cream, until smooth. You can adjust this combination, based on your sweetness preference. Pour this over your bowl of jelly cubes and top with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or chocolate sauce.

DISTRIBUTED BY PEPSI-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY OF BILLINGS

JULY/AUGUST 2026

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