MONTANA MEMORIES

SIGNED on the title page as follows: ¿Best wishes to you |Helen Micka | from | Bozeman Woman¿s Club.¿ 8vo. [11]1-316[6]p. Illustrated with numerous black and white captioned photos and a black and white map of Montana showing the location of the local units of the Montana Retired Teachers Association. Index to Montana Memories by author. White wrappers printed in black. Wrappers somewhat soiled from oil on the hands, upper rear corner creased, corners square and flat, else near fine to fine with no internal markings. ¿From the 86 year retiree whose handwriting is so shaky that she had to dictate her story, to the woman who started college at age 60 to get a teaching certificate, our stories make a tremendous commentary on Montana¿s transition from the coming of the ¿Honyockers¿ flocking to take up homestead claims through the depression and drought years to the boom days of big projects like the Fort Peck Dam. In order to preserve the flavor of each writer¿s peculiar experiences, as well as to respect her integrity and personality, editing has been kept to a minimum.¿ [from the Preface] Each of these Montana memories is authored by a woman beginning with Elizabeth Ireland, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1928 ¿ 1936 and 1940 ¿ 1948. This volume was published for the Montana Retired Teachers Association in conjunction with the ¿Pride in America¿ project of the National Retired Teachers Association for the Bicentennial, 1976. It is dedicated to Harriet E. Miller, Executive Director NRTA and AARP. [Apparently Miller was from Montana, as the dedication says, ¿Montana is proud of you.¿] It is an amazing and detailed documentation of what it was like for women teaching in Montana from the early days to 1976. Helen K. Micka was a teacher in Montana from 1931 until her retirement in 1973. She was Montana chairman of the ¿Pride in America¿ project. She was president of the Big Sky Retired Teachers Association Bozeman, Secretary of the local branch of AAUW, district president of Missoula District of United Methodist Women, vice president of the Bozeman Women¿s Club, and active in the Bozeman United Methodist Church and White Shrine and other related Masonic organizations.…