Hometown heroes selected as this year's parade marshals

Note: This year's theme for the Days of '85 parade on Sunday, August 15 is 'Hometown Heroes.' Parade organizers chose individuals from five different categories to represent all of the hometown heroes in Ekalaka. The following articles were submitted by the individuals themselves, or their family members.

EDUCATION

Representative: Lynn Williams

I am honored to have been chosen as Carter County's Hometown Hero for Education.

My first formal education was at the Tarter School in Harding County SD. I was "bused" to school by the Rolph kids for the first 6 years of elementary school. There were some wild rides on the trail to and from school through snowbanks, mud and creeks full of water!

For 7th and 8th grade, I attended the Carter School in Carter County, which was straight west of where we lived. I drove my sister and brother to school unless the trail was muddy or blocked with snow; then we rode to school horseback. The winter of '64 and '65 was horrible; blizzards and bitter cold! We went to school three days in the month of December. We learned the true meaning of being cold - to the bones cold from those horseback rides. We had 4 different teachers in the two years I attended that school.

Because of the distance from Ekalaka, I boarded in town with Curt and Eddie Wilson for my four years at Carter County High School. It was a brand new world for me; I hadn't had a classmate since 4th grade and suddenly I had over 30! Football games, basketball games and Carterettes were all new and exciting for me!

After graduating from high school, I enrolled at Black Hills State College in Spearfish, SD with the intention of becoming an elementary teacher. I had a year of college left when Dave and I got married. We wanted to live in Carter County so I finished my degree, applied for a job at Ekalaka Elementary School and was hired to teach 3rd grade. The rest is history! I took time off to be at home with our two sons and daughter when they were little and also during this time I went back to school and got an endorsement in Special Education.

When I started back teaching, I taught Special Education for a few years, then 2nd grade, 4th grade, 1st grade and finished my career teaching Special Education.

After retiring from teaching, I became Deputy County Superintendent of Schools, serving the rural schools in Carter County for 10 years. Now I am a trustee for Ekalaka Public Schools.

I believe with an education a person can be anything they want to be, go wherever they want to go. Whether education is formal or informal it should continue for a lifetime.

MILITARY VETERAN

Representative: Leonard Lee "Peb" Cline

Leonard Lee Cline was born to Leslie and Irene Cline on April 14, 1947 at Ekalaka, MT. He grew up in the Belltower-Sykes community and attended the rural Central School through the 8th grade. He graduated from Carter County High School in 1965. He was given the unique nickname of "Pebble" by a classmate of his brother Ken. At that time many of the "country kids" were given a nickname when they began attending "town" school. Ken had been dubbed "Eli Stone" and so his younger brother Leonard was called "Pebble", which was shortened to Peb.

After graduating from high school Peb attended a Vocational Technical School in Wichita, KS to learn automotive mechanics and graduated in December 1967. Later he worked for a mining company at Lead, SD. Peb was inducted into the US Army on June 18, 1968 at Butte, MT and was trained at Fort Lewis, WA as an Infantry Rifleman. He deployed to Vietnam in November of 1968 and was stationed in the Chu Lai area with the 11th Infantry Brigade. On January 21, 1969, while on patrol, he was severely injured when a fellow soldier triggered a land mine. Peb was evacuated to a hospital ship and then on to Camp Drake, Japan. After recuperating enough to travel he was transferred to Madigan General Hospital in the Seattle, WA area on February 10, 1969. He received several weeks of rehabilitation while there and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal from the US Army for the sacrifices that he made while serving his country. He was also awarded the Vietnamese Service Medal, National Defense Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Peb was retired from the US Army on July 31, 1969 as a SP4 with a full medical disability. While living in the Tacoma area he married Sandra Kalstrom and they later moved to the Denver, CO area, where Peb attended college, earning a degree in accounting, and continued with his rehabilitation. Their children Kelly Brandon, Kimberly and Kody were born there. They left Denver and returned to Ekalaka where he went to work for the Carter County Road Department in 1979 until retiring in 1995. He has since spent his time hunting, growing a garden, plowing gardens around Ekalaka, and helping anyone in need. Peb carried on a family tradition of serving in the military. His grandfather Leroy Owens was a veteran of WWI, his father Leslie and Uncles Bill and Elmer served during WWII and his brother, Kenneth Ehly was a career member of the Air Force, beginning during the Vietnam War. He is a member of the VFW.

Thank you for your service Peb!

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN

Representative: Louise Dague

In 1985, when an EMT course was offered, I decided to take it as I had no idea what to do in case of an accident or a medical emergency. As most people know, I had no plans to be on the ambulance crew if I passed the test. Still, six of us passed the test and were now EMTs! My very first two ambulance runs were during the 1986 fair and were both vehicle accidents, one during the day on Friday and the other one late Saturday night. What a way to begin 30 years with our ambulance service. I retired in 2016.

In November 1986, our ambulance service received the certificate of appreciation by the Montana EMS Association, for outstanding ambulance service. This was the only such award given at their Bozeman conference.

Three of the calls have really stuck in my mind. The first one was in January of 1987, when a patient was being flown by an area pilot to Rapid City; the weather turned bad just before we got home, but we managed to land. In September 1999, my partner and I were paged to the B-1 bomber crash, west of Ekalaka.

Over the years, our group had bake sales, plays, raffles, etc., to raise money for equipment and a new ambulance, besides conducting several EMT classes.

The fall of 1993, Ekalaka and PIttsburgh, PA. were chosen nationwide as the sites to conduct a new curriculum for basic EMTs, so a new class was started then.

Several years ago, I received the Carter County Chamber of Commerce Public Service Award. In 2012, Candy Loehding, who was the D.E.S. coordinator at the time, nominated me for a statewide award. I received the Ready Montana Award for community service at Helena.

I also served as secretary-treasurer for the TV club from 1985 to 2020. I have lived here all my life. Dell and I have been married for 63 years, raised our 2 kids here, and all still running our trucking business for 58 years.

FIREFIGHTER

Representative: Tom Carroll

Tom Carroll, the son of James T. and Marty Carroll, was born and raised in Carter County. He graduated from Carter County High School a long time ago (1972). After graduating from high school, he attended Billings Automotive School in Billings Montana.

Tom returned to Carter County after completing Automotive Trade School and worked for several ranches, owned and operated T & R Standard gas station and worked on the oil rigs.

Tom worked for Carter County road dept. for 30 years. During this time he became an EMT and worked for Ekalaka ambulance service for 25 years. Tom first joined Ekalaka Volunteer Fire Department in 1978.

After the Brewer Fire in 1988 Tom got into wildland firefighting and has worked his way up through the ranks. He has worked as a Division Supervisor on a type 3 incident management team.

Tom is still employed by Carter County part-time as the fuels reduction crew leader and is still chasing fires. He has also has taught many fire classes throughout southeast Montana. Tom and his wife Karen have two sons and three grandchildren. He stays plenty busy for being retired.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Representative: Rusty Jardee

Rusty was born in Ekalaka, the son of Ivan and Virginia Jardee. He grew up on the family ranch in the Mill Iron Community.

He graduated from Carter County High School in 1969. Rusty worked various jobs in Carter County including being the Co-Chief of Police with Neil Kittelmann for the Town of Ekalaka.

He started the Jardee Trucking business in 1980 and operated the business for 29 years. In 1990 Rusty was elected Carter County Sheriff. He served as Sheriff for 20 years.

Rusty was a member of the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, serving on the board for 17 years.

Rusty was awarded "Montana Sheriff of the Year'' in 2010. He helped the Ekalaka Ambulance Service and EMTs with fundraisers to purchase equipment for the ambulance. One of the fundraisers was a play titled "Moonshine and Martians," in which Rusty was cast as a mountain man. Rusty and his wife Arnina now live in Huntley. They are the parents of four daughters and have 10 grandchildren. Rusty has been driving truck for the past 11 years.