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The Magazine of The University of Montana

LETTERS


The Montanan welcomes letters to the editor. Please sign and include your graduating year or years of attendance, home address, and phone number or e-mail address.

Send them to: Montanan Editor,
325 Brantly Hall, Missoula, MT 59812
or themontanan@umontana.edu.


Because of space limitations, we are not able to include all letters sent to us. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. While universities are places of discussion where good people do not always agree, letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Opinions expressed in the Montanan do not necessarily reflect those of The University of Montana.

letters

Photo by Erik Stenbakken


RIVER RECOLLECTIONs

I read with interest the article by Daryl Gadbow about fly-fishing on the Bitterroot River. I must say it took me back to my graduate school days at UM (’66-’70) and the time I spent with my fellow students and professors fly-fishing the streams and rivers around Missoula. 

 Dick Ushijima, professor of virology, was an excellent fly-fisherman and taught me how to tie flies and fly cast. I spent many weekends in my backyard in the Rattlesnake trying to perfect fly casting. It was difficult, but I finally did it. Ushijima and I, along with Dick Faust, professor of microbiology, and several other graduate students spent many enjoyable hours at Rock Creek. The salmon fly hatch in late June was a great time, as was the spruce moth hatch that occurred in July. Faust and I floated a 10-mile stretch of the Clark Fork in the summer of 1970, after I had earned my Ph.D. and was getting ready to go on active duty in the Army. 

I must say (the article) took me back to my graduate school days at UM and the time I spent with my fellow students and professors fly-fishing the streams and rivers around Missoula.

- Bill Cross M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’70

 The Blackfoot River also was one of our favorite locations and Russell Centanni (Ph.D. ’71) and I spent many hours chasing rainbows there. Fly-fishing is one of the best ways to relieve stress, as you have to focus solely on putting the fly in the correct location and watching for the strike! 

 These are some of the best times I spent with my teachers and friends, and the article brought them back to life.

 I thought I would send this e-mail to let you know the “Fly-Fishing Lure” has long been a tradition at UM.

Bill Cross M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’70
Via e-mail

A GRATEFUL CATCH

I would like to commend Grateful Nation, the nonprofit organization that offers full college scholarships to children of Montana soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a wonderful program.

In the caption of the photo of Dylan Hyland, who will be utilizing this program, it was reported that he is a junior at “Missoula’s Loyola High School.” In the 1970s Loyola and Sacred Heart Academy combined and became one school known as Loyola Sacred Heart High School. For all of us who attended LSH after this point we are proud to be graduates of Loyola Sacred Heart High School.

Eileen Conley Moore ’87
Missoula

More than a feeling

Thank you for putting together the article about the Foresters’ Ball in the spring 2009 issue of the Montanan! I was very excited to read up on the history, of which some details I already knew and some I didn’t.

As a forestry graduate and former Chief Push of the nintieth ball, the Foresters’ Ball has a very special place in my heart. I can even say the Foresters’ Ball influenced my personal life, as I married the Chief Push of the eighty-seventh ball, creating history as the first married couple who were both Chief Pushes.

Over the past seven years of my involvement with the Foresters’ Ball, I have felt that getting the word out about this unique event is essential to keeping the tradition alive. Thanks again for writing about an event that has been a big part of my life, as well as my husband’s life.

Let’s keep the ball going for another ninety-two years!

Leah Rediske (Jones) ’06
Joe Rediske ’05
Missoula

COLLEGE OF TOMORROW?

I was surprised to see the UM College of Technology featured in the sidebar “UM’s College of Technology Fastest Growing MUS Unit” in the winter issue. The facilities were decent when my mother attended the Missoula Vo-Tech in 1977. They were in mediocre condition when I attended the COT from 1996 to 1998, and I imagine it has only gotten worse in the last ten years. While I am thrilled that the COT is finally being recognized as a viable and valued member of the university system, the use of trailers for overflow offices and classrooms, as well as delaying construction of new facilities, only further portrays the COT as the “red-headed stepchild” of UM.  As the unit that takes students from the classroom to the work force in two years or less, the College of Technology deserves better.

Deana M. (Nelson) Waters ’95 A.A.S ’98
North Pole, Alaska