The Montana Standard from Butte, Montana • A7

Mond OctOber 12, 2015 Page 7 desk, in boxes and in a suitcase almost too heavy to lift. Steve Lawrence; Hank Locklin; Floyd till- man and Johnny Horton; Doye Wayne Newton; and favorites, the Sons of the Pioneers. lived here all his life until my hip broke and he had to go in the house so she be his nephew bob Geary said last tuesday. is authentic. nothing staged.

this is the way he not happenstance. building after building, room after room on the home ranch of this 148-year-old cattle operation remains the way it was if a bit tidier when grandmother Madge died in 1986 and Hughie left the scene three years later. Madge Fogarty Geary came here in 1919 from upper-crust butte when she married tom Geary, moving into the across the way and making it her domain over the next 67 years. that traditional two-story ranch house is awash in, among other things, old photos of the legions of Gearys and their kinfolk, their dogs, and one black bear. bob Uncle tommy kept the young bruin chained in one of the in the 1940s until Fish and Game found out.

got pictures from my generation of a little boston bull terrier named bob said. knew how to torment the bear, but he also knew how long the chain was until one day the chain broke and the bear ate Sam. in all the pictures in the photo album of us Geary kids growing up, Sam I but also Sam bob is of the fourth generation of Helmville Gearys. He opens the door to the old horse barn that still smells like every horse barn ever been in, even though the last time a horse was used for haying on the ranch was in 1963. He remembers because he drove it as a 14-year-old.

After hitches in Vietnam and the Peace corps and 12 years managing the Hofbrau in Helena, Geary returned to the ranch of his boyhood in 1991 and moved into the his grandparents occupied for so long. ever since, the missions of keeping a large cattle operation running, its history-drenched buildings upright, and its past alive have been front and center at the Geary brothers ranch. the ranch is corporate- owned, and had help from family, neighbors, friends and contractors, but Geary is the maestro and the primary funder. because of bob that the place looks like it does said sister, Joyce Scott of Missoula. have to say that really 99 percent hard work and vision with the help of a couple of local guys.

an amazing rancher as well as having his eye for aesthetics and every building has been re-roofed, including the two barns that appeared in the 2011 raised: the barns of by chere Jiusto and christine brown of the Montana Preservation Alliance. are the next priority, in my Geary said. old rock foundations are slipping out. We have wetlands coming up closer every year, so things are brothers Daniel, of Missoula, and Dick, who lives down Geary Lane, have lent elbow grease, ideas, materials and decorating skills to shape this museum of a working ranch. their sister Joyce and her husband Mike Scott have been especially helpful lately after bob suffered a severe heart attack in April.

It required five bypasses, one of which failed a few months later. He had two stents put in shortly before the Labor Day weekend rodeo and a family reunion that drew 150 guests. the Scotts helped spruce up the place for a visit by the rocky Mountain School of Photography in July. cleaned buildings that I cleaned in my lifetime, and we found some great bob said. Upstairs in the main house, Geary pulled open a drawer in the and Indian that his father bill and uncles occupied when they were boys in the 1920s and Small white Sunday suits they all wore to church as lads are still folded neatly inside.

back by the family outhouse a five-holer is what bob calls his crap Among its contents is an old sewing machine he found while walking one hot summer day across another historic ranch in the valley after his truck died. Geary carried it four miles to the road, cached it where he could find it again, then walked another 10 miles back to Helmville. vision is that the ranch is kind of the history of the Joyce Scott said. you take a tour with some of (the) older generations of the valley, he can tell them, came from the Wales or wherever. It might just be a board or rhubarb or a lilac the whole valley notices.

When the postmaster spots someone drive by with an interesting load for the dump, she calls Geary. He laughs (now) about the time he got into the Dumpster in order to retrieve a treasure and get out. of the most beautiful items gotten from the dump or from other people in the sister Joyce said. can be chickens, ducks, a horse or an amazing piece of Geary counts 14 structures on the home ranch in an aerial photo from the mid-1980s. Now, there are 20.

keep adding he said. have a burn pile here the community burn pile, rather than throw it in the dump. I have five or six buildings that were going to the burn pile that put to use. it called? in these cases, is more like salvaging and preserving. the crown jewel is the log homestead cabin, built in the 1860s by great-grandfather John Geary and cousins big Mike and Jim.

It was the first of three Geary homes that remain on the immediate property and is surely one of the oldest standing structures in this swath of Montana. three years ago, bob paid to have it moved from its long-standing place in the yard, where one end had been cut out to make a garage and just generally full of he said. Daniel and Jesse Shoup of clinton did most of the work of moving, re-roofing and repairing it, replacing the open end and adding a front porch and a large picture window. In the process, they found a dozen or so logs of similar vintage from deteriorated buildings in the valley. Geary has repopulated the interior of the cabin and the porch with an eclectic assortment of items.

It feels like a museum but with no apparent theme. know what call this he said. contributions from so many people, and still finding stuff from around the the leather- and-horsehair chaise from the Fogarty home in butte is a wonderful place to sleep in the summer, with the exception of the Geary said) and his old cook- stove. A three-legged deer lamp was going to the dump, and an egg incubator that was doing its thing last week came from the antique shop in Deer Lodge. artificial plant is something that my type of neighbors will bring me as a Geary said with a chuckle.

not part of the decor. It came from the Helmville School, and originally it came from the beside and behind the cabin stands a wooden outhouse with two levels of thrones, the lower one for children. handyman ed coughlin rebuilt it, but not for its original purpose. It was one of about 15 falling- down outhouses spread around the rodeo grounds across the field. eventually weeded them all out but kept this Geary said.

A dead tree is fastened to a fence corner near the Horse It came from down on the blackfoot river, and neighbor Jay coughlin thought it would fit in here. they went down together to fetch it. know, been kind of fun that Geary said. got the space here, got the time, and got the energy. the birds love it.

I keep suet feeders in Indeed, he probably spends more on bird feed than on his pigs and cattle, Joyce said. And her brother loves chickens. have an obligation to maintain something like said Geary, who lost his father bill in 2011, just months before the death of his Uncle Dan, the last of the third generation of Helmville Gearys. Growing up, bob rarely saw eye to eye with his uncle tommy Geary, who died in 2003. but both came to acknowledge and embrace the ethic of preserving a place and a lifestyle worth keeping.

really was the bob said. believed in the legacy of this ranch and this some serious, if sometimes quirky, history elsewhere. A stolen, decades-old highway sign Geary found somewhere points the way to the Gates of the Mountains. Geary has mounted it on a row of decaying fence posts that date back to the 1880s, like most of the corrals and outbuildings on the place. He placed them there, he said, not for any practical purpose but as a tribute to the hard work of his forefathers who built this ranch and this life.

these poles were 4 feet in the ground, hand he said, point to the evidentiary rot on the butt ends. think so important to the history of said Mary Ann McKee, who finished her own history of the town a couple of years ago. She called it Years on Main really believe people should know the history, what happened in our valley, and bob is doing such a good job of sharing it with McKee said. gives the greatest Like most folks in these parts, McKee has Geary blood running through her veins. Her sister, Marianne Mccormick, married John Geary, great-grandfather, in the 1880s.

not easy to keep track of Geary bloodlines, even if one of them. Witness to that was borne on Labor Day weekend when 150 people gathered at the ranch for a family reunion. Several came from the 15th-century Geary home base in bal- lyduff, Waterford county, in southern Ireland. Most spent time studying family tree charts that camille coughlin, whose mother was Patsy Geary Guay, prepared. they stemmed from each of those first three Gearys.

each of two sheets of butcher paper stretched a couple of yards down the side of a barn. John Geary arrived in Montana from ballyduff in 1863 to follow the gold rush. the story goes that a couple of years later he was in a saloon in blackfoot city above present-day Avon when two new prospectors walked in Mike and Jim. by 1867, the Gearys had water rights on Nevada creek and were ranching on the first 160 acres of a spread that grew to encompass all of downtown Helmville. they built the homestead cabin on Nevada creek, and in the 145 years before the 2012 move, the cabin was displaced just once.

the pioneers moved it up to the barnyard near where John Geary built a larger home for Marianne. As bob heard the story, all but one of their seven children were born in that second house before John constructed the stately two- story ranch home in 1900. thing he has been so conscious of is making sure trees have been replaced and caring for Joyce Scott said. he had his heart attack, my husband Mike went out and stayed with him for five or six Scott said. had ordered all these trees, hundreds of trees, so Mike helped replant them.

bob plants trees every year to make sure a windbreak. a big the Geary brothers ranch turns 150 in a couple of years, and a lot of work lies ahead to keep it intact for another 150. Money is always an issue, Geary said. He pays for many of the improvements out of his own pocket and barters for others. said, do you find time for all Well, here seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and I make time.

mental health, whether planting a tree or sweeping out some of these old he said. Geary admits his heart attack has lent a sense of urgency. that, I knew, like Uncle tommy, that I would live forever; but now I know not going he said. want to get it all done by which would be the full 150 years, if allowed that much And then what? He shrugged. the succession on the ranch to the next generation is unresolved.

the shareholders, and way too many of us, what we appreciate is that bob has worked hard to make sure there is a place for us to come out Joyce Scott said. bothers me a little bit that all going to be dispersed Geary allowed. because there anybody else to carry this Lighted today, Monday, Oct. 12, 2015 For BUBB Forever and Always. Love, Mary Kay In Memory of TRICK KE on his 1st Anniversary in Heaven.

the world has become a quieter place without your energy, enthusiasm and spark for life. Missing you every day. Love, your sister, Linda Tours are scheduled daily at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Please make reservations for all tours.

HOURS 10 AM 5 PM DAILY Please have all requests to Our to our office no later than 1:30 p.m. the day prior and on Friday by 1:30 p.m. to include all lights for the upcoming Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Stop by our shop in the Butte Plaza Mall for unique gifts and religious items. (406) 782-1221 www.ourladyoftherockies.net AboutObituaries The Montana Standard publishes free notices of death and free obituaries of children.

Other obituaries cost $11 per 25 words, plus a $1 mobile fee. A 1x1 photograph is $5 (limit 2) and should be submitted with the written obituary. Custom obituaries and additional options are available. For details call 406- 496-5553 (daytime) or 406-496-5568 (evenings). The deadline for publication is 3 p.m.

for the next newspaper. All notices are also published at mtstandard.com/ obits where readers may express condolences. Obituaries of any length may be subject to editing. Pictures, clippings and other items hang on the wall of the bunkhouse where Hugh Geary lived. Tom Bauer photos for The Montana Standard Geary stands in the log homestead cabin built in the 1860s by his great-grandfather John Geary and his cousins.

The cabin has been moved from its original site, restored, and filled with an assortment of items. leaving him with $111,883 in the bank. Former state legislator champ edmunds, a republican, raised $1,900 and spent $1,602 for the quarter. He has $961.89 cash on hand. SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION Denise departure leaves Democrats to defend her seat.

republican state Sen. elsie Arntzen raised $22,910 and spent $5,791 for the quarter, leaving her with $22,871 when combined with previous cash carried over. Democrat Melissa romano-Lehman has $11,795 in the bank after raising $9,806 and spending $6,183 for the quarter. SUPREME COURT two seats are up for election in 2016, but only one is contested at this point. District Judge Dirk Sandefur raised $45,433 and spent $1,774 over the three-month period, leaving him with $133,544 in the bank.

Kristen Juras has $22,308 cash on hand after raising $11,260 and spending $6,292 for the quarter. Justice James Shea is seeking voter approval after bullock appointed him to replace brian Morris, who accepted an appointment as a federal judge. Fundraising Continued from Page 1A Ranch Continued from Page 1A 494.4264•565.0069•AxelsonCremation.com AxelsonAlternativeCremationdoesnotprovideservicesforresidentsof PowellCounty. Cremationservice offeredatone $1,275 00.