I was born and raised in Williston, ND, moving with my 5 sisters and 2 brothers to Flathead Lake’s Yellow Bay the day after school got out each summer to spend time with my maternal grandparents and assorted cousins until a few days before school started again. The highlight of the week was when my grandfather took all of the older kids to Polson and let us loose to get books from the library, and doughnuts from the Lake City Bakery. My parents moved permanently to Polson with my younger siblings after I left for college.
I finished my college education at the Ohio State University while working for Owens Corning Science and Technology in Granville, OH where in my 17 years I held several accounting positions, was a research and marketing librarian, served on the staff of the in-house newspaper, served on the Activities Association board, and the Community Care board that distributed United Way funds collected at Owens Corning helping small community projects where OC employees lived. I co-chaired three international symposiums on quality for OC. Ohio was a wonderful place to raise my daughters, but Montana was where we spent most of our vacations with my extended family.
My husband Buck and I moved to Polson in 1996 to care for my aging parents and immediately jumped into volunteering for several projects in our community. His focus was after school sports for middle and high school kids, and mine was working to help the needy in our community by starting Share the Spirit Holiday Assistance Program in 1998, volunteering for the American Cancer Society, Soroptimist International, P.E.O., projects at church and working at my company Forbis & Young, marketing small Polson businesses with my sister and business partner in Polson. When my husband passed away I started a scholarship fund in his name for Polson High school athletes which is managed by GPCF.
I was deeply honored when asked to join the GPCF Board in 2012 and have loved every minute of it! Helping grow our community in so many positive ways and helping non-profits do more with help from the foundation is very important to me. I love living in this community and want to see it prosper with our permanent endowment and opportunities for giving.
Several years after my husband passed, I met and married a wonderful man who had also lost his spouse to cancer. Jerry has been a long time supporter of the foundation and loves making a difference in our special community with me. GPCF has an amazing Board of Directors who are dedicated to making Polson a great place to live. I am honored to be a part of this wonderful organization.
I was born and raised in Williston, ND, moving with my 5 sisters and 2 brothers to Flathead Lake’s Yellow Bay the day after school got out each summer to spend time with my maternal grandparents and assorted cousins until a few days before school started again. The highlight of the week was when my grandfather took all of the older kids to Polson and let us loose to get books from the library, and doughnuts from the Lake City Bakery. My parents moved permanently to Polson with my younger siblings after I left for college.