Researching a writing project

August 21, 2023

Researching my memoir, which I’ve been writing for our children and grandchildren,  I’ve been interviewing people:

Larry Felton, to untangle the events of our hippie years 1967-1974, but particularly 1969.  That was at the year many of us broke free of the University of Montana in Missoula to try for a pure education.  Larry unearthed documentation of our comings and goings to Seattle and back to Missoula during 1969, and other years. Larry sent me four copies of a 1969 Missoula hippie newspaper, Chief Joseph. It extolled the band, “Three Farthing Stone.” I learned the lead guitarist, Doug Sternberg, died last year. Drummer David Lenhart is still around here somewhere.

Larry turned me on to a book Bill Yenne’s father wrote about being a Glacier Park Ranger in the 1920s. Title is Switchback. Our friend is William P. Yenne. His dad’s name was William J. Yenne.

Carol Struckman-Hotchkiss, my sister, who is my best source for the years 1939-1962.  This includes stories of freedom-loving children at play at Fort Missoula from 1946-50.  She is also one of the few living people who remembers my uncle Carl (Buddy) Bonde, Jr., the one who perished in WWII when a U-boat torpedoed his troopship, the SS Leopoldville.

Brenda Flemming-Skornogosky, a central figure in the hippie culture of 1967-69 at the University of Montana.  Larry remembers being invited to sit with the hippies in the Lodge cafeteria by Brenda.

Kim Thompson-Irons was one of the most important of the hipsters.  She worked in the cafeteria scooping ice cream, developing strong forearm muscles.  She gave her friends more ice cream than usual.

Mark Fryberger, an old friend, furnishes important details. A creative person, a philosopher.

Jim Grady, author of the popular novel, Six Days of the Condor, was one of the non-conformists in or near our group.  Jim confirmed that he, Brenda, and Mark Fryberger smoked pot on the roof of the Lodge at the university.  Jim said he didn’t get high that time, but reached that level later with the late Alonzo Spang, destined to become President of Chief Dull Knife College on the Northern Cheyenne reservation.

Todd Struckman, for his memories of his childhood, especially during the summers on lookout towers and our road trip in an old Volkswagen to Alaska.

Bob Struckman, ditto.

Clara Struckman, ditto.  Additionally, Clara has been fact-checking and drilling down into the information in our book.

I have written about our friend, Peter R. Koch. You can learn about his career as a printer and publisher on Wikipedia. Ditto for Bill Yenne and for Jim Grady.

Blaine Ackley, my cousin who was politically active with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the mid-to-late 1960s, mostly in Eugene, Oregon, but also San Francisco.  His leadership and his tactics are to be part of a book his friend is writing.  For a time, Blaine was, for a period, one of the sole distributors of Rolling Stone magazine.  He told me how they picked up the printed magazines in Oakland, then trucked them north as far as Vancouver, BC, to various cities for further distribution eastward.

Michael Judd, another cousin, was a great historian for our childhood summers in Kalispell and in Seattle, and Anchorage, back in the day.

Research is ongoing. Call me at 406-694-2829 if you have memories of the hippie times.