Middle of Nowhere – A Night With George Strait

The following is an essay about the first All-School Reunion held in Glasgow.

I did not graduate from Glasgow High, leaving my senior year for Havre. My gracious classmates, Rhonda Ronass and Karen Koski have kept me on the contact list and I have attended several of my class reunions, always a good time, "Class of '65."

At our 50th reunion, Terry Newton stopped to see ME. Surprise, because he graduated with my brother, who was the East/West Shrine football delegate in '64, Robert Dobrovolny.

I have had this essay for sometime and my friends and family have said I need to get this out there. So I give it to you to let you know what a wonderful bunch you continue to be in the community which I am proud to say I was a part of for many years and through many changes.

It was 1987 in Glasgow, Montana. The Air Force Base north of town was no longer operating as a Government facility. Many of the businesses downtown had closed or were on the brink of irrevocable decadence and no incentive appeared that would bring back the vitality that once surged through this bustling town from the 1940s through '60s. The Chamber of Commerce and other volunteer service groups decided to have a Centennial Celebration All Class Reunion July 24 through Aug. 1, along with the annual Valley County Fair. A week-long celebration of sponsored pancake breakfasts and afternoon picnics with the center of downtown closed off to vehicle traffic accommodating live bands and street dances in the evenings. A grand plan executed to perfection.

Fort Peck joined in the festivities with a Dam Run, theater, concerts, and art shows in the Fort Peck Theatre and across the Dam the ambiance and spirit of the old Fort town was once again bounteous. Car shows, boat shows, style and art shows, Air Shows, concerts, Rodeos and tea parties. Something for everyone, and this was just the school Centennial calendar. The Valley County Fair offered a carnival and horse racing with a night show and concert.

My mother, brother and me knew nothing of the scheduled events. We decided to make the trip together because it was just us three who had spent years working and going to school in Glasgow while boating and camping at Fort Peck Lake in the summer months. Our interests and friends were extremely separate but together we covered a multitude of acquaintances who passed through the halls of Glasgow High School. We had time to recount on our road trip from Kalispell thru Shelby and Havre with a stop at Sleeping Buffalo Mineral Baths. Such is the nature of the close population of Montana, two of my mother's sisters and five cousins were at the Mineral Baths enjoying a holiday.

My brother and mother made plans with the friends that had followed us from the outskirts of town to the Cottonwood Inn. We all freshened up and they went their way leaving me with the vehicle. I took my calendar and began a drive around finding all the locations for the following day's activities ending with parking the vehicle on the north side of town. I walked under the underpass admiring the mural that was new and updated graffiti in the walkway. Arriving at the northwest corner of city center I saw the streets packed with bandstands, tables, booths and displays under the calm starry canopy of Montana's Big Sky.

Unexpectedly, I literally bumped into my brother at the center of it all. He was helping a friend set up a bandstand and cornered off a street corner for dancing. He gave me the "I'm good, no worries about getting a ride to the motel later" speech and I walked into the celebratory mob with a thought of finding my mother to see if she needed a chauffeur for anything. After two hours of shoulder to shoulder walking and looking, I found her two blocks east with a wild and crazy bunch at one of the older establishments wearing someone else's cowboy hat and dancing barefoot. With a thumbs up sign, I exited and started looking for anyone who I had gone to school with to see where my classmates might be. The Mint, always a good spot with live music. It was after 10 p.m. and I was weary from the trip to Glasgow and brief tour and search, but I looked forward to a cool drink and visit with old friends I hadn't seen for a very long time.

The Mint was packed. The floor plan had been remodeled so the bar ran straight back from the front door and then widened out for tables, bandstand, and dance floor at the rear. I walked past the bar which had a few empty stools and searched for an empty chair at a table. No luck with that. I was able to stop and visit with several classmates. If you have traveled to a place where people know you and your siblings(s), have you noticed how everyone says hello to you and then ask: "How's your brother? Where's your brother? I just saw your brother, he's over on the corner at that street dance." So much for conversation, I decided to head back to where I parked the car before I was too tired to get that far.

As I see-sawed my way through the narrow passage to the front door I spotted an empty stool at the bar. I asked the man in a cowboy hat if the stool was taken or if it was okay if I took the seat. He replied the stool was empty and I would be welcome to sit. On my perch at the bar [I] ordered a beer enjoying the fact I was finally off my feet. Some classmates tapped me on the shoulder, so I turned to talk to them. These classmates were asking me questions about me. I felt like I was really visiting for the first time that night. After a couple of minutes, the lines on both sides of the visitors had piled up so they said, "We'd better move along. Who's that guy sitting next to you?"

I looked at the cowboy and said back to them, "I don't know. I think he said he is from Hinsdale." They replied, "He looks like George Strait." They left. I turned around to drink my beer and another old friend taps me on the shoulder on the way out. Same dialogue, same comment about the cowboy I was seated next to.

I turned back to the bar again and sipped my beer and thought about that cowboy sitting next to me. I could not imagine George Strait being in Glasgow, Montana, much less be seated next to me at the Mint Bar. Almost finished with my beer and another tap on the shoulder. This time it's my brother. My brother is pretty good at recognizing celebs, so I visited with him and waited. This time the cowboy turns slightly so he is looking at my brother and my brother says – to me - "Who's that cowboy sitting next to you?"

I say to my brother, " I don't know. I think he's a cowboy from Hinsdale." My brother doesn't ask the cowboy who he is or for an autograph or anything. He looks at me and says, "He looks like George Strait," and turns and walks away.

My beer is finished, and the band has quit for the night and there I am looking at the cowboy in the black hat. I thanked him for letting me have the stool next to him and asked him who he was. "George Strait" was the reply. "Right," I said. "George Strait without an entourage sitting at the Mint Bar in Glasgow, Montana, by an empty stool that I just happened into. I believe that."

"Really," he says, "I am George Strait" as he takes his hat off and shows me the inside hatband with George Strait written on it. "Yes, well it's possible you are wearing a Garth Brooks shirt too. That doesn't make you Garth Brooks." I hopped off my stool and let George Strait know whoever he was I enjoyed his company all evening and hoped he appreciated the anonymity I ensured him by taking the seat. I also wished him a safe trip home – to Hinsdale.

The next day I took in the horse races at the Fairgrounds. In between races they were announcing the night show. George Strait. In Glasgow, Montana? Yes Ms.

Roberta Dobrovolny Beute

Great Falls, Mont.