Distinctly Montana Magazine

79 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m animals kept John connected to the trade. Connections to the animals went far beyond their serviceability as packers. During a delivery into the Bob his horse took a tumble on a steep cliff that threatened to end them both. "I saw hooves level with my eyes and thought that wasn't right as we rolled downward." John was shaken, but his voice communicated that he was more con- cerned about how his saddle horse was faring. "I got him righted and then tried to right myself. I wondered what I was gonna do next when I saw Dad's light coming down the trail. I knew he would know what to check. Dad took a lotta good care of me." Between seasons of running stock, John earned his under- graduate degree in art from the University of Montana in Mis- soula. When he didn't want to bother with classes, he was a reg- ular downtown at the old Eddie's Club—known now as Charlie B's, famous for the art and photography it nurtured within its walls. It was a scene akin to those in Paris with Ernest Heming- way, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce, except these Lost Generation parties included Monte Dolack, a favorite Montana son, and Mary Beth Percival, his late wife. An original of Mary's is prominently centered above his fire- place and elicits stories of those days. John's early artwork fo- cused on using wax as a medium, with animals as the subject. Many of his sculptures are set among his later works in his place. For a time he went through waves of mediums, as so many artists do when experimenting. During his longest period he settled on photography, again choosing to put animals into the frame. It was winter after another season of moving stock when the time came for John to find his own place, and happened to find himself in Ronan. An old trout farm, long unused, would become home. He knew the place was for him, even if there wasn't a vi- sion for its future. "When I walked through the gates, I wasn't thinking about birds, they just happened to be here." But that changed when a patron, Cathey Miller, offered to pay for the place if John turned it into a non-profit. He agreed, and soon after, a check appeared. The Montana Waterfowl Foundation nestles between the Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge and Kicking Horse Reser- voir under some of the most picturesque mountains in Montana. Since 1991, it has championed a dual purpose: education of local conservation efforts and propagation of native waterfowl spe- cies. "This place is a sanctuary. There are still old growth trees, including the largest one on the Flathead Indian Reservation." John has become a local celebrity AFTER USHERING NEARLY 10,000 STUDENTS THROUGH HIS PASSION PROJECT. WHEN WALKING INTO A BAR RECENTLY A MIDDLE-AGED MAN POINTED A FINGER AT HIM ASKING IF HE WAS THE "BIRD GUY."

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