Distinctly Montana Magazine

87 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m the later ones. He moved to Montana in 1897 and started work at the now-historic Grant Kohrs Ranch. In 1905 he headed back to Canada, where he married Marie Caron, then returned and set- tled in Ronan, where he worked as a wrangler on a bison ranch. Both being part Native themselves, it was easy for Ovila and Ma- rie to integrate into both the Native and white cultures of their day. In addition to their native French, which was not an uncom- mon second language on the Reserva- tion at that time, they learned the Pend d'Oreille (Salish) language of their local friends, as well as English. In 1911 he and Marie moved out of Ronan. They weren't able to buy their own place, but rented land at the base of the Mission Range east of Charlo from various Native friends, such as Tehnum Finley, Eneas Conko and Louis Mollman, all of whom considered the Cheffs as family. Over time, they built three cabins on the rented land, but two of the three burned down. Ovila and Marie had 14 kids. Their third child, and first daugh- ter, Bernida, was delivered by Medicine Man Charlie Kicking- Horse, who saved mother and baby when Bernida presented as a breech birth. Bud's father, Bud Sr., was number four, born in 1915. He was raised bilingual, fluent in both French and Salish. He didn't learn English until he started at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius, a Catholic boarding and day school for area Na- tive and non-Native children. As Bud Sr. and his brother, Rex, had made many deep friend- ships among the Native families of the Flathead Reservation, gifts were often traded between these families, as was the cus- tom. In addition, Bud Sr. and uncle Rex participated in several Pend d'Oreille "Give Away" ceremonies. This was the begin- nings of some of the collection of Native artifacts accumulated by the family. Bud Jr. finding the war club years later just seemed like the first step in carrying on the family tradition. In 1959, Bud met Laurel Kopelman of Missoula on a blind date set up by Bud's uncle. For Bud, it was love at first sight, and they were married within six months. It is clear that spark is still there between them some 66 years later. As the family's collection of Native artifacts grew from Bud's continued acquisitions, the space to display them in Bud and NINEPIPES NINEPIPES MUSEUM MUSEUM Ovila Cheff and Marie Caron, 1905. Bud Cheff's grandparents PHOTO COURTESY OF BUD CHEFF JR. Tehnum Finley PHOTO COURTESY OF NINEPIPES MUSEUM OF EARLY MONTANA PHOTO COURTESY OF NINEPIPES MUSEUM OF EARLY MONTANA Eneas Conko and his granddaughter, Janelle Conko

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