Executive Board of Directors

Gil Mangels, President

Cathleen Wilde, VP

Mel Adams, VP

Joanne Mangels, Secretary

Gracia Normandeau Jones

Kendall Dupuis

Mike Maddy

Stan Cohen

Donna Maddux

Nancy Pray

Jeanne Windham

Advisory Board of Directors

Phyllis Fulkerson

Jim Pomajevich

June 23, 2008 Volume VII

A N o n - P r o f i t 5 0 1 ( c ) ( 3 ) C o r p o r a t i o n • 8 1 - 0 4 3 7 3 8 6

36094 Memory Lane Polson, MT 59860 406-883-6804 www.miracleofamericamuseum.org • info@miracleofamericamuseum.org

December 2008

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

QUARTERLY REPORT

Winter here has turned downright vicious as of this writing. It's in the

teens right now, and 10" of snow is predicted in our valley by the end of

the week.

As 2008 draws to a close, we are so thankful for our family, friends,

donors and visitors.

We again had visitors from all 50 states and 40

countries.

Because of the financial concerns for many, we are offering

free admission for children 12 and under, accompanied by at least one

adult. Adults will be half price until January 2, 2009.

Joanne is mending well, thanks in part to family and friends who

were so helpful as well as all those who prayed for her. She goes to

sleep at night thanking God for each person by name, whom she knew

were praying for her. She always goes to sleep before she reaches the

end. Once Joanne was back at home, Gil started a bad bout with kidney

stones. He lost about 20 lbs. in the three weeks. Unfortunately the

weight returned and settled in his midsection. He's feeling healthy

although cold now.

Bluebird Car

Ron and Barb Buentemeier

donated a 1924 Overland 4-door

touring car. It is the “Bluebird" model and was also called a sedan

roadster. We're showing you the best side. The original owners only

partially covered it and the right side fenders and splash pan rusted

badly and need replacement. So keep your eyes peeled for parts as

this is a rare model and is highly worthy of restoration.

Survey Upcoming

We have been invited to join

other museums throughout the land

in a special financial survey. The

government may finally be

concerned about the slimness of our

budgets. We ll keep you posted.

In this issue:

• Quarterly Report

• Some Bluebirds go Overland

• Sustaining Members

• Remembering Jerry

• Four Big Smiles

• Donations, new displays and a Whopper

• Music Pickers entertain Saterdays

In Memoriam

We are saddened that

Jerry Stolle

, our

webmaster, recently

passed away. He started

in the 90s and kept up our

website which has been

highly successful

bringing visitors to the

valley to visit the

museum. He donated

many hours of time, also

photographing the

participants displaying

their crafts on Live History Days. After coming in at least

monthly, to photograph something, Jerry in 2002 donated a

new 5 megapixel Sony camera which is used several times

a week taking a digital photograph of something or another.

It has become almost as important a tool as the computer.

MISCELLANEOUS DONATIONS

Gary Adams

- Clinton “Bulldog" chainsaw

Axmen of Missoula

- several useful display pieces;

Dee Barba

- several aviation items in memory of

her husband Bill - including Instruments, framed

art, a flight suit Bill wore when flying his WW I

SE5A replica;

Pat Fleming -

Installed a couple of new handles in

blacksmith hammers. He has a knack for installing

them true and tight. He also donated a lamp and

misc. articles;

Howard Hudson-

Who never ceases to amaze us

with his donations, donated a rabbit fur hat and

muff, lunchbox full of old Christmas cards, 1923s

and '30 medicine cabinet items and the list goes on

for four pages;

Art Mangels -

of Dillon

,

bought and donated a nice

original gas tank for our 1912 Seagrave chain-drive

fire truck. The tank was spotted in a Butte antique

store, by our “bird dog"

Bob Lassila

of Great Falls.

Bob is the one who spotted our vintage car hauler.

He has a very good eye;

Bert and Kathy Smith

of Smith & Edwards in

Ogden Utah, donated a couple of cases of pocket

sized U S Constitutions with indexes which we sell

in our gift shop;

Lulu Stock

- Donated vintage spices, medications,

a neat period plaid child's bib overalls, two beautiful

dresses from the late 1800s. and other clothing;

Greg Stone

- Donated a Standard Gas Pump sign

and an antique spark plug;

Tom Tiffany

-

Donated antique appliances, tools

etc.

A huge salute of thanks to our

New Sustaining Members:

Paul & Susan Brueggeman

Helen R Mc Clellan

Thanks to these folks and all our

sustaining and family members, we are

able to preserve and present history for all to

appreciate. We cannot accomplish this without

your help.

“INDIANS FOUR"

Gil had special Trick or

Treaters on Halloween night.

With their mother's blessing, Gil

titled this photo “Indians Four".

The children took their masks off

so you could see their smiles as

they sat on Gil's restored 1941

Indian Four Cylinder motorcycle.

From the front to back are Sierra,

Robert, Jonathan and Olivia

Perez.

Newsletter layout courtesy of

Carmine Mowbray of

PICKIN' in the PARK at MUSEUM!

With the cooler weather the popular Pickin' in the Park Musicians have moved to the

Miracle of America Museum - It is warm and dry inside and there is a great floor for

dancing if you want! The group will be jamming' there every Saturday from 1 to 4 pm.

So EVERYONE, for a toe tapping good time, join us for some great music!!

newsreels before the movie started that being buzzed right

in Ronan caused quite a stir. Reportedly everyone vacated

the theater to see if they were being attacked. If anyone

knows the date and type of airplane, please let us know. A

photo does not do this display justice. Please come in and

get the “feel" of it.

ATTENN-N-N- HUT!

James Dudley Kemp

graduated

from Ronan High School in 1934. He joined

the Army Air Corps in 1940 and retired from

the US Air Force as a Brigadier General in

1978. His widow,

Wanda Kemp Maxson

, of

Kerrville, TX recently donated a very

complete grouping of his flight jacket,

helmet, medals, flight log and miscellaneous

related memorabilia, enough to fill three

showcases. She then generously donated

$1000 to purchase three matching showcases

to use in displaying and protecting the items.

Many of the awards are “One-of-a-kind".

Jim Burton

of Polson is Kemp's nephew

and helped pay for the repairs necessary after

the postal service damaged the boxes and one

item. Jim also helped arrange his uncle's

souvenirs. As a lad Jim remembers going to

Missoula to see his uncle. Kemp would fly different

airplanes and occasionally needed to land in Missoula.

One time he “buzzed" Ronan's Main Street. Of course

this was war time and it was movie time at the Gaiety

theater . You can imagine after watching WW II

No question about it – the biggest and heaviest

donation this quarter was a circa 1910 Rumley Twin

Cylinder Steam Tractor. It spent its prior life between

Lewistown, Bozeman and Phillipsburg running sawmills

and thrashing machines. In fact, thanks to

Nancy Evans

,

we also have the

large, mostly

wooden thrashing

machine (grain

separator) that this

engine powered.

Gil's brother, Art,

hauled that from

Bozeman for us.

One of the donors,

Jim Paugh

, of

Coffee Creek, MT,

hauled the engine

for us. He was one

of the three-part ownership. The other partners agreeing to

donate it to the MOAM were

Jim Waldbillig

of

Phillipsburg and the late

David Norton

of Bozeman.

The tractor runs and we drove it a couple of hundred

yards into one of the large tractor buildings using

compressed air. David likes

running the engines, but he

does allow Gil to blow the

whistles occasionally.

Because of liability issues

and the large amount of work

involved to build up a head

of steam. we operate our

steam tractors and switching

engine with compressed air,

using one of two antique air

compressors. We can operate

them in about 5 minutes after

starting the compressor.

BIGGEST DONATION

Gil is nearly dwarfed by the Rumley Twin Cylinder steam tractor

Miracle of America Museum

36094 Memory Lane

Polson, MT 59860

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

We are committed to giving

history a future.

Can you, will you help?

Here are ways you may be able to

help us sustain our goals:

• Volunteer time or skills

• Donate Items for display

Gifting Methods:

Bequests, Real Estate, Stocks and Bonds,

Cash Trusts, Charitable Gift

Annuities,Securities Memorials, Life

Insurance Gifts

Your tax or estate planner may be able to

show you ways to take tax advantages.

Miracle of America is a non-

profit charitable organization

recognized by the IRS.

Gifts are tax-deductible.

Gloria in excelsis, Deo

Non-Profit

Postage Paid

Polson, MT

59860

Permit #89