37. LEGACY

may God hold you in the palm of his hand. Old Irish verse

In September 1950, Ann Jean started teaching in the small town of Agate in eastern Colorado. She taught math and science in grades seven to twelve, band, and girls’ P.E. It so happened that she attended a junior-senior play practice led by her roommate on the evening that a young man came to the gym to pass his time shooting baskets. His name was Clifford Cloonan and he was the brother of one of A.J.’s students. Expecting to be drafted soon, Cliff had left his job on the Bonny Dam to spend time in Agate with his parents.

Clifford B. Cloonan, the son of Clifford Brokaw Cloonan and Jessie Fern Dowler Anglen, was born in Chugwater, Wyoming, August 28, 1928. Fern Dowler was the widow of William Earl Anglen, who died in the flu epidemic in 1919 before the last of their five children, all boys, was born. Clifford Cloonan, an ordained Baptist minister, was pastor of the church in Chugwater when he met the widow Anglen. They were married April 4, 1927. Their second boy was also born in Chugwater before the family moved to Agate, Colorado, where their third child, another son, was born. Clifford B. Cloonan attended Agate schools until the fall of 1944, when he went to Chugwater to live with an aunt.

Clifford completed high school in 1945. On his 17th birthday he enlisted in the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program. This was a college educational program for reserve enlistees if the enlistee was under 18. For enlistees older than 18 it was considered the Army Specialized Training Program. Cliff’s school principal was helpful in directing him toward this program. Cliff was with the last cycle of ASTRP attendees at South Dakota State College in Brookings. The war was over and the program was closed in the spring of 1946, at which time he elected to go on active duty. Cliff was sent to Korea. While Cliff was enroute, President Truman declared the end of the emergency and Clifford was returned to the states in May 1947. Cliff enrolled in the University of Colorado but had to drop out for financial reasons in 1950. It was bad timing. Troops from Communist North Korea invaded South Korea in June. Not having saved enough money to return to school, he was notified by his draft board that he would soon be drafted.The draft board was slow to call and Cliff went to work in Denver for Murray Sales Co., a company that assembled and installed materials-handling equipment. A romance that had started before Clifford moved to Denver continued through telephone calls and trips that Ann Jean made to Denver. During this time, Lois and Howard Augustine made Ann Jean welcome in their home on several weekends. The draft board finally notified Clifford that he would be inducted by the end of March, and he and A.J. made wedding plans. Aunt Lois was ‘in loco parentis’ and most helpful, during a time both Lois and Howard had stays in the hospital for operations. Cliff and A.J. were married in the University Park Methodist Church, March 23, 1951, in Denver, Colorado, with both sets of parents present, as well as Cameron Worstell, and Cliff’s brothers, Gene and Bill Cloonan, and Leroy and Bob Anglen, and a few close friends.

In April, Clifford was sent to Augusta, Georgia for basic training in the Signal Corps. He was next assigned to cryptographic operator school in The Signal School at Camp Gordon. Ann Jean completed her teaching assignment in Agate, then traveled by bus to meet Cliff in Augusta. While Cliff attended his classes, Ann Jean worked first in the post telephone exchange, then in the army personnel office. She also did some math tutoring. That Christmas, the Worstells stopped to visit the Cloonans in Augusta, and take them along on their trip to Miami. The Cloonans saw the Worstells off on Christmas day as they headed to Havana, Cuba, on a trip that would include Washington, D.C., and many other well known spots. The Worstells enjoyed many automobile trips. Besides their frequent trips to Glacier Park, their travels included the southwest to Grand Canyon, El Paso, and Juarez, to Banff and Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, and to Seattle for the World’s Fair.

At the completion of his training, Cliff Cloonan was assigned to The South Eastern Signal School at Camp Gordon as an instructor. He served until March 1952, when he was reassigned to The South Western Signal School at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, as an instructor of cryptography. Ann Jean worked in the statistics office. They resided in a rustic little motel unit on Second Street in the little beach town of Baywood Park about ten miles from camp. While living there Cliff got his amateur radio license. One morning the Cloonans were awakened early to a serious shaking of the bed. It was an earthquake centered in the mountain town of Tehachapi, across the central valley from Baywood Park in eastern California. It was felt in Los Angeles and the Times reported that it equaled the Long Beach quake in 1933, the year of Elsie Worstell’s death and Ben’s trial.

When Clifford was discharged from the military in April 1953, he got a job working for a construction company laying gas and water lines in Cayucos, a community north of Baywood Park. In July there was a cease fire (that’s all it would ever be called) to the Korean War. At the end of the summer, the Cloonans headed for the University of Colorado, Boulder, by way of Great Falls.

By this time, the Richard Worstells had moved to 1421 Sunnyside Avenue in a new subdivision on the far south side of town. This would be their last home. It had a sunny southern exposure and a view to the west. Wilda kept a lovely flower garden in the back yard. Whenever she could, Wilda had a flower garden and exhibited at the State Fair. Because of her interest in gardens and flowers, Wilda joined the Great Falls Flower Growers Club. She was active in the club and served as recording secretary in 1954 and first vice president, program chairman, in 1955. Wilda was also a member of the Tuesday Music Club. Over the years, Richard and Wilda were regular subscribers to the Community Concert series.

Cameron, Richard Worstell’s son, was now a teenager and interested in saving money for a car. Richard Cameron Worstell showed his business acumen at an early age. He decided as a youngster that being a paperboy was a good way to make money, so he hung out with a paperboy on a street corner, substituting for him until he got his own route. He was 10 years old when the editor first took notice of him, but it wasn’t for his deliveries. Under the headline, “Chest Drive 80 Percent finished; Boy, 10, Aids,” the Tribune had written:

Cameron kept the newspaper job through high school. He saved his money and invested in Greyhound stock. During this time he became interested in doing magic. He practiced until he became proficient and his patter entertaining. He performed at De Molay functions, birthday parties, etc., making additional money in tips. Magic has been an interest all of his life and he is still a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Cameron’s major interest in high school was mechanical arts. The College of Industrial Arts in Havre was a natural choice of college for him, and he enrolled in the fall of 1956. Cameron cashed in his Greyhound stocks and borrowed money to purchase a two-story building in Havre, which had several rental units, including a storefront on the ground floor. Living in his property and managing the rentals provided him income during his schooling. He completed the two-year course while serving in the National Guard.

Clifford Cloonan enrolled for the second time in the University of Colorado in the fall of 1953. Then France signed an armistice allowing Viet Nam to be temporarily partitioned, leaving “the western democracies a new nest of vipers on their open Asian flank,” said the Los Angeles Times. Now at the risk of being recalled for military service, Cliff enlisted in the Air National Guard to complete his service obligation as soon as possible. During this time he was employed part-time by the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder. Clifford graduated with a major in engineering physics in 1955. By that time his family included a little boy, born January 16, 1954.

After graduation, Cliff accepted a position as engineer for Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was while they lived there that Ann Jean met her father’s cousin, Miriam Bartmess and family. After two years in Cedar Rapids the family, now including a baby daughter, moved to San Luis Obispo, California, where Clifford joined the faculty of the Electronic Engineering Department of California Polytechnic University. In 1958, shortly after moving to California, the Cloonans purchased their present home in Los Osos, near their earlier residence in Baywood Park. During an unpaid leave beginning in the spring of 1960, the family accompanied Cliff to Bozeman, where he got his Master’s Degree in June 1961. Their third child, a boy, was born January 12, 1961. In the late 1960s Cliff received a National Science Foundation Fellowship and the family accompanied him to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he subsequently received his PhD in Electrical Engineering. Cliff retired from Cal Poly in 1990. A.J. was primarily a full-time mom, but she did some substituting for the public schools and taught full time for a private Christian school during the 1970s. Their three children are: 1) Col. Clifford Cameron Cloonan, MD, married to Ok Cha Byon; they have two children. 2) Alison Ann Cloonan, social worker, married Michael Schoenfeld and had a daughter who is now married with one step-daughter and two daughters. After divorcing Mike, Alison married Craig Morrison and had a son, now serving in the army. 3) Dr. Kevin Allen Cloonan, Ph.D., unmarried.

Richard Cameron Worstell married Ruby Marie Davey, daughter of James Wesley Davey and Pauline Frances Morten, on April 3, 1959. Cameron went on to complete work for his Bachelor’s Degree and accepted a professorship with the college from which he graduated. He purchased machining equipment and opened a machine shop in the storefront of his first residence. Cameron employed a machinist with whom he worked during vacations and busy seasons. He continued to invest in rental real estate and has over one hundred units. Along the way he got his brokers license and sold real estate. He has been active in the Lions and the Methodist Church. After a recent heart attack, he opted for semi-retirement, teaching a reduced schedule. Cameron and Ruby have four children: Pauline Ann married Douglas Arthur Beilke and has two sons: Terry Jean married Donni William Linn, and has a son and a daughter: Patti Dee, medical technologist, married Kerry Bruce Culver, medical technologist and has a daughter and two sons: David Cameron, business manager, married first Susan Ann Schloss, second Jackie Wienholz who had a son and they have a daughter.

During the whole of their married life until January 1952, Richard and Wilda never had a dog. It seems strange that Wilda, who had so loved the Augustine family dogs, as well as the dog which may have been one of the first gifts that Richard gave her, had never given thought to owning one. Nor had Richard ever thought to satisfy his early childhood desire by getting a dog,—“‘og, Papa, ‘og.” Wilda’s brother, Howard, and his wife Lois had a second daughter, Laurie, born 15 years after their first daughter. At that time, they had a lively wire-haired terrier they

thought would not be good in the home of a small baby. So “Pete” was shipped to Great Falls to make his home with the Worstells. The dog came accompanied with two pages of dietary instructions. He found a good home with a 13-year-old boy, Cameron, who would always have a dog in his family; a man, Dick, who never seemed to get over being surprised at the affection he got from the dog; and a woman, Wilda, who found a life companion in Pete until he died. After Pete died, Cameron was able to find another suitable dog for his mother.

The Worstells continued to take that occasional trip to Glacier Park. The summer before Wilda died, Cameron and Ann Jean took her to the park and stayed in the Glacier Park Lodge at Glacier Park Station. Most of the lodges in the park are maintained and open for guests. However, the spacious main halls have been reduced to accommodate gift shops or other venues and Glacier Park Lodge is no exception.

Richard Allen Worstell died November 12, 1968. Wilda Ann Augustine Worstell died October 29, 1977. Both are buried in Manchester Cemetery in Great Falls.

POSTSCRIPT

The Anaconda Copper Mining Company plant in Great Falls was closed August 1972. The company closed the plants in Anaconda and Butte as well. Anaconda was sold to ARCO in 1977, and in 1982 the smokestack that had been a landmark for three-quarters of a century was demolished. ARCO admitted it made a mistake when it purchased Anaconda, since it is now responsible for the clean up of the remaining contamination. The dams on the Missouri still produce electric power; however, the Montana Power Company was sold to Pennsylvania Power, much to the disadvantage of their Montana customers.

New in 1896, the Great Falls school that Richard and Grace attended underwent architectural changes and other owners before becoming a city museum.

The Great Northern, now operated by Amtrak, still runs through Havre, although there is much talk about closing the passenger service.

The population of Big Sandy continues to hold steady, unlike many small towns that have been abandoned. Trains first ceased to travel through Big Sandy, and then later the tracks themselves were removed. The hospital was allowed to fall into disrepair, and was finally purchased by an adjacent property owner so as to allow certain repairs of the outdoor plumbing that had been affecting the property owner. The hospital was torn down and the stuccoed walls were hauled away by a local farmer to be rebuilt into a granary. During the demolition, Mr. Edwards, rancher/historian, found and saved a piece of lumber with “G. Worstell” stamped or printed on it, apparently by the sales or shipping company. “It seemed like something with his name on it ought to be saved,” he said. Though there is concern for the future of Big Sandy, the past is remembered in a well-attended reunion held every five years for its school graduates and former residents.

Currently it takes about 1,500 to 2,000 acres of Montana land to support a family or extended family. Most ranches in north central Montana are privately owned and the concept of the family farm is still alive. To secure this tradition, help has come from the Hutterites and Mennonites. Many of these people moved to Canada when Montana banned the use of the German language after World War I. Later Canada enacted certain discriminatory policies, while Montana relaxed theirs. This brought about a new migration of these successful farmers into Montana.

A major flood of the Muskingum Valley in Ohio, including the communities of Uhrichsville, Newcomerstown, and New Philadelphia, occurred in 1913. This flood was the impetus for the state of Ohio to form a conservancy district to build a system of lakes and dams for flood control. Actual work of the Tappan Dam on the Little Stillwater, the first of 14 dams, began in 1935. The residents of Tappan were given the choice of having the town moved, or to sell out and leave. They chose the latter. Tappan, the first community to go under water by the spring of 1936, was covered by 34 feet of water by 1947. The cemetery, church, and school were moved to higher ground and are still used today. Worstell reunions were held in the little schoolhouse until 1999, when the reunion site was moved to New Philadelphia, where reunions were held in 2000 and 2002. The land once mined for coal has been reclaimed and is grass-covered and closed to the public. Mines still in operation are unseen from the highways.