JoAnn Piazzola, A Career at Montana Power

Photo Credit: Montana Standard

Oral History Transcript of JoAnn Piazzola

Interviewers: Aubrey Jaap & Clark Grant
Interview Date: June 26th, 2020
Location: Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
Transcribed: June 2021 by Adrian Kien

Jaap: It's June 26th, 2020. We're here with JoAnn Piazzola. JoAnn, I would just like you to start and tell me about your family, your parents, grandparents. Give me some of your family background. I'm sure you have the genealogy done.

Piazzola: Yeah, but I don't know how far back you want to go. ‘Cause I go a long ways back. Through Kings and Queens and Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror. Um, basically my mother wrote everything down and I'd find little notes on the side of a Christmas card. Maybe the back of a little magazine. She'd write in the sides of it and put them all in a box. And I gathered them one year and typed them all up, gave them to my siblings for Christmas and it was quite a gift. Let me tell you, and that's what started me. Well then, she knew a lot of history. I was born in Park County, Livingston. She was born in Park County in 1898. My grandparents were born in Pennsylvania and they moved West, moved to Iowa, so many did and then onto Montana. And so my grandfather was a miner. Um, my great uncle owned mining claims up Paradise Valley.

My great-grandfather came to old Chico, was a bartender, went back to Chico or went back to Missouri where he was from, leaving his wife and four children. She was pregnant with the fifth and did not want to go. So she got a divorce before Montana became a state. So I was born in 1939, I'm the youngest of seven children. I still have two brothers left. I had three brothers and three sisters. And so genealogy is my passion. I can say that. In the late nineties, I wanted to become a member of the Daughters of American Revolution, checked my mother's side out, nothing. Searched for three years on my dad's side, until I finally found a line. And that line took me to other lines. It took me into Jamestown where an ancestor was there, the Mayflower, he came over on the Mayflower. And so basically that's what started. Now, one of my greatest joys, which I already did this week, was make a history for a friend, print it out and put it in a notebook and hand it to her and tell her some things about her family that she never knew. And so that's really special for me to do that for somebody.

Jaap: You are a wizard at it. You're really . . .

Piazzola: I am. I try. Yup. For the lineage societies, I've done lots of applications. Now. I get the hard ones by that. I mean, everybody usually has tried them and then I get them. And so I just got one done this week and I've done them for people, women all over the world, Spain and Mexico and Canada. So it is neat. Really neat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jaap: So Joanne, you were born in 1939 in Livingston.

Piazzola: Yes, I was.

Jaap: Tell me about growing up.

Piazzola: I was raised on a ranch South of Livingston in Paradise Valley. You've been through there. It's beautiful. Uh, my brother is still on the home ranch. It's been in our family since 1900 and, um, went to a one room schoolhouse. There were two of my brothers and three other kids there. So that was, it was fun. It really was. And then I rode the bus to high school in Livingston. Um, and after I, the things I remember, you know, growing up on the ranch, I remember bum lambs. That was, I always bought my school clothes when I was in high school with the bum lamb money. And so we'd raised 20 or 30 because we also milk cows and had the means to do it. And so that was always fun. Yeah. It was a wonderful way to grow up.

Jaap: So, um, after high school, what did you do, Joanne?

Piazzola: Then moved to Billings and got a job down there in an office. And then I met my first husband and we got married and had three kids, and then things didn't go right. Move to Utah then onto Los Angeles and in Los Angeles, we decided that it wasn't going to work. And so then he brought me back to Montana and then I got a job. He brought me to Billings and I looked, but my family was all in Livingston. So I came back to Livingston, got a job. Then with Montana Power. The kids were little. I think my oldest was in the first grade. So I have two boys and a girl.

And so anyway, then I worked for Montana Power in Livingston. Um, in 1970, I married my second husband, Jean Piazzola, a Butte native, and he worked for Jerry's Distributing out of Butte and worked a route out of Livingston. Okay. And so then in 1969, he had a heart attack. Well, in 1972, he had open heart surgery in Salt Lake. There was none in Montana yet in 1969, he had a heart attack or 1979, I should say, had a heart attack and he never worked again. And so he basically did the cooking and the laundry. And so that was kind of nice in one way. And then he passed away in 89.

So anyway, I worked for the power company and in 1993, the power company started closing small town offices. They closed like Deer Lodge, Anaconda, White Hall had a small office, closed Livingston, and I was offered a position to move to Butte to be the supervisor of central cash. So all payments came through my department. So I was supervisor, um, until, and I retired in 2000 with Montana Power. I've never worked for Northwest Energy.

Jaap: Was that in 2001?

Piazzola: They took over in 2000, but I retired the 1st of March. And they made the announcement about in April or something. Yeah.

Jaap: So what'd you think about that announcement when it came out?

Piazzola: Uh, I was out, so I didn't, and I had 34 years with them. I think they said if you have 35, you might get more. Well, they've told me about $50 a month more. So if I would have waited, but I didn't. So it was no problem. So since then, I've just been doing a lot of volunteering, shortly thereafter. I volunteered at the hospital and the gift shop worked there for probably eight or nine years with other things, other volunteer work. Then after you opened here, not too long, I came up here and I've been here ever since at the archives. Just about as long as you've been here, I've been, yeah. So basically that's um, so now I volunteer up here, very active in the veterans group. I'm on the honor guard, attend all local funerals, um, help, any way I can to support our veterans. I'm on the board of the Southwest Veterans home being built now.

Jaap: How about that? That's pretty great.

Piazzola: It will be fantastic. That was a long time, a long time. It was 10 years. We all went to Helena a couple of times to do the push and it just took time. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, but it will really be good. There's going to be 60 beds and it's supposed to be, they can start moving in. Well, Markovich is supposed to turn it over September 30th, 1st of October. Okay, great. So, yeah, so they'll have another open house. Um, veteran's day we're planning. They want to do it at the end of October and we just told them, no, we don't want that before the election. So it's going to be we're planning then, and it should be done because they're doing good with it. Yeah. So basically that's, I'm still doing, um, the DAR Applications, I've done Mayflower applications. Just you name it.

Jaap: Tell me about the projects you've done. Can you give me some of the projects you've worked on?

Piazzola: Yes. That's the, um, a DAR project or marker that was put in 1932 and the bronze plate, I guess it was bronze, that Anaconda Company donated. It was stolen probably in the seventies or eighties. And in 2000 we, um, 2002, I guess, decided that we really needed to put something in there. So Shirley McGraff and I got busy on it and we got a new marker in, and during that time we also put a marker on Ellen Crane's parents' house because their house. On, um, is it Broadway? Yes. Their house on Broadway was the first site of the Montana State Daughters of American Revolution state conference. And it's, it's neat to know. We did the one that, um, Missler that we had the, uh, veterans come and we did a little ceremony and then we went to Ellen's house or her folks' house, the Shannon's house and did one there with the marker.

And then they invited us in for some treats and it was great and I couldn't help, but look at those stairs and think of those ladies coming down in like 1903 with their dresses. So it just would be so neat because so many things are the same in the house. Yeah. Yeah. It was. It was. And so Shirley Graf and I did that. Um, moving on and DAR I've been Silver Bow chapter regent. I've been the state regent. Uh, Regent is the president. We call them regent. Um, and I have been the state regent of the Montana state society DAR in 2010, 2008 to 2010, with that, it took me to Washington DC. I think I've been back there about 20 times. So that's one of my very favorite places to visit.

Jaap: And you travel all over for DAR?

Piazzola: My cruises have all been pretty much DAR, but, um, I've traveled a lot. Um, I think my first trip out of the country was like, 2006, I went to China and if I had my choice of all the trips I've made, I'd go back to China.

Jaap: Why is that?

Piazzola: Because it was just so neat and, um, it was so old, you know, it was just, we got to do a cruise ship up the Yangtze River, went through the three gorges dam, saw the terracotta warriors. Oh yeah, yeah. You know, just so much history there. So, and then I've been to Europe, I think three or four times. So this fall, I hope to make my first trip to Africa. So we're going to Morocco. Went to Australia, New Zealand. Yes. I did a trip to Israel. So learned lots along the way. So it's pretty neat to be able to travel like that. And so my daughter's going with me this trip. Lots of the trips, Shirley Graf went with me, which was a good friend, went with me for quite a few of the trips. And Margie Fogarty always got groups together. And I went with her on a couple of trips. We went to Branson a couple of times with her. So yeah, I feel very blessed. That's all I can say. Very blessed.

I belong to Alders Gate Methodist Church, active in the church. Um, so I tried to think what else I'm involved with. I am busy. One of my favorite things with the Daughters of the American Revolution is that we do what we call American history essay for fifth through eighth grade. And we always pick a subject for them. One year, um, this year, the subject was pretend you are a child on the Mayflower and you know, what you would do and what would be going on. And sometimes it's, you're writing letters home, but they always pick a subject to that year. Um, women's suffrage has been a subject and one year we had them pick a national park that they had not visited and write about it and see if you were visiting it. So it's a learning tool. So I enjoy going out to the rural schools. I always take a flag program with me, give them a little boost in that, because I think flag etiquette is definitely missing in our schools.

Jaap: Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. So do you want to tell me about the research you did a few years ago about the purple heart? Do you want to talk about that?

Piazzola: A purple heart showed up in a garage sale and so somehow, or other as time went on, it came to my attention and we said, we need to return it to the owner. Well, it was for a young man from Butte and he had died in World War Two. He was 18 years old, had been in the service for six months. And so I did lots of research through obituaries, through death certificates to find a family member because his mother had died a long time ago and his dad died shortly after he did. And so it did a lot of research and we finally ended up with a nephew in Spokane and he came. And we presented him with the purple heart. He was very thrilled to get it back in the family.

The other thing I've done for the veterans, which you're very well aware of is the Vietnam display. The Vietnam display was very close to my heart. I chose, or it was thrust on me to do something about the fallen. And I think we had 26 from this area. We had a couple extra because they listed Butte as their hometown. So we included them, researched each one, found a family member and mostly talked to a family member of everyone who had fallen. And it was really hard because I felt like they were my family. It was so rewarding though. And then, you know, we had the reception up here with the service. And the committee really worked hard. I don't think I could take on another project such as that.

Jaap: That was a big project. People still call and ask about that all the time.

Piazzola: Yeah. So I'm going to do a display this Veteran's Day of the fallen again, just to remind them, because I still have the pictures that we did, you know, with their stone and their medals that they got.

Jaap: So soon after they brought his body back.

Piazzola: Oh, that was Holton. Yes. Albert Holton. Yes. Yeah. And we had one gold star mother here, Mrs. West, and she attended our ceremony. When she came up and she passed away, I guess, about a year and a half ago. And Molly and I went down to her funeral in Whitehall, just felt like she was, you know, part. I knew her sister quite well. So it was, yeah, it was so rewarding, but so heartbreaking too. And I couldn't help but think as we worked in your room here, um, a couple of the veterans talked from Vietnam and they talked about things they had never talked about before. And all we could do was just sit here and listen and let them talk. And I'm sure it helped because every once in a while he'll call and say, you want to go for coffee, I need to talk to you.

Jaap: And so they still reach out to you. That's really great.

Piazzola: Yeah, it's good. I just feel like I have a bond, and, of course, I do with the veterans. My dad was in World War I. My great-grandfather was in the Civil War. Dad, World War I, my husband in World War II. My son has been in the air force, not during the war. Thank goodness. But yeah, I do have an affinity with the veterans. Yeah. They're really pretty special for what they've done for us.

Jaap: Okay. I'm going to jump around a little now. So did you, growing up, come to Butte very often or what? What was your first impression when you came to Butte?

Piazzola: I came with my second husband, Gene. We came into Butte. I had been over here when I was still in high school. My sister and her husband managed the resort at Boulder. And so I was going to the Christmas prom and we went to Boulder, stayed there. And then my sister and mother, and I came into Butte and I got a dress. And of course the downtown or uptown was just booming then. That would have been in 1956. And so I did have some familiarity and of course visiting with him and his mother, you know, and his family. So I always say, "You may think Butte's an ugly town, but it sure has character." And I urge everybody to take Chris Fisk's history class, if you haven't. He'll take you places here that you have never been to in this town. He'll take you up in an old hotel, down in a basement that has history. Took us to the Cabbage Patch and, you know, just, I learned things that I never knew about this town. And so he was very good with doing that somehow or other. He gets into a lot of nooks and crannies, so it was great. I learned more about Butte then than at any other time.

I've always been interested in history and I have two bookcases of Montana books. I don't have any, now that you don't have, because I've donated some up here that I've had, because I'd rather have them up here than on my bookshelf. So yeah. Read most of them. So, yeah, I think it's pretty neat.

Jaap: So then did you move here then in '93, when you got here?

Piazzola: 1993, I moved here. The power company moved me. So. I moved in here in 93, took my new position. And then I retired in 2000. I didn't do a lot when I first came to Butte, learning a new job, the hours were kind of long. And so, after I retired, then I got much more active. So at the archives here, I have no concept of the paper that I have scanned, in the big scanner. It is tremendous. I have scanned whole collections.

Jaap: Whole collections. Almost every volume in the reading room, Joanne has scanned. I mean, it's thousands upon thousands, thousands.

Piazzola: And plus we did the Ancient Order of Hibernians. I've done the Presbyterian Church records. Books. And the cemetery records. Now we would not get the cemetery records now I know because the diocese is out there.

Jaap: Yeah. That's a great project. Do you want to talk about it? Because you were really, that's been such a gift to us and you really are the one who . . .

Piazzola: I think that started one day I was out to the cemetery and Kenny was out there. He's the Sexton. And he handles St. Pats and Holy Cross. And I said, "Kenny, what would happen if this building burned?" And he said, "I'd have to retire. We have nothing." And I said, "Well, you think we could scan them?" And he said, "Well, I don't know." And I said, "Well, I'll talk to Father Haffey. Father Haffey said, "Go talk to Kenny."

So we didn't go to the diocese or anything, went out and talked to Kenny. And he said, "But I need them, if I need them." And I came up here and talked to Ellen. We decided that if he needed them, it was top priority here. If he called here. And the book was up here. You would get a copy to him immediately, which you did on several occasions.

So I'd go out Monday morning and pick up usually three books, come up here, scan them and then take them back out the same day or the next day. And then the next Monday I go out and pick more and scan them and then take them back out next Monday, come and pick more up. And it took us about three months to do that. But I felt like it was a project that I'm glad we did it. Let's put it that way.

Jaap: We use them constantly. Because we have those databases, but those books are used all the time. Yes. And I think Kenny loves it because he can just say, "Go up there. I don't have time for you."

Piazzola: I haven't called out there really recently. He's gone through a lot of help with the diocese and he said, "I do need somebody in the office, but they don't seem to stay." And so, I don't know if it's still on their phone or not, probably since he's out now much more. Yeah. But yeah, it's, it was a good project and, you know, it's a good feeling when you do something such as that.

Jaap: That was a big deal.

Piazzola: That was probably my first . . . I don't know which I started first, with the naturalization or them.

Jaap: I think cemetery.

Piazzola: I think the cemetery, because then we decided that we were going to put them online and I started that. And then that file just got so big that we just couldn't handle it.

And so, yeah. So I think he's had somebody in there that has listed them. So, but yeah, it's fun looking at them old files. It is fun. So it's just, yeah, it's been great. Yeah.

Jaap: These commissioner minutes, you just scanned for us. That's been huge with this grant and yeah. They couldn't have done that project without you scanning those. It's important.

Piazzola: But you know, everything you do like up here is important. It is. It's our history. Yeah, it really is. So I don't know what's next. I think I got about seven or eight books left in the corners to do. I'll get them done.

Jaap: You will. Then we're going to go take Anaconda's records and have you scan them. We keep finding things for you to scan. So I don't think we'll run out.

Piazzola: We just got through with the commissioner meetings minutes from, um, the Silver Bow County, not Butte. 'Cause I did scan one book of the city.

Jaap: It's been great the work you do because you scan it and then because it's scanned, we can give a copy to the department. And so now the County books are here, right? Yeah.

Piazzola: And if somebody wants a copy, it's easy because you can go in and look at them and not have to go dig the book out. Because some of those were pretty heavy, not as bad as the coroners, but pretty heavy. Yeah. Probably 25 pounds. So I don't know what's next on my schedule from you. I don't know if anybody else likes to scan like I do.

Jaap: No, no one does. So you can't go anywhere. She sits there for four hours every Monday.

Piazzola: So do you know why? Because when I go home, like this week, I've been on my computer a lot. I did a notebook full of papers for this friend. I go home and get on that. And scanning to me is kind of, it's not brainless, but it's, I don't really have to think that much. Yeah. And I have learned as you scan, you look for something you want to see at each. It's just something that I pull out. So on each, you know, maybe the coroner's reports, it's what happened to them and maybe it's their age or something. Just something that keeps me going. Yeah. So anyway, but that's basically, like I said, up here, we've scanned naturalization, cemetery, coroners. The Ancient Order of Hibernians was for Anaconda. Yeah. And that went to Montana State University. Didn't it? Weren't they going to transcribe them or something?

Jaap: I can't remember.

Piazzola: I thought they were quite interesting if you've ever been in there. There's no names. Yeah. They're all numbers.

Jaap: They gave them numbers. They were, you know, a secret group. Yeah, each person had a number, like number 12.

Piazzola: So another passion of mine is cemeteries.

Jaap: Yeah. Talk to me about cemetery work.

Piazzola: Yep. Cemeteries. I love cemeteries. That's where our history is. You know, the saying is the dates between the dash. That dash between the dates that's the life and everybody has it. And you have to think of it that way. And once you start learning more about your ancestors, they become people. They're not just a name. And my family is all buried in a rural cemetery south of Livingston, up on a hill. We have deer and elk and the grass is not cut. So once a year we go down, cut our graves and we've taken the kids and they love to go, my nieces and nephew. Now my kids when they were smaller and we'd always buy quite a bit of artificial flowers and have them put them on the graves. And so this last time we had some, my cousin was there with his kids and they wanted to know. And so we walked the cemetery and talked about each person that was buried, member of the family, just to give them a little more insight into their family, because they become people when you know more about them.

Jaap: That's really great that you do that with your family. Because you know, the one thing everyone who comes in here says, "I just wish . . . I didn't ask. I didn't ask. And now I can't." And it's nice to do that.

Piazzola: Yes. I feel so lucky. My mother wrote these things down, the history. I just copied 40 pages of pictures for a couple of nieces, got in contact with the cousins. She got in contact with me. She was doing some family history. And so I'm going to meet her in Billings in July or August to give her what I have, which is probably four or 500 pages on her and my family. Yeah. I copied pages one time of my research and I had 900 pages between both sides of my family back.

So yes it is. And you know, the other thing, which is amazing, is where do the names come from? You know, in them days, they named them after somebody. I have a grandfather's name Rubin and for a long time, I couldn't figure out where Rubin came from. He had an uncle named Rubin. And so you just learn more of the family. And that has really helped with my research. I will say that. Just my own personal research. She may end up with all of my stuff because I have boxes. Yeah. And so I know my kids don't want it. They say they do, but they'll do nothing with it. Anyway, but no family research, it's almost more than a hobby. It's a passion. I get started on it and I can spend hours on it. Yeah. So genealogy society. Up here. It's great to be able to help somebody. So, anyway, yeah.

Grant: What is it about genealogy that appeals to you so much?

Piazzola: I like history, geography, um, numbers. I can tell you dates of grandparents' births, deaths. Great-grandparents. So basically that was kind of my passion in school because when you're in a one room school and you're in the third grade and they're teaching the eighth grade, you're listening. You get, I think, a much broader education for that reason. You're not centered on one thing. But I think that's probably what it is, is the history behind. And my mother, my mother is the one that basically started with telling stories. We walked there, it isn't a family cemetery, but we walked the cemetery and she told me what, probably 90% of the people there died of, and I wrote them down.

So then I typed up a history of that. We've done that. She went to the same school I went to, only how many years before, 50, 60. And so she talked about that and then with her writing down things from her parents. Yeah. Yes. They weren't always correct, but they were passed down, you know, they didn't know the name of the ship that the family came over on in the 1700's. But it still piqued my interest and that's why I have two bookcases full of Montana books all over the state, because I probably read just about every one of them. And I'm always referring back to them. So yes.

Grant: That schoolhouse you went to, is it still standing?

Piazzola: No. So in later years, matter of fact, I think my niece was the last one to go there in the first grade. And then they consolidated schools and they moved the schoolhouse, combining it with another couple other schools. And then they bus the kids to that, which is. So it was, yeah, just a one room. And, you know, you tell the kids what we did now. We played fox and geese. You know what fox and geese is? You make a big circle and then you make like spokes in it, in the snow. And then we have somebody that's a fox and we're all geese and you try to catch him. So, but you can, the geese can run on the outside through the, and so that's what a lot of times we did at recess.

And we always in the spring, we'd have a baseball game going. I mean, the girls, the same as the boys, and we'd always take a hike at Christmas time and get a Christmas tree for the school. We had outside biffies, two of them. A Biffy is an outhouse. Matter of fact, I had an outside biffy at my house until 1948, when my folks got electricity. I remember when they got electricity, I was like nine, 10. And mother cooked on a wood stove. As long as I was living at home, she had a wood stove. That's all she cooked on. So, yup. Big wash tub on the cook stove, oven door. And that's where the baths were given, once a week, Saturday night. My hair was put up in rags and it would take an older person to understand that. You have long hair and you wash it, and then you wrap it in rags and kind of pin it. And the next morning it comes out as curls. Hanging curls. So that was, but, you know, that's what they used then. That's what they had then. I was born basically almost after the recession in the thirties. I remember my sisters and mother talking about it. Um, but I didn't experience any of that. If I did, the hard times, I was too young. And by the time I was like nine, mother and dad had gotten milk cows and they were making more money. So, but we were 12 miles from Livingston and mother did the baking. Um, I remember a store bought bread was a treat. And if they'd go to town, which we didn't always go, they'd get raised donuts or maple sticks and talk about a treat that was wonderful.

Where now people think, "Oh." You know, mother made donuts and just all of her own baking. Yeah. So things have changed.

Jaap: What's your favorite thing she would make? What was your favorite meal?

Piazzola: Um, my mother was a good cook. I remember probably fried chicken. We raised our own chicken. Just about every Sunday we had fried chicken, green beans, 'cause she had a big garden and potatoes. I remember picking potatoes. And the potato digger being pulled by a horse. So, you know, good life. It really was. Not a lot of money. Like I said, that's why I had the bum lambs was to buy my clothes, especially when I went to high school.

Grant: So what is a bum lamb?

Piazzola: A bum lamb is a lamb that either the mother has died or she's had too many lambs. And we had out of Livingston, we had a couple sheep ranches, they would run thousands of heads. And of course they couldn't take care of the bum lands. And so we would go to one of these places and they'd give them to us because they couldn't take care of so many. And so then we'd bring them home and raise them. And they were just bum lambs. You'd raise them with a bottle, with a pop bottle, with a long nipple on them. So yeah, belonged to 4-H. Always had a sheep in the fair, did a lot of cooking. I wasn't much of a sewer, but I did do some. And to this day, I'm not a sewer. That's not my passion.

Jaap: So what would your parents talk about when they talked about the recession? Do you recall any of that?

Piazzola: I heard more from my sisters because they were younger. Um, my one sister was in high school and of course they were country kids and they didn't have the money.

And I remember them saying, you know, how they'd buy flour in feed sacks that come in material and how hard it was to match them so they could get a dress out of it. Uh, everything was made. And so, yeah, and even the underclothes was made out of these feed sacks or flour sacks that they'd take the flour out and then wash them and they'd use them to make clothes because there was no money.

I don't remember. I'm sure we didn't do without food because we were on a ranch. Mother always raised chickens. We always had pigs. I remember butchering. Mother had a big garden. But they knew more than I did. Because by the time I came along and I was so little after, I don't even remember much about World War Two. Because I was young and we were pretty protected. But it is interesting because I don't know what Japan sent over, but my friends from Dell and Argenta, they used to find things in their field that came from Japan. And they'd have blackouts on their windows down there. I didn't realize that it came this far in, but she said it did, but we never, I never recall anything in Paradise Valley, Park County at all.

Grant: Do you recall your teacher?

Piazzola: Yes, I do. She was Mrs. Lindbergh. Mrs. Flint in the first grade. And then I had Mrs. Conivey. I think Mrs. Flint taught three or four years. And then I had Mrs. Conivey. And I don't remember, there's one more between there. And then Mrs. Flint became Mrs. Lindbergh and she came back my eighth grade. So I do remember that. Um, mainly because I worked for the power company in Livingston, knew just about everybody. And she called me one day and said, "Would you come over?" And she was getting quite elderly. And she gave me pictures of where she had taught. And so I gave them to the museum in Livingston which keeps things great. As you know, I feel that if it's of value, it needs to be someplace where it will always be safe. Mother crocheted me a little dress. Um, that was quite the rage and I had a little pink dress to go under it and she crocheted me a tablecloth. Well, I knew I would never use it. I knew the kids wouldn't use it. I asked Ellen, what do I do with it? And she said, bring it up here. So it's up here at the Archives.

Grant:I was curious about how your family got the ranch. You said in 1900?

Piazzola: Yes, they did. Okay. How they ended up in Montana is that my great-grandparents were in Pennsylvania. I want you to understand, my great grandfather and grandmother was born in 1822. And think around, I'm sure your kids even have great grandparents, some of them. Well, this was my great grandparents. My grandfather was born in 1850 and they were in Pennsylvania. And about 1857, they moved to Iowa. Now, I don't know why, probably because of land, I would say. They came, the railroad was close there. And the railroad was giving land, if you came. And they moved to Iowa and he farmed there. And my grandfather left there in the, I can't find him in the 1880 census. 1870 he was in Iowa. 1880 I cannot find him. Um, and then the next record I found was in the 1880s in Montana. I did find a couple great uncles in 1870 had gone to the Black Hills.

And then in 1880, they were in Park County, Gallatin County then. And so I assume that's why they came West was because they were here. I had what they called, we always called him Uncle Sam. He was my great uncle and he was here. Um, picked him up with some deeds. And then my grandfather was here. Then my great-grandparents moved here probably in 1882 or 92 probably came out on the train to Livingston. My grandparents lived on the Bozeman road, which would be just the other side of Livingston. There's a rock house there and they lived in it. I don't know if the rock house was there, but they lived in a small cabin there. And then they decided to move up Paradise Valley and they were loaded up. And as they came up Paradise Valley and the canyon there, they met another couple that was going East. And they said, "Where are you going?" And they said, "Well, we're going down to Absorkee country. And my grandfather said, "Well, I don't know. We might go up the Valley." And he said, "Flip a coin." And they did. That's the story. And he flipped a valley coin. And then they went up the Valley and he bought the land in 1900. My grandfather was 45 when he got married and my grandmother was 17, but that was very common in those days. Because if you married an older man, he'd take care of you. And he did. Let me tell you, she was his, not going to say princess, but they had five children. So.

Yeah, it was, but that you, you run across that lots of times when you're doing the older records especially. And I think a lot of them were probably arranged marriages and lots of times there would be somebody, a man that would pass away with small children and he had to get married. How else could he take care of them? So basically that's why they ended up and he bought the ranch. The barn was built first in about 1902. They lived in an old log cabin, and then they built the house in 1908 that I was raised in. And it's still there. Of course, it's been remodeled.

Jaap: Barn first, house second.

Piazzola: The barn is more important for the animals. And the old house is still there. It's being used as a garage. If you're a farmer, that's pretty important. Take care of your stock.

Grant: Any idea what he paid?

Piazzola: I have no idea, no idea. Um, it was kind of interesting. I figured my great-grandmother came to Montana first because the land where they settled, which was probably half a mile up the creek from where my folks, where the family ranch was, was in her name and not his. So she must have come first and bought the land. That's interesting because why I know that was because in her will, she left it to him and then to the kids. But I think that did happen, you know, because she came first.

Grant: I'm curious too, about that transition from the schoolhouse to high school. How different were they?

Piazzola: A lot different. We, by that time, there was, I think three kids graduated from the eighth grade. We had to go to Livingston to the superintendent of schools office and take a test to make sure that she would approve our eighth grade graduation. Of course, from one room schoolhouse and now it would never go. You had a bucket in that schoolhouse and we all drank out of the same dipper. That's just the way it was. And then to get to high school and have to change. Every class was really an adjustment, plus riding the bus. So yeah, it was bus to and fro. And when you live on a ranch, you don't usually get a lot of extra activities to do. So pretty much everything had to be done during the school hours. So you didn't get to do extra activities like cheerleading or anything like that.

Jaap: Was that hard for you to see your peers?

Piazzola: No, because we just didn't. Um, the other thing we did then, which was very common during that time, I graduated in 1957 was what we called "pitch ins." Before every game - football, basketball, there were seven of us girls and we'd go to somebody's house and have an evening meal, and then we would make favors for them. And so then the next time we'd go to somebody else's house and we'd make favors. And that happened for basketball and football, both games.

Jaap: Favors for the athletes?

Piazzola: No, we made favors for each other. Like if you were in my pitch in, I'd make favors for the seven people that were in our pitch in. And we called them "pitch ins" and it was very common then. Just about everybody was involved in a pitch in, and we were kind of all, I guess what we call misfits. We weren't the most popular girls in school. We weren't the cheerleaders or, but I'm still good friends with them today. So meet them for lunch every once in a while.

Jaap: Were they also ranch girls?

Piazzola: We had a couple three of them that were, yeah.

Jaap: What kind of favors would you make?

Piazzola: Maybe we would make a corsage in school colors. It was always in school colors. Purple and gold was the color. So we'd get a yellow flower and put gold or purple ribbon on it for us to wear. It would just be something that you would come up with. I don't know if I still have a scrapbook or not. I'll have to bring it to show you sometime.

Jaap: I'd love to see that.

Piazzola: I don't know if they did it here in Butte, but that's what we did. Like I said, we'd go to everybody's house one time, usually a couple, maybe, usually twice, maybe more depending on how many we went to. And then we'd all go to the game together and sit together. And you went to all the games then. If you were in high school, you went to all the games. Yeah. You didn't not.

Jaap: Did you enjoy watching sports?

Piazzola: I did because it was more fun with other people there. Yeah, it was fun. So yeah, we didn't have baseball or anything.

Grant: How big was the high school?

Piazzola: I was probably one of the largest graduating classes. I had 133 in my graduating class. My brother graduated two years early and I don't think he had a hundred in his. So usually it ran between maybe 500 kids then, um, our school was right in town. It burned down. And I don't know what year, probably about 1970, maybe. It was three floors. When I go to Butte High, it reminds me, with the marble in the hallway and hardwood in the classroom.

Grant: Did it seem more impersonal than a schoolhouse? Did you have a hard time adjusting?

Piazzola: No, not really. I mean, you don't think anything about it. For first of all, I think farm kids and Montana kids in general are just better than a lot of people do.

Jaap: Why?

Piazzola: Because a lot of them in those days had to work. They have a wide variety of interests. They're not confined to one little area in a city. I just think that and especially I know I've heard my, I have a son and a daughter who are engineers. And they both said their companies have said they liked to get kids out of these Western States. They know how to work. So, yeah, because when you're on a ranch, you have chores. My brother told me that I didn't have any, but I did. Not as many as him. I had to bring the wood in for the cookstove for one thing. And helped mother with the laundry, which was tough because of course we didn't have electricity. She did have a washing machine with the gas motor on it. So you had to run them through the ringer. If you know what a ringer is, hang them out. No dryer. So, yes. So it was an adjustment, but you just do it. Just like the kids now, we didn't have an orientation. First day of school, you were lost.

Jaap: Maybe that's almost better. I don't know.

Grant: Can we hear more about your siblings?

Piazzola: Yes. I had three older sisters. Um, my oldest sister's 18 years older than I was. Wow. So she was pretty well gone. And then my second sister was 16. Next one was 12. Brother was seven, lost a brother in between there. He died at birth. Um, and then I have another brother, two years older. So, my oldest sister was more like a mother to me because my mother was, I guess I was the last child and I sometimes, and she says, "Sometimes I'm not so sure you were wanted because you were kind of that accident." So, and after going through everything and the recession, it was so hard. Yeah. And Mother and Dad didn't have much money. So, anyway, she was as much mother to me, my two oldest sisters as I think my mother was. In later years, I became closer to them even than my mother. But she went in a rest home. I guess she went in about 1970, because she was in the rest home for 18 and a half years. My sisters, I was close to them. My one sister was interested in family history with me. We made several trips to Salt Lake. I lost my oldest sister and then the younger of the three in 2004, both of them the same year.

And that was a rough year. Um, because my one sister, if I found something, I'd always, you have to call her. Yeah. And talk to her. So it was. That was hard. 'Cause then my brother would say, "Well, call me." Well, he wants to know, but he's not interested. I don't know if he's being polite or what. So, my older brother that's left. I'm really close to him. If we don't talk two or three times a week, it's pretty unusual. He lives in Billings. So I'm close to my nieces, nephews that I have left. I've lost two nephews and a niece, and you know, that's hard. It really is hard. They're younger. They're a younger generation than me. So yes.

Jaap: It's not supposed to happen that way.

Piazzola: No, it's not supposed to happen that way, but it does. So you just go on. Yeah. I lost my husband in 1989, February. Then lost my mother three weeks later. And it was hard, but because my mother didn't always know us. You know, it was a blessing, but a sorrow, both with her. So, and my husband had been ill for probably 10, 11 years. So anyway, life goes on, what can we say? Hmm. Yeah. You know, you just make the best of it.

Jaap: That's all you can do.

Piazzola: Right. That's right. Exactly.

Grant: You mentioned a little bit about your father, but I was hoping to just hear more about his life, his work and your mother.

Piazzola: Okay. My dad was born in Wisconsin in 1888. So it kind of blows my mind when I think how old they'd be now. 128 now. So anyway, he was raised in Wisconsin and he had an aunt that they moved to Livingston. Her husband worked for the railroad. And he moved to Livingston to work in the shops there in the nineties, 1890s. And I picked him up in the census in Wisconsin in, of course, 1900. 1910, he was there. But then he rode the box cars or the flat cars from Wisconsin to Montana. And they'd get off in North Dakota because it was in the fall and they'd work in the wheat fields or whatever was there. And then they'd get back on this flat car and come a little further. And that's what brought him to Montana. And then he worked for my uncle. My uncle had a ranch up there and he worked for him and that's where he met my mother. I think they met at a dance, which was very common. You had dances all the time in those days. And met my mother there. And then my dad went into World War One.

He was in France, in World War One. He went in, in 1918. Wasn't in too long. His brother was killed in France. And that was my one trip to France. I wanted to go to his grave, which I did. My uncle was killed on October 2nd. The family didn't know till the first part of November. I have the letters that my grandfather wrote my dad telling him of his brother's death. And then my dad didn't get the letters till he got back to the States at Christmas time. So and then he came home and mother and dad were married in 1921. They came to Butte for their honeymoon. I have some pictures of Columbia Gardens that they took then. So if you'd like them, I'll bring them up.

Jaap: I'd love to see them.

Piazzola: They're not much, but there's a couple pictures. So anyway, my mother, I guess, basically, she was the disciplinarian in the family. And we always said she wore the pants in the family, but my dad was kind of laid back. I mean, he loved to take a nap at lunchtime, but I can understand that now, as I'm getting older. And we've learned you don't talk politics or baseball at certain times in the household.

Jaap: Politics and baseball.

Piazzola: And the family, we always got together for the dinners, holiday dinners, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. And my mother always had Christmas dinner and it would be nothing to have 30 or 40 people there. And she'd seat them. Everybody would bring something and, you know, we just have all the kids. And, it would be a close family. It was a close family, but after my mother moved off the ranch and went in the rest home, you lose some of that closeness, but yes, it was, it was a good life. Really. When you think back, I've got lots of good memories.

Grant: Did he ever talk much about the war?

Piazzola: You know, he didn't, but I was so young that by the time I came along, it was what, over 20 years. Would have been closer to 30 years before he would have, I would have been old enough to even understand. And by that time it's long passed and yeah. Yep. So he didn't talk much about the war at all. Um, so basically, yeah, we do have his discharge papers and those kinds of things, but yeah.

Grant: Then your mother leaving the ranch was that difficult?

Piazzola: It was very difficult. My brother got married and he was supposed to take care of her, which he did financially take care of her. And it was very difficult because we had to break up the house and move everything out. And the new wife was not very agreeable. She was young. The house was old, being it had been built in 1908. And so it was very difficult. Everybody came home and we moved everything. All of my things were still in the closet of the bedroom that I had. And when they moved out, they, my brothers and sisters took, I think all of the treasures, because I didn't know my grandparents, they were all gone by the time I was born. So nobody wanted the family pictures.

And so that's what I ended up with. And I'm very thankful that I have them. And I've ended up with all of mother's notes, which I've written a couple books, I've typed them all up. And so it's wonderful that we have that history because she remembered lots of things that happened during her childhood and what not. And her brothers and sisters and her parents. So I don't know if it's, most of it is true, but there's always some, some stories in there which every family does.

Grant: You had mentioned earlier, you came to Butte to buy a dress in 1956, I think you said. And I was just curious if you happen to remember where you went.

Piazzola: We bought it at Hennessy's. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. I remember that and had lunch. That's about all I can remember. Don't remember too much more. Um, as I see pictures of the highway coming through Meaderville, I kind of recall, but I mean, when you're that age, who cares? I just remember all the people here.

Grant: How would you say that compared to the Butte you saw upon arriving here in the nineties then?

Piazzola: Well, I had been here quite a few times because my husband was from Butte and we'd come in and visit children. Uh, we took the kids to Columbia Gardens a couple of times. I was familiar with Butte and the family, but like I said, my favorite thing is, Butte has character. Don't look at the town, look at the people.

Jaap: That is very true. Was it hard then when you came and lived here that the Gardens weren't here anymore. And did you have any?

Piazzola: No, because my kids were all raised by the time I moved. My youngest daughter graduated from college and she had already left to go to her first job after college. And so, no, it really wasn't. I lived in a six bedroom house in Livingston. I had four lots, big house, and so I probably would have still been living there 10 years later, if I hadn't had to move and on top of that, I didn't have to even pack. So came in, found a house and they moved me in. So it was not hard because I really didn't have a lot left in Livingston. I wasn't close to my brother that lived there. And so, yeah. It's so it wasn't that bad.

Grant: What about Montana Power as a company?

Piazzola: It was a good company. I remember when the company presidents, when I started, there were 1200 employees, the company president would come into the office there and he would call you by name. He made a point to know your name. I was the telephone operator when I started, dispatcher. I think that's why I learned to annunciate so clearly, because you had to give orders then to the men on switches and all of those things. And so you had to make sure they were given, correct, because it could have been a matter of life or death. And you had to think fast because things were not automated then like they are now. If they hit a gas line, you had to send a gas service man to shut off a switch here and then maybe another switch a mile away. And you had to know, so it was, it was much different. It was a good company. I felt like we were more family then. I worked in the division. I did not work in the general office here in Butte until 1993.

You knew everybody in your division. I knew quite a few from the general office that came through. So. We did Yellowstone Park. Livingston office. We managed Yellowstone Park. And I can remember one day I was on the phone to Yellowstone Park and the communications was awful. And when I got off the phone after hollering to our servicemen up there, because he couldn't hear me otherwise. We had a customer in there. He says, "Lady, why don't you just go out the front door and holler at him?" And I think that's about right. The communications were really bad and it's really tough. You really have to be on the ball if there's an accident or anything, because you're on the radio, you're in charge. But it's a different company. We had good benefits. Good benefits with Northwestern too, I'm sure, because they transferred over. Good retirement, with them. It was just a good company. And being in the division, we had division parties, picnics, Christmas party. And so, yeah, close to the men.

Grant: How long were you there?

Piazzola: I was in Livingston from 1966 to 1993. And you knew just about everybody in town. I didn't always know their name, but I knew their account number. Because I was so good with numbers and, yeah. Yeah. So, and then you'd write a lot of checks for people, older people. They didn't even write their own check and then you'd write it in their checkbook. They'd sign the check. You write it in their checkbook. "And would you mind balancing it for me?" And you do that. It was just. And then quite often a husband would pass away and he'd handled the money and the wife had no idea. So you'd almost sit down and go over her checkbook, help her anyway we could. You gave your customer good service, maybe more than we should have, but not should have, but we were good to them. We were very customer oriented.

Grant: Did you see things starting to change?

Piazzola: I did. Especially after I came to Butte, I had never worked in the general office. I was still pretty isolated when I came here. I worked in the resource building when we first came here, which was the old forest service building here on Granite. And I always worked in a locked room because of the cash. So we always had a locked room. Through the years, if we balanced within $10 in a month, I never looked for it. But if it was more than $10, I'd search for it.

Grant: How much money would you see on a given day?

Piazzola: By the time I retired, we'd go through, I don't know. Because we'd balance basically monthly. The day would depend on the day of the month. And usually we'd go through maybe $50-$60 million in a month then. It was high stress. Yeah. Because if those payments didn't get in, then nobody could get paid. So if a machine broke down, it was pretty high priority that you could call most anybody and get help.

Grant: $60 million in a month.

Piazzola: Yeah, that was then, but you stop and think not just from our customers, because we have large customers that we served then, large customers, and they may still, you know. Puget Power and a lot of those. And that would be peak months, you know, some months of course in the fall and the spring would be quieter. So yeah, it was, but you figure our customers too. We were pretty much all over the state. And we have gas and electric, so it was, yeah. And I guess that's why I retired a little early because I was not computer orientated. I wasn't raised with computers and it was getting to be pretty stressful for me. They were putting in a new computer system and it was just time for me to . . . I was old enough. I could get social security on my husband. And so I just retired, get my pension.

Grant: Are you happy with the career you had with them?

Piazzola: I am. I was very happy and I felt very lucky that I could get a pension. If you go to work for them now you will not get one. So I had benefits that . . . I am very sorry for the way the company went, but that happens. So what can we say? You know, I don't know what else to say, but it just happened. And so I was glad that I was out of it. I didn't have the stress of a new company taking over. So, because the job itself was stressful.

Grant: I don't really have a sense of what happened. You know, what is your sense of it?

Piazzola: Basically what happened . . . I don't think then they really knew what they were getting into, when they switched to Touch America. The wireless had not come West. They thought that everything would still be underground and that's what they put in. They planned on, instead of wireless. And wireless was already here in the East because my son was, he'd been in Canada working. And that's what he did up there was wireless, came into Nebraska and did wireless. So it was here, but I think somebody talked to them or whatever, and they believed it. That's my personal opinion. I'm sorry, the way it happened. Sorry. So many people, including myself, lost money, but you know, you can't cry over spilled milk. It's spelt.

Jaap: It's a good way to look at life.

Piazzola: Not bitter. I just didn't have more money to have. My kids say, "Gee, mother, we'll help you." So anyway, I have enough for everything I need. That's all that counts.

Grant: I just had a couple more questions. I was curious about your work with veterans. What drives that passion?

Piazzola: My husband was quite active. He had to quit on a medical disability, quit work in 1979 and he got very active with veterans and I got very active right along with him. We did a lot of cooking, catering for the veterans there. A lot of dinners and dances. And so it would be nothing for him and me to help to cook for 200 people. He always cooked a roast. I still have the recipe with spaghetti sauce, but we always had rigatonis.

Jaap: You gave me that recipe. It's good.

Piazzola: Yeah, it is good. And so easy. Yeah. And so he'd always do that. And so I'd help him. And they were veterans. Then I got involved in the auxiliaries and there's a need for it, um, to help our veterans, especially the ones in need. So that's basically, I've been interested in veterans quite some time. I'm a life member of both the VFW auxiliary and the American Legion auxiliary. I didn't get active in Butte probably until the last 10, 12 years. The first 10 years I retired, I really didn't do a lot. Then I was more active in the Daughters of the American Revolution. And I worked at the hospital. I volunteered up there, but the hospital got to be a job because when you open a gift shop, you have to be there. So working here is much easier, if I don't come, I call Aubrey and don't come. And I don't really worry about somebody taking my job.

Jaap: No, no, Joanne. Unfortunately, there's not a line out the door for that.

Grant: What about the D.A.R. for people who don't know what it is, could you just describe it?

Piazzola: The Daughters of American Revolution, in order to join the Daughters American Revolution, a woman has to be 18 years or older. They have to have had a Patriot that served in the Revolutionary War, which was 1775 to 1783. And by Patriot, I mean, it could be somebody that served in the militia. We have state militia, we have local militia. It also could be an officer of the county, the city. If you were on a jury, you could serve. If you were any office, such as that, a surveyor during that time, you could serve, you have to have proof. Also, if you provided service to support the war, one of my ancestors provided seven bushels of wheat and it's in the city records, the town records. You have to have proof of it, but it's in the town records. And so he's one of the ancestors. I have three.

The other two - one led a militia. He was a captain. The other one just served in local militia. So basically what the DAR does, they're very interested in history, preservation and education. Our motto is "God, home and country" in that order. So it's an organization of women all over the world. And, we have property in Washington, DC, and I keep checking the riots because out the backside of the Whitehouse, we can see it from our building. And when I stayed in DC, when I'd go back for the conferences, I'd stay and we'd walk behind the Whitehouse, probably about two blocks to our building. And so we own a full city block there. It's the largest complex of property owned by only a woman's organization. We have the largest concert hall in Washington, DC. So it's used not so much this spring . . . Some of our local programs is, um, now at this time, our Silver Bow chapter is redoing the Spanish American war plot to straighten it out. We have a marker there. It was the first marker in the state put out by a DAR member, commemorating the soldiers there. So they're going to be landscaping, straightening the stones. Several years ago, we had a broken stone. And so I got that replaced.

So anyway, the other program, which I already mentioned is the children. We also have a good citizen essay, which is for seniors in high school. And they write an essay basically on Americanism. They're given an award and a scholarship. We have the American history teacher award, which our Chris Fisk won one year the national award. I filled out his application and he always jokingly says, "JoAnn knows more about me than I know about myself." But I did a lot of research on him, filled out the application and went to Washington DC, when he was there. I was there when he came with his family. And it was neat to see our own local onstage. And then two years later we had a second Montana winner. So the American history teacher. So it is a big deal. His motel room was paid for a couple of nights and he got a $3,000 check.

He had to send something back to be put in our display case for a year back there. So also the shovel in Washington, DC that was used to ground break the buildings is from Montana, made out of Montana copper. We don't know who made it. We assume the Anaconda Company had something to do with it. And it's on display in a case in the DAR headquarters in Washington DC.

Grant: You had said earlier of all the places you've been, DC might be your favorite.

Piazzola: I think, yes, it really is because there's so much history there, so much history and every time you go back, you learn more. I've been very fortunate to visit places back there that you wouldn't, like the Capitol building. We did a tour with the architect that was working on it at the time and you know, things like that. And we'd go to historic houses and for dinners and different things. The one thing I missed was the display of the Pentagon. We were going back there when the big blizzard hit in 2010. I was there, couldn't believe a city that size could shut down, but it did. So I missed that, but they keep telling me all we saw was halls anyway. So, but yeah, it's, you know, they've taken us to museums, buildings, houses, just anything history back there.

Grant: Have you ever gone to the national archives?

Piazzola: Oh yes. Yes. Several times.

Grant: What’s their scanner look like?

Piazzola: I don't know what their scanner looks like.

Jaap: Not as good as JoAnn.

Piazzola: I don't believe they even scan at the archives because those records are in Maryland, a lot of them. Because I know when I tried to get some, they said you'd have to go to Maryland. You get pretty adapted to riding the subway. But no, there is so much to see there and I encourage every family to go back. Help nominate. We had a national, she did not belong to DAR because she could not. We have a lady in Helena that was the founder of the Women's Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC. We did an application for her, for a national DAR award. I did her application to join DAR and after she received the award on stage, I was there with her and they told her that her application had been verified and she would become a member the next month. And she is still a member of DAR. I've been trying to get her to speak over here, but she's just never found the time to come. She's just written a book.

Grant: I just have one more question, kind of more generally about Montana. Um, you know, the Montana that you grew up in, do you think it's still here?

Piazzola: Well, Livingston, sure isn't, I'll tell you, definitely not. Um, where I grew up is no, it's not here. There's a lot of money in that area. We've had movie stars move in, you know, um, we don't think anything of them down there. They're just people. I mean, I've been on committees with, I was with Becky Fonda and I've met most of them. Um, but no, there, they were fine when they were there. But now that the money is moved in, no, it's not the same. I remember looking up the Valley and seeing very few houses and now they're just all over. So it's not the same. Um, things are just, they're just not the same. When I grew up, and even when my kids grew up in the seventies, are just not quite the same. Because I can remember my kids, then, they'd go out to play and I'd say, you better be heading home when the streetlights come on and they might be blocks from home and you don't worry about them.

We just didn't. Left the house unlocked so the kids could get in, all the time after school. So things are different. I mean, I locked my house when I'm in it now, so yeah. But the biggest change is just the attitude, the money that has come in, especially in the Bozeman/Livingston area. I remember when Bozeman was 12,000 people. So it's just the change. The influx that's come in. Is Butte the same? I haven't seen too much of a change. Hmm. You know, since I've moved here. I'm sure there's been some, but I haven't had children. And I think that's where you will see this change more. Not in people my age. It would be the younger families. So my friend, Shirley, and I we've probably walked 50,000 miles in these hills because she had an Alzheimer's husband. And so every day we'd walk and one day she said, you know, we ought to climb a mountain. And I said, are we ready? And she said, "Sure, we're ready." So we climbed Red Mountain. We did. And we think nothing, three or four times in the summer, we'd walk from here in Butte to the top of Homestake.

We'd think nothing of it, just take off and walk. I couldn't do it now, but then we did. So, yes, it's amazing. That was my one accomplishment that I can say. I mean, I was all over the foothills in Livingston, but when you're young, like that, it's much different. So anyway, I won't challenge anybody now.

Jaap: You can challenge me. You'll win.

Piazzola: I can't think of anything else, you have to ask me.

Grant: That does it for my questions.

Jaap: I think we are good. Thank you.

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