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October 17, 2002
Bless us, oh Lord, and these, Thy ladies
by Mark Henckel, The Billings Gazette
JORDAN - God bless the ladies of Jordan. They help the hungry hunters and do good for so many others in their community.
Those ladies came to our rescue last Sunday on one of those long, hard, hungry opening days of the Montana general antelope hunting season. We were on the road by 4 a.m. that day. We waited at the ranch gate as the sun was rising. And we hunted hard all day long, driving and spotting, hiking and stalking, sitting in and crawling through the cactus to fill our antelope tags.
By nightfall, we were pretty much tuckered out as we rolled into Jordan and a waiting motel room. But what about dinner?
A hand-scrawled sign proclaimed, "Harvest Dinner by the ladies of the Catholic Church. VFW Hall. Everyone welcome. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. October 13."
What followed was a slice of small town hospitality in Eastern Montana. It was a healthy dose of hunting season Americana - rural communities doing what they can to make hunters and other visitors feel welcome. And, in this case, it was also part of a long tradition of church women doing good for others during the hunting season and throughout the rest of the year.
Food aplenty
Inside the VFW Hall, there was indeed a feast going on. For $6 per adult, there were thick slices of tender roast beef and lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, more salads than you could fit on a plate, bread, beverages and a table full of slices of home-baked pie. There were smiling ladies at the serving table making sure your plate was extra-full, too.
Town and ranch people were seated at long tables, enjoying the meal and friendly conversation. Orange-clad hunters and groups of men in camouflage were scattered through the room in groups of twos, threes and fours. And little kids were part of the scene, too, scampering around what otherwise would be the dance floor or zipping in and out the door to play inside for a while, then burn up more energy outside in the cool night air.
In Jordan, it has been a tradition for longer than anyone can remember that the ladies of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church serve their Harvest Dinner on the opening weekend of the antelope season.
Sharing duties
When the opening weekend of the deer and elk season arrives in a couple of weeks, it will be the ladies of St. John's Lutheran Church who will provide the big dinner for hunters and town and ranch folks.
"We always plan our dinner around the opening day of the antelope season and we try to catch all the community people, too," said LeAnn Murnion, who chaired the Catholics' Harvest Dinner committee that put on the feast last weekend.
"We buy the meat and the rest of the food is donated by the families. The wives cook the pies. They bring the salads. We gather at the hall in the morning and cook the meat and peel the potatoes," she said. "Every family donates something. Everybody came. Everybody served on the committee. We served over 250 people."
Murnion added, "It used to be our tradition that we did it on the Saturday night before antelope season. But our community is very sports-minded and our fans will follow the teams and that often meant they couldn't come. We'll always keep it on Sunday, the opening day, now. On Sunday, we have way more help. More people also get a chance to come and have dinner with us."
Proceeds from the dinner will be relied on to do many things in the months ahead, she said.
"It's a fund-raiser for the women of the church," Murnion explained. "It's for our altar society and if we need anything at the church, we can get it. If a family has a crisis, or a fire, or a flood, we try to put money toward that and help them. We have a ministerial association and if somebody comes through town and is stranded, the ministers can help them get through Jordan and back on the road again. We do the Christmas tree at the bank for people who are in need. Whatever gift cards aren't picked up as we get close to Christmas, we gather the cards and fill the gifts.
"It's just for a lot of things," she said. "We have never said if somebody has a fire, 'Oh, they're not Catholics.' We try to help everyone. They're our neighbors. If they have a fire or flood, this dinner helps us to help them."
While the Catholic Church's tradition is to serve its dinner on the opening day of the antelope season, the tradition for St. John's Lutheran Church is to have its big dinner on Saturday, the evening before the deer and elk opener.
Jane Wille, who has helped direct the Lutheran ladies' efforts for about the past 25 years, said she expects about 200 to be fed between 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Oct. 26 this year.
"We always have turkey and dressing and all the trimmings," she said. "One year, we tried to serve something different and didn't have the big turkey dinner and we caught a lot of static. It will definitely be turkey again this year.
"We always serve a lot of hunters," Wille said. "Our congregation isn't real big anymore, but we still have a lot of good cooks."
She added, "It used to just be our congregation and it would be like a membership drive. We used to do it in the church basement, but that got to be too small and with the steps, it got hard for some of our older members to get up and down them. Now it helps support our church and we also do a lot of community things with what we make from the dinner.
"One of the things we've done for the past 15 years or so is to have a birthday party for the people at the Garfield County Nursing Home here in Jordan. There are probably about 20 people in the rest home," she said. "We do it on their birth date and just for them. I make a special cake for them - whatever kind they want. Some want chocolate, or white with yellow filling or whatever. We invite their family and we have local musicians that volunteer to do the music.
"Althea Ferrand, Dr. Ferrand's wife, had her 104th birthday party there in January. She likes chocolate cake with chocolate frosting," Wille recalled. "At her 101st birthday, she got up and did a little dance. They really seem to enjoy it."
She said the annual deer-opener dinner is a tradition that makes it all happen. "I've been a member of the church for 50 years and the dinner was there before me," Wille said. "It will always be here."
For hunters fortunate enough to be in the Jordan area on the opening weekends of the deer and antelope season, rolling into town tired and hungry, these dinners are a tradition they hope will last forever.
The ladies of Jordan deserve to be blessed for the good work they do for hunters, their churches and their community. And they deserve blessings, too, for being such good cooks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Henckel is the outdoor editor of The Billings Gazette. His columns appear Thursdays and Sundays. He can be contacted by phone at: (406) 657-1395, or by e-mail at: henckel@billingsgazette.com
Bless us, oh Lord, and these, Thy ladies
by Mark Henckel, The Billings Gazette
JORDAN - God bless the ladies of Jordan. They help the hungry hunters and do good for so many others in their community.
Those ladies came to our rescue last Sunday on one of those long, hard, hungry opening days of the Montana general antelope hunting season. We were on the road by 4 a.m. that day. We waited at the ranch gate as the sun was rising. And we hunted hard all day long, driving and spotting, hiking and stalking, sitting in and crawling through the cactus to fill our antelope tags.
By nightfall, we were pretty much tuckered out as we rolled into Jordan and a waiting motel room. But what about dinner?
A hand-scrawled sign proclaimed, "Harvest Dinner by the ladies of the Catholic Church. VFW Hall. Everyone welcome. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. October 13."
What followed was a slice of small town hospitality in Eastern Montana. It was a healthy dose of hunting season Americana - rural communities doing what they can to make hunters and other visitors feel welcome. And, in this case, it was also part of a long tradition of church women doing good for others during the hunting season and throughout the rest of the year.
Food aplenty
Inside the VFW Hall, there was indeed a feast going on. For $6 per adult, there were thick slices of tender roast beef and lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, more salads than you could fit on a plate, bread, beverages and a table full of slices of home-baked pie. There were smiling ladies at the serving table making sure your plate was extra-full, too.
Town and ranch people were seated at long tables, enjoying the meal and friendly conversation. Orange-clad hunters and groups of men in camouflage were scattered through the room in groups of twos, threes and fours. And little kids were part of the scene, too, scampering around what otherwise would be the dance floor or zipping in and out the door to play inside for a while, then burn up more energy outside in the cool night air.
In Jordan, it has been a tradition for longer than anyone can remember that the ladies of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church serve their Harvest Dinner on the opening weekend of the antelope season.
Sharing duties
When the opening weekend of the deer and elk season arrives in a couple of weeks, it will be the ladies of St. John's Lutheran Church who will provide the big dinner for hunters and town and ranch folks.
"We always plan our dinner around the opening day of the antelope season and we try to catch all the community people, too," said LeAnn Murnion, who chaired the Catholics' Harvest Dinner committee that put on the feast last weekend.
"We buy the meat and the rest of the food is donated by the families. The wives cook the pies. They bring the salads. We gather at the hall in the morning and cook the meat and peel the potatoes," she said. "Every family donates something. Everybody came. Everybody served on the committee. We served over 250 people."
Murnion added, "It used to be our tradition that we did it on the Saturday night before antelope season. But our community is very sports-minded and our fans will follow the teams and that often meant they couldn't come. We'll always keep it on Sunday, the opening day, now. On Sunday, we have way more help. More people also get a chance to come and have dinner with us."
Proceeds from the dinner will be relied on to do many things in the months ahead, she said.
"It's a fund-raiser for the women of the church," Murnion explained. "It's for our altar society and if we need anything at the church, we can get it. If a family has a crisis, or a fire, or a flood, we try to put money toward that and help them. We have a ministerial association and if somebody comes through town and is stranded, the ministers can help them get through Jordan and back on the road again. We do the Christmas tree at the bank for people who are in need. Whatever gift cards aren't picked up as we get close to Christmas, we gather the cards and fill the gifts.
"It's just for a lot of things," she said. "We have never said if somebody has a fire, 'Oh, they're not Catholics.' We try to help everyone. They're our neighbors. If they have a fire or flood, this dinner helps us to help them."
While the Catholic Church's tradition is to serve its dinner on the opening day of the antelope season, the tradition for St. John's Lutheran Church is to have its big dinner on Saturday, the evening before the deer and elk opener.
Jane Wille, who has helped direct the Lutheran ladies' efforts for about the past 25 years, said she expects about 200 to be fed between 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Oct. 26 this year.
"We always have turkey and dressing and all the trimmings," she said. "One year, we tried to serve something different and didn't have the big turkey dinner and we caught a lot of static. It will definitely be turkey again this year.
"We always serve a lot of hunters," Wille said. "Our congregation isn't real big anymore, but we still have a lot of good cooks."
She added, "It used to just be our congregation and it would be like a membership drive. We used to do it in the church basement, but that got to be too small and with the steps, it got hard for some of our older members to get up and down them. Now it helps support our church and we also do a lot of community things with what we make from the dinner.
"One of the things we've done for the past 15 years or so is to have a birthday party for the people at the Garfield County Nursing Home here in Jordan. There are probably about 20 people in the rest home," she said. "We do it on their birth date and just for them. I make a special cake for them - whatever kind they want. Some want chocolate, or white with yellow filling or whatever. We invite their family and we have local musicians that volunteer to do the music.
"Althea Ferrand, Dr. Ferrand's wife, had her 104th birthday party there in January. She likes chocolate cake with chocolate frosting," Wille recalled. "At her 101st birthday, she got up and did a little dance. They really seem to enjoy it."
She said the annual deer-opener dinner is a tradition that makes it all happen. "I've been a member of the church for 50 years and the dinner was there before me," Wille said. "It will always be here."
For hunters fortunate enough to be in the Jordan area on the opening weekends of the deer and antelope season, rolling into town tired and hungry, these dinners are a tradition they hope will last forever.
The ladies of Jordan deserve to be blessed for the good work they do for hunters, their churches and their community. And they deserve blessings, too, for being such good cooks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Henckel is the outdoor editor of The Billings Gazette. His columns appear Thursdays and Sundays. He can be contacted by phone at: (406) 657-1395, or by e-mail at: henckel@billingsgazette.com
