Anaconda and Me

By Walt Hansen

Anaconda and Me is a collection of poems, short stories and photographs that emphasizes the author’s connection to Anaconda, Montana and the surrounding area, and how it has guided his life for the past 78 years. It includes his community environment, family, friends, and heroes. It is the author’s wish that the book be used as a model for others to evaluate their lives in a literary fashion as opposed to a historical narrative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669842767

Walt Hansen

Walt Hansen is a retired educator. He taught English at Geraldine High School, his first year of teaching. He then moved on to Livingston Junior High School, and eventually found his way back to his hometown of Anaconda and served Anaconda High School for the next thirty-six years. He began as a teacher, but eventually became Dean of Students and Principal. He enjoys walking, hiking, watching old movies, reading books, writing and surfing the Internet. He enjoys his family and hanging around with old friends. This University of Montana Western graduate lives in his home in Anaconda where he was born and raised.

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Copyright © 2022 by Walt Hansen. 842837

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Xlibris

844-714-8691

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Rev. date: 10/19/2022

Contents

Introduction

Verse for the Gophers?

Georgetown Lake

The Sound

Cedar Waxwings

The Yellow Bench

The Iowa

The Deer

The Hike

Déjà Vu

Chaplin

The Tree

I, Mimic

Lasting Support

Arlington for Two

The Terraplane

Coffee

Sadat (A Final Vision)

Trapped

Clank

The Washington School First Grade Circus

Watergate

Carlye

Transition at 37

Repair

A Childhood Vision

Shopping Mall

In My Viewfinder

For His Sake

Shawn D.

Seconds Rolling by on the Old Wittnauer

Apollo XVII

Desert Storm

Desert Shield

Clank Revisited

The Preserver

Mom

Bud

An Old Cold Stack

In Conclusion

About the Book

Verse For The Gophers?

About the Author

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To Nancy June Platt Hansen, a loving wife, mother, and grandmother

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Introduction

In 1965, I was an undergraduate student at Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana. I graduated from Anaconda High School in Anaconda, Montana, in 1962, and prior to my being a student at Western, I was a student at Montana State University in Missoula. That university is now the University of Montana. The major universities in Montana changed their names.

My enrollment in Montana State could only be defined as an academic disaster, and for the next two years, I couldn’t have accomplished less as a student, and I also discovered alcohol and partying. I managed to flunk out not only once but twice. I really didn’t mind other than the absolute horror of facing my father, who was bound and determined that one of his three sons was going to graduate from college.

In the spring of 1964, after a stint working for the Union Pacific Railroad, I enrolled at Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana, and met a man who was to become my mentor and who turned my life around. His name was Edward Cebull who was an associate professor of English. Mr. Cebull would meet with me on a weekly schedule to keep track of my progress for the next several years. He also taught American literature, and for the first time in many years, I began to enjoy what learning was all about. The unique attribute that Mr. Cebull had was that he would read to us out loud and make literature come alive. He had this big, booming voice and oral interpretation skills that made every word of the English language beautiful. I was also fortunate that along with Mr. Cebull was a college faculty that really cared about each and every student, and if we needed help, they would go out of their way to help us. As a side note, I gave up alcohol and was able to join other students from Anaconda and other communities in study groups.

In the spring of 1967, I graduated from Western with a bachelor of science degree in English and business. I would return to Western in 1968 while I was teaching, and in 1972, I earned a master of science degree in education.

My time at the university was not a complete waste of time. I had chosen to major in English. I had two professors who did encourage my interest in English. One was Leslie Fiedler, who I had for humanities. He was rather famous at the time, and he was the most scholarly instructor I ever had as an educator. He assigned us to read the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. I did not have any mythology that I could recall in the Anaconda school system. His approach at the time was to remind us that mythology is a word that infers that, at one time, it was a religion that faded away, but that the stories that came from those religions were fascinating and explain how ancient peoples explained scientific occurrences that they could not understand and that also applied to human relationships. He then assigned us to read the major books of the Bible. If nothing else, it caused me to think about the Christian religion and whether or not someday it might disappear and become a part of future mythology. I learned more about religion from him than I learned in eight long years of Sunday school and confirmation. The other was Mr. Mclean. I apologize that I cannot remember his first name, but he encouraged me to consider English as a major and told me that I was a fairly good writer.

When I graduated from Western, my first teaching assignment was in Geraldine High School, home of the Geraldine Tigers. The small town of Geraldine, Montana, was located in the winter wheat farming country east of Fort Benton. It was a big change from what I was used to in Anaconda. The land was flat but strangely beautiful, and I can’t say I didn’t like the environment. It was open and free, and the acres and acres of wheat were breathtaking. Nancy June Platt and I were married during the Christmas vacation of 1967. My daughter, Carlye, was born during the two years that we lived there, and if I live long enough, I would like to write a book about my experiences there, because it was interesting.

Nancy, Carlye, and I moved to Livingston, Montana, in 1969. I taught at Livingston Junior High School. I really liked Livingston, but Buddy Blume, a familiar Anaconda figure, was serving on the school board in Anaconda and asked me to apply in Anaconda. I did so. I was working on my master’s degree at Western in the summer of ’71, and I received a call from Mike O’Leary, who was the principal when I was attending Anaconda High, and he had just been made superintendent, and he told me that I had been hired by the board. I bowed out of Livingston, and the three of us then moved to Anaconda where I would spend the next thirty-six years as a teacher, dean of students, and eventually, principal of Anaconda High School.

Anaconda is old and was formed by the copper industry in Butte. The two most famous characters in the formation of what was called the Anaconda Company were Marcus Daly and William Clark, who are figures in a tale of intrigue themselves. That story has