Eve Palmer Malo
1928 - 2013
Eve Palmer Malo broke free of her earthly bonds shortly after midnight on March 5, 2013. She was surrounded by members of her loving family and passed as she lived: en paz.
Eve was a grand soul–a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, social activist, professor emeritus at UM Western, human rights and peace advocate, cherished member of Dillon’s Quaker community, an author, a fierce advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and a friend to many. Eve provided us with a cherished example of a life lived fully and well.
Eve was born on November 15, 1928, to Janet MacDonald and Harold Palmer. The seeds of Eve’s lifelong activism were sown early in life when she was four years old and moved to Europe with her mother. She was educated in Swiss and English schools where international studies were emphasized and where she learned to speak three different languages. She and her mother traveled extensively throughout Europe during the summers, and it was during these travels in Europe in the late 1930s that Eve first encountered social injustice as she witnessed the rise of Hitler in Germany. Her mother introduced her to Mahatma Gandhi’s writings and the peace movement through teaching her about the League of Nations. So at an early age, Eve learned about the need for people to solve their problems and differences through dialogue, as opposed to violent means.
Eve earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Stanford University and a master’s degree in cultural studies from Adams State College in Colorado. Her doctorate in education was earned from the University of New Mexico while Eve was a single mother parenting her children. She was hired into the Montana University system in 1985, when she accepted a teaching position at what was then Northern Montana College in Havre. Five years later, she accepted a teaching position at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, where she remains as a professor emeritus. Her scholarship and activism earned the admiration and respect of both her teaching colleagues and her students. She spearheaded the drive to add Restorative Justice as an academic minor to Western’s curriculum. Eve also taught for a year in Nicaragua and a year in Japan. Though her working years were spent in the halls of academia, her activism moved her well beyond those walls and into the world community.
In 2006, Eve published a book, Dynamite Women: The Ten Women Nobel Peace Laureates of the 20th Century. In writing the book, she traveled the world to interview in person the ten women who are the subject of the book. The idea for this writing project came to her when she traveled across Europe with a group of women who were all attending the 1995 Beijing United Nations forum on the Status of Women sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, of which Eve was a longtime member.
Just after the turn of the century, Eve, 73, and her friend Claire Sinclair, then 80 years young, drove a pick-up truck, with a sheep wagon in tow, through 42 Montana towns and reservations engaging their fellow Montanans in dialogue regarding the struggle to abolish the death penalty. For this work, both she and Claire were awarded the 2001 ACLU Jeanette Rankin Civil Liberties Award and the Jeanette Rankin Peace Award from Rocky Mountain College Institute for Peace Studies. The two awards were given for advocating and protecting the rights of everyone and exemplifying the values promoted by Ms. Rankin, namely: conflict resolution; promoting understanding; unity among people of diverse backgrounds; and peacemaking on both a local and global level.
She also worked directly with Montana State Prison inmates living on death row. She was a founding member of Montana’s Abolition Coalition. Eve served as the Montana Coordinator for Amnesty International. In 2005, Eve was a recipient of the Montana Governor’s Humanities award for her human rights activism and for her work teaching Restorative Justice. Through the Speaker’s Bureau of the Montana Committee for the Humanities, Eve traveled and spoke throughout Montana with a presentation entitled, “Tapestry of Women in the West” and on the subject of her book.
Eve was a generous person who extended to everyone the respect she believed all people deserved. When asked why she would move to a conservative community like Dillon, she said, “I think that it’s a misconception that Dillon is a conservative town. We have in our community a core group of people who are very progressive, and I find that the people here are open minded, accepting of new ideas and interested in dialogue. Our small Montana towns are not insular enclaves where people don’t know anything.” She now joins the ranks of the immortals which include her heroes, Mahatma Gandhi and Jeanette Rankin. Her life will forever remain an inspiration to her family and friends.
Eve is survived by her nine children: Anthony; Joseph; Thomas; Victoria; Lisa; Daniel; Teresa; Mary Ellen; and Peter. She is also survived by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, her longtime partner, Martin, and a vast and varied collection of friends and admirers. A memorial service is being planned and an announcement regarding the time and place of the service with be announced.
Richard A. Mason
1930 - 2013
On Feb. 26, 2013, Richard A. Mason, who spent nine years in Dillon, passed away at home surrounded by his loving family.
Born in 1930 in California, Richard filled his 82 years of life with creativity, hard work and uncompromising ethical values. As a young man, he left college to serve his country by joining the Air Force during the Korean War, where he worked on aircraft. Returning home, he went to work for PG&E Company, retiring after 31 years as a hydroelectric superintendent.
He then went on to create beautiful stained glass commissioned through his and his wife Elaine's Mason's Stained Glass business, located in Auburn, CA, where he lived for many years, as well as in Sacramento. Always busy building and creating things, Richard had recently directed his creativity to building a large model train layout and the restoration of an antique Chris Craft boat, projects he shared with his children and grandchildren.
While living in Dillon, Richard joined the Elks Lodge and Snowmobile Club, and volunteered at the Beaverhead County Museum, which was all a wonderful vacation for him.
Richard is survived by his wife of 56 years, Elaine Mason, his son, Curt Mason, his daughter, Renee Mason Carter, son-in law, Joe Carter, and grandchildren Chelsea and Blake Carter, and Christopher and Courtney Mason.
Byron Henry Boulanger
1925 - 2012
Byron Henry Boulanger, 87, of Dillon, passed away surrounded by his family at Barrett Hospital and Healthcare on March 7, 2013.
He was born in San Fernando, CA, on Nov. 30, 1925, to Henry and Marie (King) Boulanger. Byron enjoyed 44 years of marriage to Shirley Moulder.
He worked as a heavy equipment operator for the State of California and retired in 1989. He proudly served his country during WWII in the Navy on the USS Rowe as a Ship Fitter Second class and during the Korean War in the Air Force National Guard as a Staff Sergeant. He had been a resident of Montana since 1994. Byron was an avid rock hound and woodcrafter who loved all animals.
Byron was preceded in death by his wife, Shirley, who passed away in 1993, and by his son, Wayne, who passed earlier this year.
He is survived by: his daughters Teri (Edward) Clinton, of California, and Dori McLaughlin, of Dillon; six grandsons–Byron and Alex Clinton of California, Rob McLaughlin of California, Brian McLaughlin of Florida, Joshua Boulanger of Colorado and Justin Boulanger of Wisconsin–seven great-grandsons and two great-granddaughters.
Private family services will be held in the spring. Memorial contributions may be made to the local Humane Society.
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