40 YEARS AGO • MAY 6, 1982

FALLS WOMAN CITED FOR

60 YEARS OF VOTING

Few people in Montana can boast of voting in 15 presidential elections, but a pioneer Thompson Falls citizen, Mrs. Susan Thayer, 82, can, and she received a certificate from Secretary of State Jim Waltermire attesting to her long voting record.

Mrs. Thayer first voted for a president in the 1920 general election, shortly after her 21st birthday. Women got the right to vote August 18, 1920. She cast a vote for republican Calvin Coolidge and every four years since cast a vote for the GOP candidate until two years ago. Then she switched to vote for Democrat President Jimmy Carter, because “I thought he was a better man than Reagan,” she observed.

Her all-time favorite president is Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, who gained her confidence as a general leading the Allies to a victory over Germany in World War II.

Mrs. Thayer was born on the old Soule Ranch on the Blue Slide September 18, 1899. The ranch now is owned by M&M Laurence Molzhon.

For many years, she recalls as a girl riding in a farm wagon down the Blue Slide Road into Thompson Falls. For a couple of months in the spring of each year, the family was landlocked, because there were no bridges. The creeks were forded, but during the spring runoff, when the creeks were high, people stayed home.

The first bridges in the area were the two erected across the Clark Fork River at Thompson Falls when work was started on the Thompson Falls dam and hydroelectric plant. The Gallatin Street bridge and the Historic High Bridge.

Susan married Albert Thayer in 1918, but it was two years later before she became eligible to register to vote at the old Sanders County Courthouse. The first Sanders County Courthouse was a two-story wooden structure that fronted South Jefferson Street. It was located directly behind the current courthouse.

She and Albert had two children, a son, Lyman, and a daughter, Ermine, who died in 1977.

She and Albert divorced, and she later married his brother, Fred Thayer. They had two daughters, Susan and June, who was the Sanders County treasurer for many years

The first car she rode in was a 1919 Model T Ford, which her folks purchased.

Mrs. Thayer can still be seen driving about town at leas twice a week – Tuesday, when she does her laundry at the laundromat and Fridays when she drives a friend, Mrs. Kathleen Smith, to the grocery store for their weekly shopping.

Her hearing has failed somewhat but she gets along well with a hearing aid, she still reads a daily newspaper and The Ledger on Wednesdays.

Mrs. Thayer’s interest and devotion to her church, the Community Congregational Church, exceeds her voting record. She has been a member of the church for 76 years, since 1906, about the time the church was organized. For 12 years she served as the active president of the Women’s Fellowship of the church.

The secretary of state has honored numerous senior citizen voters around Montana for their voting records this year, but few have been casting ballots as long as her 60 years.

90 YEARS AGO • APRIL 25, 1932

GOOD EATS FOR THE WEEKEND

THOMPSON FALLS MERCANTILE CO.

Cream cheese – 25¢ lb.

Morrell’s Hickory Smoked, Sugar Cured Bacon – 17¢ lb.

Navel Oranges, the juicy kind – 25¢ dozen

Durkee’s Salad-Aid, a mild salad dressing – 25¢ 16 oz. jar

School Boy Peanut Butter, - 25¢ 1 lb.

Dessert Prunes, 5 lb. Pkg. – 50¢

Macaroni, 3 – 7 oz. pkgs. – 25¢

Marshall’s Sauer Kraut, 2 lb. can – 35¢

Old Yellowstone Brand Baked Beans – 2 cans for 25¢

Pig Feet, Morell’s, cooked and spiced, quart jar – 29¢

This is a sample of Depression era prices. What do you suppose dessert prunes were used for?