When Greg, Vic and Mandy left Idaho, they left behind a number of people who were close to them, and important in their early years together. I met a few of them later, but mostly they were just names to me. Because they round out the basic story, I'll tell you what I know about them.
TIM JOHNSON: Tim had been born in North Dakota, where his parents were recent arrivals from Norway. The family moved to Idaho around 1950, and purchased a small ranch just west of the Magic Valley wildlife refuge. Tim was a maintenance man on the refuge, a job he held all the years that Vic - and later, Greg - were there. Actually, he and his younger brother, Rusty, began working on the refuge part-time while in high school, a few years before Vic's family arrived. They were permanent employees, but on what the government termed WAE, "when actually employed," terms. That meant they were always on the books, and didn't need to be re-hired every year, but actually only worked from about March to September. The rest of the year they worked with their parents on the family ranch, and sought employment that paid more lucratively than did Uncle Sam. That usually meant working the sugar beet processing campaign, that lasted from October to January or February.
Beginning in November 1966, Greg moved to the Idaho Falls refuge until spring, leaving the refuge unstaffed. During those months, Tim served as caretaker, touring the refuge a couple of times each week, just to be sure everything was in order. This gave him a small paycheck, and also meant that he had time to work on the family ranch and on the sugar campaign.
Tim was Greg's best man at Vic's and Greg's wedding. That same night, he proposed to his neighbor, Rachel Lewis. They later married, and remained in the area their entire lives, raising their family on the Johnson-Lewis family ranches.
RUSTY JOHNSON: Tim's younger brother worked with him on the Magic Valley refuge, in the same capacity. When their younger brother, Dave, was killed only a few weeks after arriving in Vietnam, Rusty enlisted in the Army. He was in training for almost a year, then deployed to Vietnam, only to suffer a severe leg wound shortly after arrival. The injury proved severe enough that it was difficult for him to walk long distances and carry a heavy pack, making him unfit for the infantry. He spent over a month in an hospital in Germany, then was discharged from the Service.
Rusty had a pronounced limp all his life, but it wasn't really debilitating, and he returned home and to work on the refuge and the family ranch, with little regret or remorse. With Rusty able to help their parents at home, Tim was able to work the sugar campaign without worry. Two extra paychecks helped their bank account immensely, too.
After Tim and Rae (Rachel Lewis) married, Rusty took over the refuge as both lead maintenance man and caretaker, so his brother and sister-in-law could devote full time to family life.
RACHEL LEWIS: Rae, as she preferred to be called, was born on the family ranch next to the Johnsons' spread. I guess I don't know anything about her parents, except they were long-term residents of Magic Valley. In addition to Rae, they had several sons. All eventually moved to farms of their own, or took up other pursuits, and Rae was left as the main support for their parents. Money was apparently not a problem for them, but ranch business kept Rae close to home most of her life.
She met the Johnson boys soon after the Johnsons moved to Idaho, and was in the same grade in high school with Tim. In fact, they went to their Senior Prom together. They knew each other as "neighbors" after graduation, but nothing more until the year of Vic's and Greg's marriage. As I think I already mentioned, he proposed to her on their wedding night. They married a year later.
Rae remained caretaker of both the family ranch and her parents. When she and Tim married, they merged the two ranches, and operated them as one, keeping care of both sets of elderly parents until they passed away. Tim and Rae stayed on their ranches the rest of their lives, raising a couple of kids, and generally enjoying life.
(You might have noticed that Rae and Merry, Greg's mom, were both Lewises. If they were related, it was a long, long way down the family tree.)
NANCY WILLIAMS: In some ways, I'm surprised how little I know about Nancy and her family. It was with them that Vic and Mandy lived most of their school years, seeing their parents and the refuge only on weekends and vacations. There were obvious down sides to having the family split up so much of the time, but they were able to maintain strong bonds that lasted them through life.
I'm sure that Nancy was born in Magic Valley, and I think her parents were, too. She had a brother, but the girls seldom mentioned him. Nancy graduated from high school with Vic, and they both started at Idaho State University as roommates. When Mandy started college the next year, all three shared a dorm room. They kept that arrangement until Vic and Mandy moved to Oregon.
Nancy finished her degree at Idaho State, married a fellow student, and had a farm in the Pocatello area. I don't remember his name. They had three children, I believe.
JACKSON AND CORA WENTZEL: The Wentzels ran the diner on old Highway 30 near the refuge hunting area. They came from Boise about 1955. I'm not sure I ever heard Cora's maiden name. I think they were both born in Boise - at least, that's where they got together. I don't recall what kind of work he was doing. They were pretty young, so it was probably just whatever he could find. Anyway, they'd been seeing each other just a short time when the Korean War broke out. Jackson enlisted, and was gone for two years. He and Cora wrote letters back and forth, and apparently that was enough for them to stay interested in one another. As Jackson put it, when he got home they dated "like normal people" for about a year, and then got "hitched."
They stayed around Boise a year or two, but really wanted to do something different. They were out exploring one day when they found the diner was up for sale. They bought it - apparently without much thought! - and got it going, again. At that time, Highway 30 was the main east-west road through the area, so it got a lot of traffic, and business was good. Then, in the early '60s, the Interstate Highway was completed through the area, and siphoned away virtually all their trade.
When Greg and Vic knew them, they were losing money every day. They'd had to shut down the gas pumps, and almost all their business was from a few local farmers and hunters. But they owned the diner and the land it was on, and loved it out there in the sagebrush, so they stayed on for several more years. About the time their savings account was near exhaustion, people interested in irrigated farming started offering good prices for land. They sold out, and moved back to Boise. They had realized enough from the sale of their land that they were able to buy a nice retirement place, and there they settled for the rest of their lives.
We stopped to see them several times on trips through Boise. They were fun people. I liked them, a lot.
MATT TAYLOR: Matt was at ISU working on his Master's degree in ornithology, when Vic met him. She was seeking Idaho bird information for Greg. Matt was interested in Greg's observations, and later came to the refuge to do some bird-banding. He was also interested in Vic, but was soon told that Vic had room in her life for only one bird-watcher, and she had him (Greg), already.
Matt met Mandy at the refuge, and they developed a little interest in one another. When she started at the college, they met for coffee a few times and went on one movie date. Mandy told me he was "nice enough," but that he didn't seem interested in anything in the world except birds. Mandy was interested in everything, so the relationship never went farther. (I also heard a comment that he wasn't a very good kisser!)
Matt finished his Master's work, and moved on. He and Greg had talked about co-writing a paper on their bird observations, but he got involved in other studies, and never got back to it. Some of the students who had come to the refuge with Matt returned on their own several times to mist-net. One of them, Danielle ("Danny") Whitehill, eventually published the paper with Greg. She went on to get her own Master's degree in ornithology.
JEANNIE BRYANT: Jeannie worked at the jeweler's, graduated from high school a year ahead of Vic, and was good friends with both Vic and Mandy. Following a number of business transactions involving the Anderson women, she became good friends with Greg, as well.
There's one story about Jeannie that I like a lot, and I think it's true. When Vic and Greg were buying Vic's engagement ring, Jeannie lamented that she spent most of her life in a store filled with diamond rings, but no one ever came in to buy her one of them. It's said that Greg immediately sang her a somewhat modified version of the song about the million dollar baby in the five-and-ten cent store - the one where a stranger comes into her store to escape a sudden rain shower, sees her, and ends up staying all day. They eventually marry. Greg predicted a similar event with a stranger at the jewelry store. I don't know the exact events, but at sometime after that, a stranger did come into the store. (I don't know if it was raining.) He and Jeannie eventually married. She always credited Greg's song.
When the owner of the jewelry store died, Jeannie had the opportunity to take it over. She considered it, but decided she was ready to concentrate on being a full-time wife and mother. The last we heard, that was going well.
BOB EASTMAN: Bob was raised in the Magic Valley area, and his parents continued to live there. He was a news correspondent who traveled extensively. He had known Vic since she moved to Idaho in 1958. He must have been 10 or 15 years older, but was enchanted by the pretty 12 or 13 year old girl who would carry on clever, mature conversations with him. Always "the big brother" to her, he was thrilled when he met Greg, and found that Greg and Vic were communicating in the same deep manner that he and Vic had. He showed up at their wedding, congratulated Greg, danced one dance with Vic, and was off on some new assignment. That may have been the last time they saw him. I don't know what became of him.
MIRIAM CARTER: “Mike” had been a mail carrier since she graduated from high school. She was born in California, but lived in Magic Valley since grammar school. She had been friends with Rae Lewis all that time, and had been in the same high school class with Rae and Tim.
Mike was sure that Tim and Rae should have been together since high school, and gave herself credit for them finally getting married. They "found" each other all on their own, but she may well have been the catalyst that got him to propose when he did.
She continued to deliver the mail another couple of years after that, then settled down on the farm with her husband and two children. I think I met her on one of our early trips to Idaho.
ELLEN MCPHERSON: I include Mrs. McPherson, who was Vic's and Mandy's "dorm mother" all the time they were at Idaho State University, because she and the girls became good friends, and she was always very supportive of them. She and Greg also hit it off because of their mutual interest in authors like John Buchan and Nevil Shute. They kept in touch by letter for a number of years after the girls moved to Oregon. I don't know why she was a "Mrs." - she lived alone in the dorm all the time they were there - nor do I know what became of her.
TERRY AND SCOTT BLACK: The Scott brothers went to school with Vic and Mandy (probably all the way from when the Andersons moved to Idaho, but I'm only certain about high school). They were partners for the girls at Junior and Senior proms, but apparently only as friends and out of convenience, rather than anything "romantic." (Greg teased Mandy about more than that between her and Terry, and she did admit Terry was part of her first ever kiss.) The Blacks were big helps at the Vic-Greg wedding.
Scott's and Terry's father died while they were in high school, and they devoted most of their young adulthood to caring for their mother and trying to set aside enough money to eventually attend college. It took ten years, but they both graduated from the University of Idaho with degrees in agriculture. Their mother had passed away during those years. Terry took over their small Magic Valley farm, and also worked for the State as farm advisor. Scott left the area, but I'm not sure where he went.
BOBBY CUSO: Bobby graduated from high school in the same class as Jeannie Bryant, so was a year or so older than Vic. His father had owned the camera shop in town. Bobby worked there while in high school, and had taken over the operation when his father died. He knew the Johnson girls, and became good friends with Greg. He developed into a skilled, self-trained photographer, and took the pictures at Vic's and Greg's wedding. He eventually moved to a larger city, gave up the film processing end of the business, and became well known for his work at weddings and special events. Vic and Greg kept in touch with him for a while, but I don't know anything specific.
JAMES MacDONALD: I never met "Mac," long the supervisor of Pacific Northwest wildlife refuge operations. He retired just about the time I joined "the family." He took a special interest in the careers of both Chuck and Greg, and arranged the two-refuge operation that functioned for the several years before Greg and Vic moved to Oregon. Although Greg didn't have a lot of experience, Mac was impressed by him, and went out of his way to get Greg the position he wanted in Portland. I don't know what Mac did after retirement.
VENITA JO BROWN: I wish I had met Jo. Greg only knew her a couple of days - and Vic, not at all - but she made a major difference in their lives, and a shift in the direction their lives might have otherwise taken. She was an African-American woman from Arkansas, with a college degree in biology. A government mistake resulted in her being assigned briefly to the Magic Valley refuge, when it was discovered that her interest in "biology" was in medical or laboratory work, not birds and marshes.
Jo was the first African-American that Greg had ever talked to. In their brief acquaintance, the subjects of race, or slavery, or civil rights never came up, but in all the turmoil of the mid-1960s, Greg suddenly had an actual person who he could tie the events to. "Civil rights" were no longer just a concept to him, but something that involved real people in real situations. He lost touch with Jo, but he and Vic went on to have an active role in civil rights the rest of their lives.
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