BENTON CHARLES JUNEAU

BENTON CHARLES JUNEAU
(From the Great Falls Tribune)

Benton Charles Juneau, 86, a retired plumber who enjoyed fishing and golfing, died of natural causes Saturday at a local hospital.

His funeral is noon Wednesday (Valentine’s Day) at the Browning Methodist Church with burial in Willow Creek Cemetary.

Survivors include his wife, Janet L. Juneau of Browning; a daughter, Jennifer Wood of East Glacier; son, Patrick Juneau of Cortez, Colo; a sister, Martha Vaile, of Havre; brother Kenneth “Joe Crow” Juneau of Browning, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Benton was born Aug. 22, 1920, in Heart Butte to Charles and Alice (Rose) Juneau. He was raised in Browning and graduated from Browning High School. He went on to attend Montana State University in Bozeman.

Benton married Phyllis Lucia and they later divorced. In 1968 he married Janet Nordin in Monson, Mass. Benton worked in the maintenance department as a plumber at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Browning.

He enjoyed fishing, hunting, golfing and picnics. Benton was a member of the United Methodist Church.

He was preceded in death by daughter, Janice E. Juneau; a son, Donald C. Juneau; his parents; a brother, Franklin Juneau; and sisters Cynthia Juneau, Juanita Atkins, Josephine Big Horn and Marlene Heavy Runner.



CHARLES JUNEAU (From the 1907-1908 census) might be Benton’s father from a marriage after the one recorded there, or might be his grandfather. As the name indicates, he was Metis.

“Thirty years old, one half Piegan, Charles was born at Fort Benton, Montana, on February 25, 1879. He lived there eighteen years and then moved to the reservation, where he has ‘been ever since.’

FATHER: Antoine Juneau, white. His brothers Edward and Joseph lived in Montreal.
MOTHER: Josephine Juneau, full Piegan, deceased. Her sibs included: No Runner, full brother; Julie Vallieux was Josephine’s sister and she died, leaving Oliver, John, Nels and Henrietta Vallieaux and Philomena St. Goddard. Also, Mrs. Hazelett, who died leaving William Hazelett.

Charles’ brothers and sisters were Josephine Livermore, who died, leaving Clara and Lillie; and Mary Cetch who died, leaving Frank Cetch.


In the year of 1988-89 I was the interim minister of the Browning Methodist Church while they waited for a proper Methodist to be assigned. Benton and Janet were among the great pleasures of that year. I lived out at the Methodist Parsonage, a long rambling ranch house meant to accommodate children who needed emergency shelter. The attached garage had been converted to an extra room and Benton set up a huge wood stove out there for me. The main heat was electric and in this part of the world electricity fails often under the winter storms. When the inevitable subzero temps, deep snow, and violent winds arrived, I was snug as a bug and blessed Benton every day. In fact, some school folks came out to “rescue” me and spent the rest of the day keeping warm and cooking on that stove. When I preached, I always looked out to locate Benton in the pews and felt deprived if his smiling face wasn’t there.

Janet, always composed and energetic, was a school nurse and one of the better things in students’ lives. It was she who scrubbed the parsonage down before I moved in and again when I moved out. Janet and Benton’s daughter, Jennifer, and her children have brought enormous joy and renewal, especially since she came late in Benton’s life.

Benton (possibly named for Fort Benton?) was the kind of Blackfeet man who gets very little “press,” but who in my experience is typical of the backbone of the tribe. Steady, protective, warm, and devoted to “the right thing,” he could get angry and stubborn over perceived wrongs, but persevered in what would help people.

His earlier marriage to Phyllis, the daughter of a remarkable couple, R.W. and Edythe Harris, was painful and difficult. The Harrises were school teachers -- I knew them well because of teaching with R.W. and because they were friends of Bob Scriver. R.W. was the Future Farmers of America advisor and the shop teacher. He was brilliant, as was Edythe, and no respecter of authority. His joke repertoire could have taken him to Las Vegas. In the years that the Scriver bands were winning top honors, the FFA was doing the same.

I taught all three of Benton’s earlier children Phyllis was a person who could not get her balance but at least she had the sense to marry Benton, who was enormously protective of those children and stood by them even after divorce and tragedy. Two of them followed their mother into oblivion. Today modern medicines could probably have saved all three. The third, Patrick, is brilliant and successful but has had a heavy burden to carry.


When I look at the old census facts, they are more suggestive than conclusive, since I can imagine some clerk sitting at a wooden table with a pencil and a stack of cards, scribbling down what people standing in line tell him -- some of it little more than rumor. But Charles’ “pedigree” is interesting. Antoine, his father, was a Montreal man, a Quebecois, whose brothers remained in the city. Antoine must have been a trapper or trader. Antoine’s son, Charles, was born in 1849, the year before the reservation was created, and moved to the reservation at eighteen, barely adult. Judging from the birth date, this Charles was probably Benton's grandfather.

Benton considered himself progressive and was not afraid of assimilation, and yet, in that quality, he was very much Blackfeet as well as French and never needed braids to show he was Indian. Indian and European traits are not always contradictory. I’m very interested to see that William Hazelett was a cousin to Charles. Hazelett was one of the really prominent characters of Blackfeet history and controversial, as all such people tend to be. I’ll blog about him sometime. I can imagine Benton and Hazelett in earnest argument right this minute -- whereever they might be. If I were there, I’d probably side with Benton.