DON MARBLE (1938-2010)

Church congregations always have a kind of penumbra of not-members, people who are in sympathy but don’t attend except possibly for special events. They’re like cousins who were raised elsewhere, the same but different. Sometimes those people are in a position to do the group a Great Good, but not all of them take advantage. Don Marble did.

The First Unitarian Church of Helena, Montana, was built at the beginning of the twentieth century (1901) when the city was one of the most progressive and wealthy communities in the West, full of men whose fortunes were founded on copper and gold. Since they were largely educated bankers and engineers from the Boston area, they were likely to be Unitarian. Anxious to prove they were respectable church-goers, they built a solid stone church. At the time the church needed finishing, pledges lagged. So the minister offered moral support to the moguls being put on trial for some of their practices by showing up in court to sit beside them. They had their checkbooks with them. A unique feature of this church is a Tiffany window that is a memorial NOT to that minister, but to his much beloved wife, who was the founder of Helena’s first kindergartens and the hostess of an ecumenical leaders’ group -- priest, rabbi, pastors, no imam that I know of. (Eventually the Catholic church bought the synagogue, which is right behind the cathedral.)

In the Thirties the congregation dwindled and failed. The last remnant leased the building for a purely symbolic amount to the City of Helena in perpetuity with the proviso that it always be used for some valid and cultural civic purpose. It was converted to a library after its raked seating floor was leveled and the stage covered. In the urban renewal days decades later, the library was able to expand to a state of the art building on Last Chance Gulch which was converted to a mall. The destruction and rebuilding of Helena was now supervised by a group not in the least Unitarian. They did not read the contract concerning the old library and were inclined to sell it to a company looking for a classy building for a restaurant suitable for a capital city where it was necessary to wine and dine politicians.

Don Marble is the man who saved the First Unitarian Church from being converted to an eatery by pressing the enforcement of the lease. He was not living in Helena and he was not a Unitarian. Rather he was a Methodist pillar of the community of Chester, up on the “highline” where politicians dread to go, a model town full of cultural enlightenment. If I had to name an honest lawyer in Montana, I could have named Marble until he closed his office.

Now the stone building has become the Grand Street Theatre with the raked seats restored and the stage intact, a worthy part of the vigorous amateur theatre scene in Montana and a proud consequence of Unitarian foresight, buttressed by a Methodist with a sense of what is right and graceful.

When I was ordained in 1983, we asked to borrow the church back. The set onstage was “Death of a Saleman,” and the proscenium had no curtain, so I was given my vows in front of an old-fashioned kitchen and two unmade beds. I was proud. The attendees brought pillar candles for footlights and banners for the walls. No need for a cross. The bigshot ministers who came to do the ordination/installation wore their robes, red for Harvard, blue for Princeton, and standard black. It was world-making. We borrowed the theatre a few times more, but then the theatre’s board became nervous that we might try to claim the church back. They needn’t have worried. We couldn’t, we wouldn’t, and if we had tried it, I think Don Marble might have intervened to protect them.

As I’ve moved around the state over the last half-century, I’d run into Don Marble at cultural events in unexpected places, and sometimes embarrassed myself by not recognizing him. He wasn’t particularly tall or fat or bald or otherwise remarkable. But he was incredibly intelligent and just, which are internal qualities. He made a huge difference in the quality of Montana life.

From the Great Falls Tribune:

CHESTER -- Donald Marble, 72, of Chester, a former attorney and Liberty County commissioner who was active in numerous community and environmental organizations died of pancreatic cancer August 22 in Tucson, Arizona. The memorial service was held at the Chester United Methodist Church.

Donald Raymond Marble was born April 10, 1938, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the son of Jack and Mona Marble of Kalamazoo. He graduated from Richland (Michigan) High School in 1956, and received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1963 from the University of Michigan.

During his unviersity years, Don was a summer employee of the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho and Montana, primarily working as a smokejumper. After college he was employed as an engineer for NASA in Mountain View, CA, and worked on landing gear for the moon mission.

Seeking a simpler, rural lifestyle, Don moved to Montana where he attended law school at the University of Montana School of Law, graduating in 1967. While in Missoula, Don met Harriet Pirkle, whom he married in June, 1965. Don’s legal career began in Havre, MT, with the Legal Services program, through which he provided legal aid to people iin Liberty, Blaine and Hill counties, including the Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap reservations. In 1970 Don joined the law first of Paul Bunn in Chester, MT. He practiced law in Chester until 2002, when he closed his private practice after being elected to the Liberty County Commission, on which he served for six years.

Community involvement was important to Don, and he served the state and his profession through a variety of board positions, including the Montana Committee for the Humanities, the Montana Commission on Practices and the Montana Board of Environmental Review. He was a longtime member of the Montana Wilderness Association for which he served a term as vice president. He also was actively engaged in environmental groups, including the Sweetgrass Hills Protective Association, Montana Environmental Information, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, the Montana Audubon, and Friends of the Missouri Breaks Monument.

THE FOLLOWING SECTION WAS INCLUDED IN THE GLACIER REPORTER BUT NOT THE GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE:

Don used his legal expertise to assist in the many contexts in which he served. In their remembrances of Don, the Montana Environmental Information Center said: "Among the many important victories, Don represented the grassroots citizen groups Red Thunder and Island Mountain Protectors on Montana's Fort Belknap Reservation in their attempts to prevent the wholesale destruction of the Little Rocky Mountains by open-pit cyanide heap-leach gold mining. It was Don's legal work that resulted in the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision to halt the expansion of the Zortman and Landusky mines, a major factor in Pegasus Gold's bankruptcy and ultimate demise."

Don was instrumental in the building of both Prairie Homes and the Sweetgrass Lodge in Chester. He served several terms on the board of Liberty Arts Council. He helped bring public television to Liberty County. During the past few years, Don enjoyed doing the research and development necessary to bring wind power to the hi-line. Don represented the County Commission on the Liberty County Hospital Board, and he chaired the Liberty County Mental Health Board. For many years, he helped to lead the Adult Great Books Discussion Groups as a part of the community's adult education program. He was active in the Chester United Methodist Church and served faithfully as mission chair. He led the church's efforts to support El Pouvenir and traveled under this group's auspices to Nicaragua to help build sanitary facilities in remote areas there.

Don enjoyed being outdoors. His favorite pastimes included gardening, hiking, river floating, camping, cross-country skiing and the development and maintenance of a bluebird trail. Don was an avid reader. He could usually be found with reading material at hand, whether it was a newspaper, a favorite book -- ranging from spy and mystery novels to books about archeology or western/Native American history -- or one of the many magazines he loved. He also enjoyed writing poetry. Don loved quality literature and music. He and Harriet enjoyed their regular trips to Great Falls to hear performances by the Great Falls Symphony.

Don is survived by his wife Harriet; sons Justin (Vanessa) of Gaithersburg, Md., and Jay (Myrla) of Tucson, AZ; granddaughters Ivana and Alejandra’ brothers Charles of Munisine, MI; and Phillip of Galesburg, MI; and sister Judy George of Sturgis, MI. His parents preceded him in death.

Contributions are directed to Friends of the Missouri River Foundation, 224 W. Main St. Suite 202, Lewistown, MT 59457; or Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, PO Box 181, East Glacier. MT 59434.