Howard Boggess is a member of the Crow Tribe with a passion for history, historic preservation, and museum work. He studies Crow history and has been a key figure in many preservation projects, including the route and stories of the Bozeman Trail, the Northern Plains largest concentration of pictographs at the Weatherman Draw, and the Lewis and Clark site Pompey's Pillar. He has also helped preserve and interpret battlefield sites with the Frontier Heritage Alliance. Boggess has been a part of the Big Horn County Historical Society in Hardin for many years and served on the Board of Directors of the Museums Association of Montana for more than a decade. His determination, enthusiasm, and desire to keep many different organizations and groups working together has brought about great results for the humanities in Montana.

Elizabeth McNamer has devoted her life to connecting the dots with her students and the cultural, religious, artistic, and historical influences that are important for an enlightened educational experience. She is professor of religious thought and Zerek Chair at Rocky Mountain College. McNamer is devoted to mentoring and teaching and has been an advocate for art, humanities and education for decades. She served on the Institute for Peace Studies; was one of the earliest scholars involved in the excavation of Bethsaida; authors a regular column in The Billings Gazette about religion; encourages students to attend symphony and opera; provides scholarships to the Students for Academic Success, which pays for them to attend theatre at Alberta Bair; and speaks internationally on religion and religious tolerance. Read more about Elizabeth McNamer here.

Joe Medicine Crow was the first member of the Crow tribe to obtain a master's degree. He graduated from Linfield College in 1938 and obtained a master's degree in anthropology from the University of California in 1939. His thesis, "The Effects of European Culture Contact Upon the Economic, Social and Religious Life of the Crow Indians" remains the most widely read source on Crow culture. He has also written many books on Crow culture, including two children's books. While he was studying toward a doctorate degree, war broke out and he joined the Army. He became the last war chief of his tribe when he performed the four necessary acts during WWII. For his war deeds and "contributions to the preservation of the culture and history of the First Americans" and "his importance as a role model to young Native Americans across the country" he received America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from Rocky Mountain College in 1999 and the University of California in 2003.

Mardell Plainfeather is an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe and fluent speaker of the Crow language and a distinguished Crow/Absaalooke oral historian. A graduate of the Rocky Mountain College History program, she has been recording, researching, and sharing the history of the Crow/Absaalooke for over 30 years. She continues to be a key historian for translating and transcribing interviews with Crow Elders and historians. Plainfeather has interviewed Crow Indian Elders for Little Bighorn College, the Native Graves Protection & Repatriation Act Project and the Western Heritage Center. She organized and guided tours to the Little Bighorn Battlefield and was National Park Service Ranger at Little Bighorn Battlefield and Fort C.F. Smith for sixteen years. She was Crow Indian field director and exhibit curator for the American Indian Tribal Histories Project of the Western Heritage Center. She is presently on the roster for Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau. Through years of great energy and effort, she has served as an ambassador for Crow history by gathering and sharing hundreds of Crow Indian oral histories through translations, transcriptions, exhibits, educational programs, and publications.

Janine Pease is an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe. She was the founding president of Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency, which she guided from an abandoned gymnasium with little funding into an accredited, modern college in the 18 years she was there. She established the Crow Indian Archives to preserve records, letters, photographs, histories and research on Crow culture. She was the lead plaintiff in voting rights litigation against Big Horn County, which resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a Montana state law that had discriminated against the voting rights of American Indians. She is currently the head of the Crow Tribe's Department of Education. Her dedication to improving educational opportunities for American Indians and preserving the culture and history of the Crow Tribe are lasting contributions to the humanities in Montana.

Ben Steele, artist and educator, fought on the front lines against the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula, made the Bataan Death March, and survived three and one half years a prisoner of the Japanese. His World War II POW Collection of 11 oils and 82 drawings is now a part of the permanent collection of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture at the University of Montana. Ben is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and holds degrees from Kent State University and Denver University. He worked as a Staff Director for Department of Army for seven years before returning to Montana to teach generations of Montana artists at Montana State University-Billings. He headed the Art Department and retired as Professor of Art Emeritus. Ben's Montana landscapes in oil and watercolor grace public and private collections across the country. Always a Bull Mountain boy, the most amazing thing about Ben Steele is his remarkable good humor and his joy in living every day.

Karen Stevenson consistently advocates for programs and grants in her region and is committed to supporting the humanities in eastern Montana. She was part of Humanities Montana's Speakers Bureau performing her living history presentation of Evelyn Cameron, British ex-pat, brilliant photographer of eastern Montana, and all-around eccentric for several years. Stevenson also played the silhouette actress in the MT/PBS documentary, Evelyn Cameron: Pictures from a Worthy Life. She brought Cameron's wit, oddity, and love of place to life and led audiences to a better understanding of a refined woman's life on the rough-and-tumble plains. Stevenson continued to study and champion strong women in eastern Montana through her biography Elsie Fox: Portrait of an Activist. Stevenson served on the Board of Directors of Humanities Montana for three years and brought passion and dedication to her work.

Heroes honored on April 21, 2012 at Carroll College in Helena (more photos)

Articles about the heroes and event can be read here, here, and here.

Ed Noonan is Executive Director of the Myrna Loy Center. His visionary arts leadership has funneled financial and logistical support to music, dance, and literature projects from the local to the national level. He supports artists in Helena through the Myrna Loy Grants to Artists program, the Helena Festival of the Book, and other grant programs that help local artists survive and grow. He also serves as adjunct theater professor at Carroll College, where he has taught for many years. He has been the producer of the Helena Theatre Company, one of the top ensemble theater companies in Montana. Noonan is also a long-time playwright, poet, and novelist. Through it all, he nurtures and mentors young people of all walks of life.

In 1972, Betty Babcock was elected and served in the Constitutional Convention, an acknowledged special contributor. In 1974, she served in the Legislature. She authored two cookbooks; proceeds from The First Ladies' Cookbook went to the Montana Centennial Commission to help defray the cost of celebrating the territorial centennial. In the '90s, Babcock focused her volunteer efforts on the restoration of the State Capitol. By the mid '90's, the State's "Crown Jewel" had fallen into a state of disrepair and was in need of extensive exterior and interior upgrades. With Babcock at the helm, the Capitol Restoration Foundation sought to raise money for the restoration projects as well as create a general awareness about the historic importance of the "People's Place." The last few years, Betty has been working to establish new Montana Historical Society building by lobbying for legislative action.

A great granddaughter of Mountain Chief, one of the legendary Indian leaders of the west, the late Elouise Cobell is a true heroine and known to many as the tenacious lead plaintiff in the successful suit against the federal government over the mismanagement of Indian Trust funds and for her recognition as a McArthur genius awardee. Her courage, spirit and determination were an integral part of the lawsuit and in many other initiatives which she began and then inspired others to continue. Cobell was also a valued member of the Board of Directors of the Montana Community Foundation. She made her reservation, her state, her country and the world a better place, serving as an inspiration to us all of how one person, with undying vision, courage and determination can make the difference.

Les Davis has contributed more than any other individual to the field of archaeology in Montana. Not only has he published monographs and articles, but he has always taken the time to translate archaeology for the general public through films, public presentations, and popular articles. He understands archaeology is much more than the stones and bones left behind and seeks to bring his broader understanding of the humanities into the interpretation of the artifacts. His early career focus on ethnography, working with several tribal communities in the state, no doubt contributed to this expansive view of the past. Most recently, in April, 2011, the Montana Archaeological Society honored Dr. Davis with a Lifetime Achievement Award, the only one they've ever given.

Helen and William Ballinger have been long term supporters of music, art and education in Helena. At a time when other couples have retired, packed up, and headed south, the Ballingers have continued to be active in the Helena community. They are tireless advocates of a better town. They serve as true role models for how to live an active and meaningful life.

Over the last thirty years, Barry Ferst has directed, coordinated, co-directed or consulted in at least 24 humanities events at Carroll and other locations. He has publicly presented on humanities topics at universities, colleges and other venues across the country and internationally. Ferst is tireless scholar and teacher. In addition to his book on early Christianity, Sunday School Sins, and a humorous mythology about Montana life, Montana: High Rise and Handsome, he presently has a contract for a classroom text on Islam, and is finishing a defining work on Roman sarcophagi. He has traveled to over 40 countries, driving the deserts of Syria and Jordan, and even rowing the Nile at Luxor.

Yvonne Seng has an impressive record as a scholar and public intellectual. The first non-Muslim woman allowed into the religious law archives of Istanbul, she researched the lives of 16th-century women in the time of Suleyman the Magnificent and worked as an archaeologist and a professor of Islamic Studies in Washington D.C. and Princeton. Yvonne has written widely on the history and culture of the Middle East, was a speaker at the State of the World Forum in 2000, and was named "a force for positive turbulence" by the Center for Creative Leadership. But it is in her role as Curator of Art at the Holter, Helena's contemporary art museum that Yvonne Seng has emerged as a Montana Humanities Hero. The Holter Museum has long been known for its wide-ranging exhibitions and educational programs and its commitment to exposing its audience to the art of many cultures, together with the art of Montana and our broader region. Seng was determined to provide context for the art, and in so doing, she further broadened the Holter's audience and deepened our understanding of both our regional heritage and the traditions of far distant cultures.

Bonnie Williamson is the Director of the Havre-Hill County Library in Havre and has served her community by bringing a wide variety of humanities programs and services to the area with an emphasis on quality, richness and partnership for a very long time. Due to Williamson the Havre-Hill Library has brought hundreds of programs to the Havre community—using Humanities Montana Speaker's Bureau, One Book, Reading Groups or special events liberally throughout the years. Her efforts at bringing in resources have been extremely successful; for example the NEA's Big Read program provided great opportunities for highlighting classic literature; a Gates Foundation improved library technology; and private donations helped bring new genealogical research tools to library patrons. Williamson's contributions gained her the Montana Library Association's Sheila Cates Librarian of the Year Award in 1994 and the Library of the Year Award for the Havre-Hill County Library in 1998. Read more about Bonnie Williamson here.

Heroes honored on January 26, 2012 at the Ursuline Center in Great Falls (more photos)

Norma Ashby was a longtime KRTV television personality, who after leaving the station in the 1980s kept her community profile high by her civic work that has included serving on the board of the Cascade County Historical Society Museum and establishing the state program to recognize a history teacher of the year with a ringing of the Montana Centennial Bell at the Capitol. She is a member of the Montana Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She was a founder of the Russell Art Auction and involved in many community events. She is a board member of the Greater Montana Foundation.

Jim Heckel is a retired Great Falls Public Librarian. He has long been a champion of civil liberties and civil discourse. He fought attempts by the federal government to gain access to public library checkout lists and other provisions of the Patriot Act on the grounds that they infringed on privacy. In his years in Great Falls he initiated internet connectivity and public computer use and established a foreign film program. He was a 1996 winner of the Montana Library Association's Pat Williams Intellectual Freedom Award. He has served on many local and statewide boards, including Humanities Montana, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center Board of Directors.

George Horse Capture has devoted his life to studying, preserving, and sharing the traditional culture and heritage of Plains Indian peoples. He served as the curator of the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, before joining the staff of the National Museum of the American Indian. There, Horse Capture played a central role in establishing a new home for that institution on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Horse Capture then returned to his native Montana, where he completed his lifelong effort to locate and assemble an extensive database of information on his tribe, the A'aninin Gros Ventre of Montana. He has remained active in the museum field as a consultant and board member of the Montana Historical Society.

Arlyne Riechert has been involved in numerous historic preservation projects and civic and civil discourse campaigns in Great Falls for the past 40 years. Elected to the Constitutional Convention on a unicameral legislature platform, she later served a term in the Montana Legislature (1977), where she continued the fight for a unicameral legislature. She was involved in the founding of the Great Falls Public Radio Association that brought public radio to Great Falls in 1982. In recent years she is best known for her historical preservation efforts with founding of Preservation Great Falls and her fight to prevent the demolition of the architecturally significant 10th Street Bridge. She was a long-time League of Women's Voters activist.