Remember When

30 YEARS AGO • SEPTEMBER 6, 1990

T.F. CIVIC LEADER LOVHAUG DIES

Thompson Falls lost a community leader last week when an unexpected heart attack claimed longtime resident Leonard Lovhaug.

Lovhaug was pronounced dead at Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains after being taken there by ambulance after collapsing at the home of Chris and Ruby Stobie on the Eddy Flat.

Chris Stobie said he was just returning home when Lovhaug pulled into his driveway ahead of him. Leonard expressed that he was feeling ill and asked if he could go inside to clean up. He told Chris he had just finished his shift with the Lions Club at the Sanders County Fair and felt he was sick because of something he ate.

Lovhaug went inside and Stobie called Leonard’s wife to ask if he had been sick. When Lovhaug came out of the bathroom, Stobie said he was looking awfully sick and called for an ambulance. Lovhaug slumped down next to the stairs and became unconscious.

An ambulance driver for the Plains ambulance happened to be driving by when he heard an ambulance page over the radio and he responded to the Stobie house. He immediately began CPR and continued until the ambulance arrived.

Lovhaug was pronounced dead, apparently of a heart attack, when he arrived at Clark Fork Valley Hospital.

His death left both the Thompson Falls City Council and the Thompson Falls Volunteer Fire Department without a leader. Lovhaug was the longest serving current member of the council. He had served with the fire department for over 30 years and had served as the chief since 1986.

He was past president of the Thompson Falls Lions Club and served many years as club secretary. He was a former trustee of Thompson Falls School District 2

Active in fraternal organizations he was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Order of Eastern Star and was a member and treasurer of the Clark Fork Valley Shrine Club. He was a member of the Algeria Temple and its Ambassadors Club in Helena and the Scottish Rite Bodies in Missoula. He attended the Community Congregational Church.

Mr. Lovhaug was born May 9, 1933 in Kalispell to Norman and Edna Lovhaug. He moved with his family in 1945 to Thompson Falls and was graduated from Thompson Falls High School in 1952. After graduation, he served with the U.S. Army in the Korean War.

Leonard Lovhaug truly was a mover and a shaker in the town of Thompson Falls. He certainly helped shape the community by leadership and pitching in and helping.

M.P.C. TO BUILD PARK

Montana Power has made an offer towards the Wild Goose Landing park that will be tough to refuse.

According to park board chairman Dan Whittenburg, the Montana based corporation has offered to completely fund the completion of the park and do it within the next two years. That would include finishing the boat dock, installing bathrooms with water and sewer hook-ups, landscaping and an underground sprinkler system.

They have indicated they want to begin the project as early as next spring, with the boat dock to be ready for use by Memorial Day, 1991.

Whittenburg said the deal has one catch, though, the City of Thompson Falls needs to assume responsibility for the long term maintenance of the park and its facilities. That would include regular cleaning of bathrooms, mowing the grass, watering and general policing of the grounds.

This summer the city attempted to gather support for a recreation facility maintenance district that would fund maintenance in facilities like the park that are used by city and county residents. That proposal was turned down by the commissioners.

When the park property was originally purchased, it was done with cooperation and donations from a number of service organizations who later became representatives on the park board of directors.

Whittenburg said he feels those same organizations would be willing to donate towards a trust fund and any balance could be made up with fundraising efforts.

He said he was quite pleased with Montana Power’s offer, made by Elvin Fitzhug, an officer in charge of coordinating recreational development with respect to company facilities.