Former state representative to leave area
ALBERTON – After over 20 years of service to the community, including eight years in state government, former state representative Sylvia Reinicke will be moving out of the area.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, Reinicke came to Mineral County in 1990 and began building a house on land she bought in 1989. At the time, she lived in the Alberton area.
Reinicke served on the Montana House of Representatives from January 1997 to December 2004. She represented House District 14 all eight years of her time in office. Reinicke said she tended to vote in a moderate-conservative style.
“I’m very conservative,” she said. “But [when voting] I like to consider myself somewhere between a moderate and a conservative.”
Reinicke said she felt unfulfilled in retirement. She explained how she felt she still needed to give back and serve in some way. When she saw in the paper how nobody had run to be the district’s republican representative, she saw her opportunity. She applied and began campaign efforts for the office.
Reinicke said she enjoyed the experience very much and misses it to this day. However, she said age caught up and her memory has not been as good as it once was. As a result, she cannot live like she did at the time.
According to Reinicke, she spent most of the year at home in Mineral County and only lived in Helena when the house was in session. For 90 days every other year, she would leave to go act as the area’s spokesperson for state issues. When Reinicke went to the capitol, she would usually rent a place to stay.
“There’s a lot of places you can rent,” she said. “People who go south for the winter rent out their homes.”
The trials to keep a family and a political career were not an issue for Reinicke. When she first served, she was already retired at 62 and her children fully grown. Retired with no kids in need of care, her husband would go with her to Helena and do activities like ice fishing while Reinicke was in session.
The legislative experience was fairly easy for Reinicke and she dealt with the stress well. With a background in outside sales, she was used to rejection and the difficulties of negotiation. She recognized how everyone had different views on subjects and felt everything worked out for everyone. However, she also recognized the way things had changed over time.
When she served on the house it was a different time for politics. She recalled how she would have lunch with the democratic representatives and got along well with everyone. Reinicke’s philosophy was to “agree to disagree” and she always tried to be kind when dealing with others. This is something she feels has changed in the U.S.
“I think it was a kinder, gentler time than what’s going on in our society now,” Reinicke said.
Reinicke will be moving to Wichita Kansas in the near future. She still has family there who she would like to be closer to. She also looks forward to the culture and feel of a larger city again. Though she will miss her friends from church and the people she regularly had lunch with, Reinicke felt the change was needed.
“It’s better off for me,” she said. “It’s a preemptive move to where I can be healthier and live for longer.”
However, according to Reinicke, this is not the end. She still plans to come back to Mineral County to visit her family and friends in Montana.