St. Regis Senior Spotlight: Judy Stang

Name: Judy Stang

St. Regis Resident: Since 1958

Graduation: 1971 from St. Regis High School

What did you do after high school? Went to Montana State University in Bozeman, Graduated with a Social Justice degree in 1975.

What is the earliest memory that you have? Probably losing my crayon under my aunt Leona’s couch when I was 3 or 4 years old. We lived in Missoula and moved to Saint Regis in 1958. My folks bought the St. Regis Camp; it had old log cabins and the grocery store. My mom told my dad he wasn’t keeping her here more than six months...I do remember that. We all know how long my mom lived here.

Do you have any fears or phobias? Phobia...snakes and scorpions.

Fears...that something might happen to one of my family members.

How do you handle stress? I would say I drink...but when I am stressed it seems to get better if you just wait a day.

What were your favorite toys growing up and what were they like? Didn’t really have toys. Had some dolls, but I think I liked playing with trucks in the dirt pile or making mud pies. Everyone played outside till it was dark, hide and seek or tag.

How did you decide on a career? What would your dream job be? My career, I sort of just fell into it, it was not planned. When I graduated I had moved back to Saint Regis to help my parents at our family business. I had asked my Dad to borrow $500 to move back to Bozeman, he said I had to earn it...so I never left Saint Regis. Worked at my family business, was a Mineral County commissioner for 18 years, and have been selling real estate for 24 years. So I ended up in the service industry basically for all of these jobs...never really regretted it. I often thought a great job would be one where you did not have to make some unpleasant decisions, or give folks some bad news. I really love helping people and all of these jobs have gave me that pleasure. It’s really important to listen to people, you learn more when you do that. It took awhile when your younger you just want to jump in and give your opinion. When your older, you learn to wait until you are asked.

What do you think makes a friendship last? I’m not sure...I have friends that I had since the first grade, friends I met the first week of college, and friends I just have things in common with, they are all special, we all share a bond somehow. If I don’t see one for 10 years, things pick up like you just saw them. The greatest thing right now is I have a lot of friends I had in high school everyone got busy raising kids and going on with their life, it seems we all have time to see each other once in a while now. It’s really important to be the kind of person your friends are drawn to, be positive. Keep that sense of humor even in those disasters that happen in our lives. Friends are the ones you can laugh, cry, look like crap, tell anything and you just trust them. They give you advice and encouragement, they are there in a minute when needed. I think friendships last because of all of the above. Sometimes just being with your friends makes your day!

Was bullying a problem at your school? Why or why not? We had bullying in school. I don’t think it was as bad as now with all of the internet and media. Kids have so much more social media to deal with now, we never knew all of the things that are out there today. We kind of took care of it ourselves when we were young. Seems like there was always some kid who stuck up for the underdog and would help a person who was being bullied. We had a few fistfights, but nothing like today. It was no fun to be the new kid in school, but after a few incidents, they usually fit in. My parents told me I had to treat everyone the same. We hung out with everyone and we didn’t really have clicky groups. Maybe it was just because we were a small school. I am sure it is an awful fear for parents. I worry every day about my great nieces and nephews being bullied.

What would you do if you won the lottery? Hmmm....I am sure I would pay off any outstanding bills, give some to my family, donate a lot to local entities, golf course, fire departments, library, schools, museum, community center, create some kind of pet rescue in Mineral County. Keep it in my community and save for retirement. I might even stop working, although I like working so not sure on that one. Go shopping, take my friends to Hawaii, they know who they are....