Berneking is Grand Marshal, Duncan is Fair Lady

This is really a real honor and a privilege to be the grand marshal,” said Herman Berneking. “They had a lot of people to choose from and I’m humbled they chose me.”

His mother was the Mineral County Fair grand marshal many years ago and he thinks because of that and the organizations that he has been involved in over the years may have tipped the scale in his favor for the position. 

“I think of all the years I was with the (VFW) Honor Guard in the parades and so many friends did it (grand marshal) but I was hesitant for only one reason when asked. When Ed Heppe was the grand marshal, he broke his ankle getting into the rig. But my mother survived it. So did Jim DeBree. I guess I’ll be OK,” he said.

Born in Fargo, North Dakota and during World War II, his family lived in Mare Island in the Bay area of California. 

“Then in March of 1947, we were headed back to North Dakota on the train and stopped in Missoula. My aunt and uncle, who lived up Flat Creek, come and picked us up and one thing lead to another and we never left. My dad managed Frenchie’s Dairy just west of Superior.” 

After graduation from Superior High School in 1962, Berneking enlisted in the Navy. After four and a half years, including a deployment to Vietnam on the USS Enterprise, he was ready to become a civilian. He moved and lived in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the infamous Summer of Love in 1967. 

Eventually, he moved back home to Superior and took a summer job with BNSF Railway that lasted 34 years. 

“It was a heck of a long summer,” he grins. 

Berneking has been a strong community volunteer over the years. He has filled every position possible with VFW Post 6238 and is currently their chaplin. Along with Ed Heppe, a vehicle was secured from the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and a chapter developed which has grown over the years providing veterans rides to medical appointments in Missoula and Fort Harrison in Helena. He established a scholarship in his mother’s name that is eligible to any high school senior that has attended 12 years of public education in Mineral County. Berneking was also a member of the Mineral County Community Foundation in their early years. 

“I’ve been with many organizations where I’ve helped out or donated my time to but it was the (Superior) Senior Center that really propelled me after I retired.” 

He discovered he was not bad at writing grants when he was awarded a paved parking lot and an underground sprinkler system for the center. 

When reminiscing he closes with, “Some names and times and places have been changed to protect the innocent. The guilty? We are what we are,” he bellows! Herman Berneking deserves to be the Grand Marshall!

The Fair Lady for this year is Rose Duncan who has been lovingly known to many as the "Go-to person in Mineral County." 

“If no one knows who to contact in a given situation, they show up at my door to find a possible solution,” she chuckles. “Many of my first conversations with people begins with, ‘So-and-so sent me to see you because they don’t know how to do this or who to call about it, but they said you would know.” 

Having 30-plus years working with the public, she knows who to call if she doesn’t have the answer. Rosselyn Duncan was born in Chester, Montana and landed with her family in Superior in 1958. Her father, Fred, helped in the building of the new Diamond Match Mill. 

She married her high school sweetheart when she graduated from Superior High School in 1970 but it was not meant to be. Rose met Harry Love and they were together for the next 41 years until his passing in 2014 and during that time, she had several occupations. From bartender to bar manager to the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office as secretary, civil clerk, dispatcher, jailer, investigator and even as a deputy. But when she went to work for the Human Resource Council, Duncan said that she found her calling. 

“The job was all about assisting and advocating for low-income residents with various needs. It could be affordable housing, commodities, heating assistance, home weatherization even youth employment, or other needs.” 

She retired from HRC in 2017 but has gone back to help them as needed. Then she joined the Mineral County Food Bank in 1990. 

“I was the secretary for many years and I’m currently the treasurer and some refer to me as the unofficial Fund-Raising Co-Coordinator,” Duncan said. 

The current need for capital is to either remodel or replace the building they purchased in 2022. Once the engineering reports ae completed, the board of directors will know which direction they need to proceed.

While employed with the MCSO, Duncan formed a group calling themselves The Women’s Auxiliary which was youth focused with fundraising to promote children’s activities. They brought back the Easter Egg Hunt and gathered prizes from businesses. They helped Women in Timber dye the eggs and then hide what needed to be hidden early on the day of the event. 

The organization passed the torch to the Mineral County Search & Rescue who still runs it to this day. Their Bike Fairs taught riding and helmet safety while ‘bike-ologists’ inspected and repaired children’s bicycles as needed. They helped sponsor trips to the Shrine Circus in Missoula. 

“That was when the school used to provide buses to take the kids. We made sack lunches for the children to take with them and helped out with the gas,” Duncan shared. 

The Women’s Auxiliary sponsored pictures with Santa and held craft fairs during the holidays. However, the group disbanded after 12 years due to members passing away with others moving and replacement volunteers were not to be found. By then, most of Duncan’s extra time was taken up with the MCFB business.

Berneking and Duncan will be featured in the Mineral County Fair Parade on Saturday, Aug. 3, waving, smiling and helping flood the streets with candy.

    Rose Duncan is the 2024 Mineral County Fair Lady who will be present on the fairgrounds Aug. 1-3.