Legacy of a Name (Stephen Salusso)
In 1952, the U.S. developed the first hydrogen bomb, following on the heels of Britain’s atom bomb. The Korean War would still continue for four years before it ended. Hemmingway and Steinbeck both published novels, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio, and Superman died. And while all the world writhed in conflict and birthed major events, Stephen Bernard was born in Butte, MT on January 18th. When he was four, his family moved out to Divide, MT. My father has lived an entire life of driven pursuit of provision.
Even as a very young child, he was given many responsibilities. He told me of the summers he acted as a human fence, guarding the fields and garden from bovine invasion. He also helped feed and milk the cows while he was in grade school at Divide School. In addition to the hay, they fed potatoes to the cows. His mom, Ruth, would drive into Butte and pick up a carload of people to help with the potato harvest, and then fill large sacks with the tubers and pour them down ramps. Dad and the other kids would have to pick out the rocks and sort the good potatoes form the seed ones. They were careful, but still sometimes small rocks would hide among the potatoes, and Dad would occasionally have to dodge the rocks pinging off the barn walls as the cows coughed them up. Papa sold all the cows in 1967 when Dad was a sophomore at Butte High School.
Dad began cross-country skiing in high school, and competed in that sport actively through the end of his senior year and on through college. He went to Montana Tech briefly before transferring to MSU-Bozeman to complete his major in Range Science. He also coached the MSU cross-country team for a year after he had finished college.
Stephen had met and married my mom, Joan Ripley, by August 1977. They met at various ski competitions and, when Mom went to Spokane to finish her schooling in Medical Technology, Dad just “happened” to find reasons to travel to Spokane to see her. My oldest sister was born in 1979, and the next sister, thirteen months after that. The eldest was a toddler just in time to go to the Lake Placid Olympics with my parents, when Dad worked there in 1980.
Right out of college, Dad had grand plans to work for the Bureau of Land Management, but the only openings at the time were in Las Vegas. Instead, he got a job at the pump station in Divide, Montana. During the winter of 1986, he picked up a temporary job at the Montana State Highway Department. This temporary job became a permanent one, and he continues to work for the State today.
Dad inherited the farm because he was the only one of his siblings that showed interest in staying and finding a way to make it produce. He felt responsible for carrying on the legacy that his grandfather Barney had begun. George had worn himself out with working by the time Dad was born, so Dad picked up the slack and pressed forward. Even in college, he went home on the weekends to irrigate and do whatever else needed to be done. During the first few years of his marriage, he would keep his mom’s woodstove stocked and burning, even though Papa was still alive.
My father is the sort of person who serves others, regardless of the cost to himself. When I was young, we took several road trips to visit family friends. The eight of us Salussos would pile into our old blue twelve passenger van and trek across the country. It seemed that whenever we would vacation, Dad would still be working. If our hosts’ faucet leaked, he’d fix it. If the roof was in ill-repair, he’d patch it. Garage need cleaning? Steve was on the job. The year I was born, in 1984, Dad decided to upgrade the irrigation system on the farm, though we were still living on the twenty acres across the Bighole River from the main property. The hand line sprinkler system increased coverage and crop production. We have grown alfalfa mixed hay for as long as I can remember. When we had to replant, we would start with oats, and the oats would provide adequate shade for the young alfalfa crop. After a year or so, the alfalfa would again constitute the main crop.
Several years ago, Dad began to suffer acute pain in his lower back. He had to have both hips replaced, though he was stubborn for years, and put the surgery off for as long as possible. He has very little trust in doctors, and often said he’d go to the doctor when he could no longer walk at all. Hard work and stubborn independence is in his blood, the blood he gave to me. Salussos are stubbornly independent hard workers.
Even as a very young child, he was given many responsibilities. He told me of the summers he acted as a human fence, guarding the fields and garden from bovine invasion. He also helped feed and milk the cows while he was in grade school at Divide School. In addition to the hay, they fed potatoes to the cows. His mom, Ruth, would drive into Butte and pick up a carload of people to help with the potato harvest, and then fill large sacks with the tubers and pour them down ramps. Dad and the other kids would have to pick out the rocks and sort the good potatoes form the seed ones. They were careful, but still sometimes small rocks would hide among the potatoes, and Dad would occasionally have to dodge the rocks pinging off the barn walls as the cows coughed them up. Papa sold all the cows in 1967 when Dad was a sophomore at Butte High School.
Dad began cross-country skiing in high school, and competed in that sport actively through the end of his senior year and on through college. He went to Montana Tech briefly before transferring to MSU-Bozeman to complete his major in Range Science. He also coached the MSU cross-country team for a year after he had finished college.
Tech Skiers to compete
A U.S. Ski Association Northern Division meet this weekend in Dillon will test the skills of the Montana Tech Nordic ski team.
Competition will be Saturday and Sunday at Maverick Mountain (Rainy Mountain) and will pit the Tech team against other squads including Montana State University and the University of Montana.
Tech coach Dr. Paul Sawyer, assistant professor of biological sciences, reports Tech’s Nordic skiers have much better depth and balance than last year. He predicts MSU will be hard to beat, but he admits he knows little about the UM skiers.
MONTANA TECH possesses one of the top skiers in the Northern Division of the U.S. Ski Association in Steve Salusso, a sophomore from Divide. Salusso won the Northern Division cross-country championship last year and recently participated in the Olympic training camp at Big Sky.
Two members of last year’s Northern Division junior national squad, Tom Downey and Rich Barnett, both Butte freshmen, also are on the Tech team. Sawyer said Downey could develop into “one of the best skiers in the Northern Division.”
Rounding out the cross-country team are two other local freshmen, Dick Hofacker and Steve Johnston.
A jumping team, composed of Mike Patterson, a sophomore from Divide, Downey and Barnett, also will compete in the meet.
TRAINS FOR COMPETITION-Steve Salusso, left, star Montana Tech Nordic skier, prepares for this weekend’s U.S. Association Northern Division meet at Maverick Mountain near Dillon. Following Salusso is Tech coach Dr. Paul Sawyer. (Staff Photo by Cliff Moore)
Following the meet Sawyer and Salusso have a busy schedule as members of the Northern Division team. They will enter a 15-kilometer meet in Lyndonville, Vt., Dec. 27, and will compete in the U.S.S.A. men’s relay championship Dec. 29, also at Lyndonville.
SALUSSO WILL engage in the 15-kilometer Olympic tryouts Dec. 31, at Lake Placid, N.Y. Competing in these races with Salusso will be two other Montana skiers, Steve Settle, and Brian Troth of MSU.
Closing the holiday racing schedule for the Montana Tech pair will be a 30-kilometer meet at Craftsbury Common, Vt., Jan. 2.
Stephen had met and married my mom, Joan Ripley, by August 1977. They met at various ski competitions and, when Mom went to Spokane to finish her schooling in Medical Technology, Dad just “happened” to find reasons to travel to Spokane to see her. My oldest sister was born in 1979, and the next sister, thirteen months after that. The eldest was a toddler just in time to go to the Lake Placid Olympics with my parents, when Dad worked there in 1980.
Right out of college, Dad had grand plans to work for the Bureau of Land Management, but the only openings at the time were in Las Vegas. Instead, he got a job at the pump station in Divide, Montana. During the winter of 1986, he picked up a temporary job at the Montana State Highway Department. This temporary job became a permanent one, and he continues to work for the State today.
Dad inherited the farm because he was the only one of his siblings that showed interest in staying and finding a way to make it produce. He felt responsible for carrying on the legacy that his grandfather Barney had begun. George had worn himself out with working by the time Dad was born, so Dad picked up the slack and pressed forward. Even in college, he went home on the weekends to irrigate and do whatever else needed to be done. During the first few years of his marriage, he would keep his mom’s woodstove stocked and burning, even though Papa was still alive.
My father is the sort of person who serves others, regardless of the cost to himself. When I was young, we took several road trips to visit family friends. The eight of us Salussos would pile into our old blue twelve passenger van and trek across the country. It seemed that whenever we would vacation, Dad would still be working. If our hosts’ faucet leaked, he’d fix it. If the roof was in ill-repair, he’d patch it. Garage need cleaning? Steve was on the job. The year I was born, in 1984, Dad decided to upgrade the irrigation system on the farm, though we were still living on the twenty acres across the Bighole River from the main property. The hand line sprinkler system increased coverage and crop production. We have grown alfalfa mixed hay for as long as I can remember. When we had to replant, we would start with oats, and the oats would provide adequate shade for the young alfalfa crop. After a year or so, the alfalfa would again constitute the main crop.
Several years ago, Dad began to suffer acute pain in his lower back. He had to have both hips replaced, though he was stubborn for years, and put the surgery off for as long as possible. He has very little trust in doctors, and often said he’d go to the doctor when he could no longer walk at all. Hard work and stubborn independence is in his blood, the blood he gave to me. Salussos are stubbornly independent hard workers.
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