No matter where Harriet S. Dusenberry roamed across the globe, she always called Montana home.
Harriet, born on a ranch in Lavina on July 24, 1911, cherished the stories from a simpler time growing up on the Trask Ranch along the Musselshell River.
She wanted her 3-year old granddaughter, Dru, to know what a frontier Christmas was like for her as a child, but she couldn’t just sit Dru down on her knee and share her experiences - granddaughter lived in Bozeman, and grandmother lived thousands of miles away in Nepal.
In 1952, Harriet and her husband, Harold, moved to Kathmandu on a two-year assignment with the U.S. Agency for International Development. This was the first time the couple had ever left the state of Montana.
“So my Grandma decided to write me a story,” Dru Dusenberry Robidou explained.
She found a Nepalese artist, named Chaitanya Muni Bajracharya, to create illustrations, showing him an American Christmas magazine and the work of Norman Rockwell so he could visualize the style.
Harriet asked the artist to design a rough draft of painted pictures, but instead, he returned with a gorgeous, finished product. The book cost Harriet several hundred rupees, much more than she could afford at the time, but still she was pleased. The book was perfectly done just as her mind had imagined it.
Harriet waited to give her handmade book to Dru until she was old enough to handle the valuable piece with care and appreciate it.
After a very full life, Harriet S. Dusenberry, 93, passed away on May 11, 2005 at her home in Bozeman.
This last fall, Dru published her grandmother’s thoughtful chronicle of Christmas on a Montana homestead in the 1900’s.
The book, “Yes, I Remember Well - A Montana Christmas When I Was a Little Girl,” depicts scenes of the Christmas program at the Lavina Church, all of the family members making their own gifts, and riding the horse-drawn sleigh to Holiday dinner.
The lively and colorful illustrations are old-fashioned yet magical. The Nepalese artist, who had never traveled to the United States himself, captured with amazing detail the lives of Montana frontier families.
Dru added her own touch to the final pages of the book. Old photos and “the family story behind her grandmother’s Christmas story” are compelling for both young and old readers.
“My great, great grandpa, Daniel Slayton, left Virginia to start his dream ranch in Montana,” Dru said. “He got off the train in Livingston and walked 80 miles to White Sulphur Springs. That adventurous spirit was passed down from generation to generation to my Grandma.”
And that frontier spirit was passed along to Dru, as well.
For 25 years, Dru and her husband, John, ran a hunting and fishing outfitting business north of Gardiner. Later, they started another summer and fall outfitting business in British Columbia. Currently, they own and operate a ranch near Martinsdale. They have six grown children and nine grandchildren.
“My Grandma always said that the best things you can give your children are roots and wings,” Dru said. “Her parent’s gave her that, and this book was a gift from her travels.”
After seven years in Nepal, Harriet and Harold Dusenberry continued to take assignments across the world, working in the African countries of Uganda and Ghana, touring more than 50 countries. They were gone for 15 years, returning home to Montana one month out of the year.
“They dined with kings and dignitaries,” Dru said. “They greeted Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norway after they conquered Mount Everest.”
Every week throughout her travels across the globe, Harriet sent a letter back home to her family detailing her adventures.
Soon after they returned to Montana, the Dusenberry’s bought a “winter home” in Arizona.
“But they didn’t keep it long,” Dru explained. “They never wanted to go there. They loved Montana too much. And Grandma didn’t want to be away during her favorite time of the year. She loved a white Christmas.”
To purchase a copy of “Yes, I Remember Well - A Montana Christmas When I Was a Little Girl” by Harriet S. Dusenberry contact DruAnn Robidou at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 406-572-3692.
( 3 Votes )
