What Vince Fisher did

A good friend of near 60 years called me last Wednesday from Butte. Vince Fisher was happy as a little kid with a new bike because a long dreamed of book featuring his wildlife photos has been published by Far Country Press. It is called "Four Seasons of Wildlife in Montana and Yellowstone Park."

Photographing flora and fauna is not the only thing I share with Vince. We are alums of The University of Montana, and in 1953 he was my immediate boss at General Motors Acceptance Corporate office in Great Falls. Talking to him last week took me back to those times..

My career with General Motors began with a 1953 Missoula newspaper ad offering a "highly respected position with the world's biggest corporation." On the set day, I went to the Florence Hotel with other hopefuls, filled out forms, had an interview with a man in a suit, then took four hours of tests. Within a week, I got a letter asking me to report at GM's Great Falls office.

Arriving there, they said I was to be a GMAC field representative and someday might be president of General Motors; however, during a subsequent indoctrination, was asked what degree I had. "Degree?" I cracked, "I was only there four years." An officer running the meeting said the job was for a man with a degree, so the head honcho was called in and said, "Ostrom was picked from the Missoula group because he had the highest score on the tests."

After a short "confidential" meeting, I was issued a new car and a brief case. Soon found out GM "Field Reps" mainly chased people who were behind on car payments. I got the assignment, "Highline District" from Browning to North Dakota which included Indian Reservations and other low-income areas.

Worked like a dog, got threatened with guns, fists, tire irons, beer bottles and lawsuits. There were a few females who offered to romp in the hay for a car payment. While waiting for a train home from Havre to Kalispell for the holidays, I repossessed a beat-up old car from a sad lady who had two little kids and nothing under the tree. Said her husband had run off with another woman, so I gave her 10 bucks to buy the kids a toy. Got on the midnight train wonderin' if being president of General Motors was worth it.

All hope for me to run GM ended in March when I refused to repossess a new Buick and a new Oldsmobile from two foremen on the Tiber Dam project. I gave them a 60-day extension, after talking with their boss and dealers. Winter weather had stopped work in the dam, but the boss told me those two would be the first hired back when the weather broke.

In Great Falls Friday night, the chief GMAC officer told me to go back to Havre Saturday and pull in those cars. I tactfully suggested I knew more about the situation up there and had made the proper decision. He decided I was too tired to be reasonable and we'd discuss it Monday.

By Monday, he hadn't changed his mind. "If you don't go to Havre and get those cars today, you are fired." My answer was easy. "My decision remains correct. Yours is wrong; therefore I quit." As I put the briefcase and car keys on his desk, he said it would be on my record forever that I was fired.

I was slurping coffee in the next door restaurant a half hour later when my field boss, Vince Fisher, called on the phone and reported he'd found two GM dealers who would hire me. The best bet was sales manager of the Chevrolet dealership in Lewistown.

Knowing Vince had called from the office where he was under the guy who'd just "fired" me, I felt great gratitude and respect. We've remained friends through the years since. After quitting GMAC, Vince became president of a bank in Butte, which is now part of the vast Glacier Bank system. He's "sorta" retired but keeps his hand in the banking business, serving on a Glacier advisory board.

I didn't say anything about it in our discussion last week; however, I'm sure Vince knows if he ever gets fired, I'll be the first to help him ... find a new position.

G. George Ostrom is a national award-winning Hungry Horse News columnist. He lives in Kalispell.