Supreme court justice, jammer driver dies at 98

John Harrison, the longest-serving Montana Supreme Court justice and a Depression-era jammer bus driver in Glacier National Park, died Nov. 11 at 98 years old.

Born in Minnesota, Harrison attended Montana State College in Bozeman and law school at the University of Montana in Missoula, where he met his future wife Virginia. He drove the Park's historic red tour buses in the summers of 1936, 1937, 1939 and 1940.

Harrison graduated from George Washington University Law School, in Washington, D.C., in 1940. During World War II, he joined the Army and worked in England on the Allies' D-Day invasion plans, where he rose to the rank of colonel.

Looking back in 2005, Harrison recalled surviving the Utah Beach landing in Normandy and hearing a man call out, "One-twelve, what the hell are you doing here?" It was a fellow jammer driver from Glacier Park recalling the number of the red bus Harrison once drove.

The Harrisons moved to Helena in 1946. Harrison worked as an attorney for Lewis and Clark County and for the Fort Belknap tribe before being elected to the state supreme court in 1960. He was re-elected four times and retired in 1994 after serving 34 years straight.

When the Parks' fleet of historic red buses were refurbished by the Ford Motor Co. and brought back to service in 2002, Harrison showed up for the celebratory events. In addition to Bus 112, Harrison had driven buses 96, 90 and 62.

Things were different back in the Depression, he recalled. Headlights were illuminated by carbide, not electricity, and Bus 68 had a crank-start. While the refurbished buses stayed fairly close to the spirit of the era, with black plastic replica fenders, they now have automatic transmissions so drivers don't have to jam gears, Harrison noted.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Harrison's service to the state and the country. Funeral services were held Nov. 19 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, in Helena.