Lions choose Brown as citizen of the year

A familiar face in the Columbia Falls community rose to accept this year's Lion's Club Citizen of the Year award during the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce luncheon Sept. 13.

Dee Brown, who grew up here, attended schools here, taught school here and represented the area in the Montana House until term-limited out, was recognized for her many contributions to the community.

"Volunteers make the world go round," she said. "If not for volunteers, a lot of things in the community would not get accomplished."

Dee Lyngstad was born in North Dakota and moved to Whitefish when she was two. Her father worked for Pacific Power & Light. The family moved to Columbia Falls before she started school, settling down in the Mosquito Flats area - not the best location to be when the 1964 Flood brought high waters to the Flathead.

After graduating from the University of Montana-Missoula, Brown started her 26-year long teaching career in Columbia Falls before transferring to Canyon Elementary School in Hungry Horse.

She retired in 1998 and began working full-time with her husband, Steve, at their Canyon RV campground in Coram. Her three children have grown up and moved on - daughter Dedee is a school principal in Tucson, Ariz., and son Ryan works for Raytheon Computer in New England.

Brown's support for tourism and the Canyon community easily translated into a four-term political career in the Montana House, where she represented the huge Columbia Falls house district.

"I was a member of the first legislative class to be term-limited out under the new law," she said, noting that losing so many legislators with institutional knowledge was a mistake.

Brown is the current president of the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce's board. She has also served on the North Valley Hospital Foundation board and the state's tourism board. Locally, Brown organized the all-class reunion "Columbia Falls - A Class Act" for the 2000 Heritage Days and the former jack-o'-lantern festivals.

"I generally stuck my nose in everything," Brown said, adding that "it's groups like the Lions Club, Kiwanis, the chamber and all the small-town ‘give-back' service groups that make rural Montana run."