Hollensteiner Foundation continuing legacy of giving back to the community

Jim Hollensteiner and his late wife Wanda have built a legacy of supporting area nonprofits. It’s work he and their children continue today through the family’s foundation.

Hollensteiner recently turned 91, but that doesn’t stop him from still being engaged with the community. He recently retired from the Flathead Lakers after serving 20 years on their board of directors, though he still regularly attends meetings. He still serves on a few boards and is active with many others, including Rotary, which he has been a part of since joining Chicago’s Rotary One Club, the first established club in the country.

“They (the various boards) don’t take up all that much time, now I've got meetings maybe every month, there's one board that only meets every two months, and then I'm involved in committee meetings or I'm out talking to people asking if they want to join,” Hollensteiner said.

Hollensteiner, who’s family has been in the Flathead Valley since the late 1800s, said he was heavily involved with the Rotary’s fight to eradicate polio, worked on federal banking legislation in the 1960s and met three U.S. presidents — among many other accomplishments.

He has a long, storied life, but what he and Wanda may be best known for locally is their philanthropy. In 2018, the couple donated $1 million to the Flathead Valley Community College for their Wachholz College Center. The College Center is set to house many things, such as a performance hall and basketball court, it will also include the Wanda Hollensteiner Gallery. Wanda, who was a lover of the arts and spent her life as an accomplished piano teacher, passed away in 2020.

Hollensteiner said they started the foundation 25 years ago and they give out around $200,000 annually to local nonprofits and many others across the country and internationally. They have prefered donating to causes and people they are familiar with.

“We give to the Northwest Montana History Museum, we give to Logan Health hospital … the volunteer fire departments, different charities that are here. Each of my children get an amount from the fund and they distribute it how they see fit, the same is true for eight grandchildren. They get some money, they send it to charities that they know about. Most of the charities we give to, we are well informed and involved and we know the people we're working with,” Hollensteiner said.

His daughter Jena Armistead said Montana is near and dear to their hearts, especially since her father and brothers John and Andrew still live in the area, so a lot of their beneficiaries are still located here. But she and her family live in Nashville, Tennessee, so there are local charities there that see dollars from the Hollensteiners. They also give to alma maters and previous schools they’ve attended.

In the Flathead, it’s easy to see their impact on buildings such as the Northwest Montana History Museum, which used to be Central School. Hollensteiner’s family owned the first masonry business in the valley. They created and laid the bricks for Central School as well as many other buildings in downtown Kalispell.

“There's a lot of Hollensteiner history in that museum. And the major benefactor is that we saved the Central School from it being torn down by the city and turned into a parking lot back in the 1990s, so that's just one of our proud accomplishments,” Hollensteiner said.

Last year, contributions from Hollensteiner made it possible for the Women of Rollins Club to purchase the Old Rollins Schoolhouse. Hollensteiner’s aunt, Lena Stahl, was a teacher there 115 years ago. Armistead said the purchase allowed Dayton School District to pay off their debt and are now focused on planning and building a new elementary school that will “have more bells and whistles and room for the growing population in that area,” she said.

“The new school will be based in Proctor, we already have somebody who donated the land. Greg and Monica Simonson provided 10 acres there, and we've had $800,000 unsolicited already come in the door for the planning and building of this new school. So it's going to be beyond the typical elementary, one that’s state of the art — latest and greatest with technology,” Armistead said.

Armistead said in addition to the Simonsons, Robert Moore also donated land for the school. The school will also act as a sort of civic center, offering the library and gymnasium for community use after school hours. Armistead said there are plans to house a health clinic in the school, as well a place to showcase art and music — in honor of Wanda Hollensteiner’s lifelong passions.

Other beneficiaries of the Hollensteiner Foundation in northwest Montana include the Glacier National Park Conservancy, The Glacier Institute, the Glacier Symphony and Chorale, the Whitefish Community Foundation and the University of Montana, among many others.

To learn more about the Hollensteiner Foundation contact Jena Armistead at jena.hollensteiner@yahoo.com.

This story has been updated to add Robert Moore to the list of land donors for the future Proctor Elementary School, as well as to include Andrew Hollensteiner as someone in the family who lives in Montana. It has also been updated to include a clarification that Jim Hollensteiner donated money for the purchase of the Rollins School, not the Hollensteiner Foundation.