By Paul F. Vang
Burr Lively, Melrose, a 60-year veteran of the hospitality business and one of the founding members of the Montana Tavern Association, was awarded the prestigious Durkee Award at the 2006 Montana Tavern Association convention in Butte.
The Durkee Award, the Montana Tavern Association' highest honor, was established in memory of Bob and Marie Durkee, the long-time executive directors of the MTA.
Lively is modest about his contributions to the MTA and his 25 year membership in the Southwest Montana Tavern Association, saying simply, "I can't remember how long I've been active. I've just always been there."
Service to MTA and the Southwest Montana Tavern Association has been just a part of Lively' many years of public service. He' served his community as fire chief and was instrumental in getting a municipal sewer system built for the community.
In addition, he and his wife of almost 60 years, Connie, had a combined 38 years as Postmasters at the Melrose U. S. Post Office.
Burr Lively comes from Montana pioneer stock. His father and grandfather were both miners, working in underground mines in Butte and other area mines. "My grandmother' family came from Bismarck, No. Dak., to Philipsburg in a covered wagon. My grandmother was in the first high school class in Philipsburg and she taught school in the Flint Creek Valley."
Lively' parents settled in Melrose, which is about 30 miles south of Butte along the Big Hole River, where his father worked in area mines. They began a small store, complete with gas pumps, in 1939.
Burr graduated from Butte High School in 1944. He explains, "We had an 11-grade school in Melrose, but it wasn't accredited, so we'd have to go to Butte to finish the last year of high school. I boarded with my grandmother in Butte while I went to school."
Like most young men of his generation, as soon as he graduated he entered military service, enlisting in the U. S. Navy "for the duration of the war, plus six months," he recalls. "I was sent to San Diego for basic--where I caught the mumps."
After finishing boot camp, Burr was trained to be a Navy Corpsman and served his entire hitch state-side at various naval hospitals.
"I was working at the Oakland Navy Hospital when they brought back the survivors of the Bataan Death March. There were two people from Melrose who were in it, one of whom survived," Burr recalls with sadness.
While Corpsman Lively served his country, his parents eagerly made plans for his return, building a bar building but holding off on opening the business until the young veteran could return from his military service to take it over.
Burr Lively and his bride, Connie, married in June 1947 and they settled into making a life for themselves. They had a good business, as there were, at that time, two passenger and mail trains that came through Melrose every day, along with active mines and ranching.
The winter of 1949 was a severe test, however.
"It was 25 degrees below zero, and there was heavy snow on the ground. The bar caught fire. Workers on a train coming into town were the first to see it. They started tooting their whistles, trying to wake someone up. They came to my parent' house and knocked on their door to wake them up.
"We lost everything," Lively says of the disaster. "Slot machines were still legal in Montana at the time, and the money in the machines had melted together."
The Lively family scrambled to recover from the fire.
"My mother got busy and set up a bar in a nearby cabin to serve the railroad workers that were such a big part of our business. We were deep in debt after the fire, but she paid off all the debts."
Burr and his family built a new building to replace the one that had been destroyed by fire. "I even tore down some old buildings to get enough lumber to do the job."
Typical of many Montanans, the Livelys have always had to scramble to make a living. Burr was appointed Postmaster in 1952, a post he held until he retired in 1980. Connie succeeded him as Postmaster, but not until they overcame some hurdles.
"We were just a little Fourth Class Post Office," Connie said, "and they didn't care who was there. I was the postal clerk and for the most part I ran the Post Office while Burr worked at a phosphate mine."
Before the advent of polio vaccines, one of the Lively daughters contracted polio, and Connie picked it up from her.
"She never had any problems, but I developed paralysis," Connie relates. To this day, she walks with the aid of braces and crutches, though it has never slowed her down. She had two children before the polio and two more children came along after she recovered.
When Connie applied to become Postmaster to succeed Burr, however, postal officials balked at promoting her, doubting that she was physically capable of doing the job. She finally convinced them that, even with crutches, she was able to haul heavy mail bags, just as she had already been doing for many years. She was finally appointed to the job, serving until her retirement in 1990.
The Livelys received support, in covering medical expenses from polio, from the March of Dimes and ever since then they have been active and enthusiastic supporters of the March of Dimes over the years, including annual promotions at the bar.
Burr Lively will reach age 80 in December 2006 and classes himself as semi-retired, with one of their sons working as the active manager of the bar business, though Connie adds, "I guess you never want to totally retire." Burr points out that his mother kept working at the bar until she was in her 80s.
They're planning a Hawaii cruise to celebrate Burr' upcoming birthday, and a big family celebration is in the works to celebrate 60 years of marriage in June 2007.
As for being the newest MTA member to receive the Durkee Award, Burr Lively is modest about deserving such recognition, and says, "That was a real surprise to me. I didn't have a clue."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Oct., 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.