Archives West Finding Aid

Helen C. Ewing was born in Butte, Montana in 1903 the daughter of Angus B. McLeod who was a mine supervisor for the Black Rock Mine, the Sheriff of Silver Bow County from 1926-1929 and a State Legislator in 1923. She received her B.A. from Montana State University (U of M), Missoula, MT in 1925 and the Carnegie Library School of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1932 Helen married Robert L. Ewing in 1938. He was a civil engineer with the Montana Highway Department stationed in Butte at the time. Robert Lee Ewing was born in Pendleton, Oregon in 1884. After high school he took an I. C. S. Course in Civil Engineering and worked his way from an instrument man in 1901 to an engineer in 1909. He worked for several companies and as an independent contractor on railroad and road construction from 1901 to 1917. In 1917 he joined the Idaho Highway Department and served as District Engineer for District no. 6 from April 1919 - May 1921. In May 1921 he became a civil engineer for the Montana State Highway Department and supervised construction of many difficult mountainous miles of roads. He was let go in 1949 at the age of 65 after 27 years of service. Robert and Helen settled in Glasgow Montana where he sold mutual funds and she was the City-County Librarian. In 1952 he bid and received a contract to upgrade the Glasgow Airport as an independent contractor. He also researched and held interests in mining claims throughout his career. In 1962, they moved to Bozeman, Montana where Robert died in April 1971. Helen retired as the Circulation Librarian (Assistant Professor Emerita) at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana in 1972.