Archives West Finding Aid

Irma Elizabeth Brown was born in Littlerock, about ten miles south of Olympia, Washington, on August 30, 1898. Shortly after Irma's graduation from Olympia High School, her family moved to a homestead near Big Sandy, Montana. Irma attended Montana Wesleyan College in Helena and then taught high school English in several towns, including Midland, South Dakota; and Big Sandy, Three Forks, and Willow Creek, Montana. In 1930, Irma became friends with Seneca Eugene ("Gene") Reeder, whose family had also moved from Washington to homestead near Big Sandy, Their friendship deepened through correspondence while Reeder was in the Soviet Union as a tractor expert during Stalin's first Five-Year Plan. After his return, Reeder continued his work as a tractor mechanic around Park County. In April 1933, Gene Reeder and Irma Brown married and moved to Livingston where they established a tourist court on the road to Yellowstone Park. They operated this court until 1942, when they went to Bremerton, Washington, to do war work in the naval shipyards. After the war they returned to their tourist court in Livingston and added trailer parking and laundromat facilities to their cabins. After Gene's death on December 31, 1957, Irma Reeder continued to run the court alone until her retirement in 1966, Irma Reeder was active in the Methodist Church, women's lodge activities, choir and dramatic performances, and charity work. She died October 6, 1971.