Mill worker now shaping families, children

By STEVE KADEL Western News Reporter

Verna Page-Watt figured she would end her working life at the Stimson mill.

She labored 10 years on the dryers, pulling veneer off the dry belt. Later she ran the stacker, putting different grades of wood into different bins. For several more years, she routed defects and puttied cracks before wood went to the sander for finishing.

Then her world crashed.

The mill's closure in December 2002 left her unprepared for retirement, but uncertain about which new employment path to take. Thanks to federal retraining dollars, Page-Watt enrolled at Flathead Valley Community College's Lincoln County Campus in spring 2003 along with more than 100 other former Stimson employees.

It had been more than 40 years since she graduated from a Utah high school, and Page-Watt was more than apprehensive.

"I was scared to death," she said. "I didn't know if I would be able to go back to school at my age."

She shouldn't have worried. Using the same work ethic she used at Stimson, Page-Watt compiled a 3.8 grade-point average en route to graduating May 13 with an associate of applied science degree in early childhood education.

"I was amazed I could do that well," she said.

Because she took classes at the Libby campus and lived at home, Page-Watt could begin working part-time with the Families in Partnership program before graduation. She found that Early Head

Start, which focuses on children from birth through age 3, was just right for her.

She has continued with the job, and hopes to stay on permanently.

"I love children," said the 14-time

grandmother. "Now I'm so connected with these families. I'm helping parents get their child ready for Head Start."

The job includes visiting four families in their home each week to discuss child development and health issues, performing screenings, and preparing the entire family for the children to enter pre-school.

Her supervisor, education and child development specialist Kathy Carper, calls Page-Watt "a gem."

"We appreciate her so much," Carper said. "She has a really natural gift in getting the families to develop a nurturing atmosphere for their children. Families really trust her."

During Page-Watt's childhood, her mother taught primary classes for LDS Sunday school in Utah. Her father was a machinist in a copper mine. In a way, she has followed both their examples — first working in an industrial setting and now with children.

Page-Watt developed rheumatism in her wrist and ankles during the Stimson years. She believes that would have only increased at Stimson, with the job becoming more physically taxing every year. The change has been good in that way.

However, she acknowledges her new life has involved some economic adjustment. Stimson paid well and the benefits were good, Page-Watt said. But she gets a different kind of payoff from helping young children.

"The love I get is healthy," she said. "It's a much more rewarding job."

Looking back, Page-Watt believes the mill's closing was one of the best things that could have happened to her, although it didn't look that way at the time.

"I didn't know another door would open up," she said. "I realize now the mill shut down for me."