In Bozeman history, the names Mary Doane, Emma Weeks Willson, Ellen Story, and Julia Martin are recognized, but when the community was in its infancy, many unknown women helped make this a great place to live.

I had the pleasure of being acquainted with one of these ladies. When we moved in next door to Lucy Pike in 1950, she became my best friend—an unusual combination because she was 80, and I was seven. When my mom decided it was time for us to move to town after the hard winter of 1948-49, she chose to buy a house at 319 North Grand, located between 313 and 323, both of which were owned by Mrs. Pike. One day, I volunteered to mow her lawn, and for payment I asked to use her new push mower to do our lawn. The deal was struck, and for five years I was her “lawn person,” and she was my best friend.

I spent many hours in her house, surrounded by plants, and parakeets she had taught to say, “pretty bird.”  Her yard  was full of gorgeous flowers and flowing ferns. We would chat, but I didn’t know much about her background. Recently, after finding photos of her and remembering how kind she was to me, I decided to learn more about this neighbor lady whom we dearly loved.

Lucy Matilda Shay was the daughter of George A. and Rebecca M. Shay. Her father, George had been a member of Company L, First Main Cavalry, and fought in the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was wounded twice and spent time in Lincoln Hospital in Washington, D.C. Shortly after his discharge from the army, he returned to Maine; he and Rachel Willey were married on October 23, 1865. Their third daughter, Lucy was born January 6, 1870, in Milford, Maine.

In 1876, George left Maine and his young family for the Gallatin Valley, and homesteaded what would later become known as the Carl Stimson ranch in Springhill. In 1877, he sent for his wife and four children, who traveled by Union Pacific Railroad to Corinne, Utah. George met them there and all came to the Gallatin Valley by wagon and team. At that time, Lucy was seven. The family moved onto the homestead twelve miles north of Bozeman and lived there until 1906, when they sold the homestead and moved to Bozeman, purchasing property on Grand Avenue North.

I found little information about Lucy from her arrival in the valley in 1877 until 1894. On November 22, 1894, at the age of twenty-four, she was married at her parents’ home near Bostwick Canyon to Park Penwell, the twenty-five-year-old son of Merritt and Mary Biggs Penwell. The wedding announcement in the Saturday, December 1, 1894 Bozeman Courier stated; “The ceremony was performed Thursday at 12 o’clock by Rev. F. J. Forbes, after which a magnificent wedding dinner was served. The pleasant farmhouse was decorated with a profusion of flowers and the presents were numerous, costly, and beautiful. Among the many gifts was a span of fine horses, a cow, a bedroom suit [sic] and a long list of presents in silver and linen. The happy couple will spend a week with friends in Butte and then make their new home on Mr. Penwell’s ranch near Belgrade.”

The couple divorced in 1905 and, according to the divorce decree, “That on or about the year 1898, the said defendant [Lucy] disregarding the solemnity of her marriage vows, willfully and without cause, deserted and abandoned the plaintiff [Park] and ever since has and still continues to live separate and apart from him.”

In 1914, she married William Pike at the Thornton Hotel in Butte. William, a native of England, had immigrated to Canada with his parents when he was four years old. He moved to the United States and farmed in the Judith Country before moving to Bozeman in 1910. He owned land in Bridger Canyon and in 1914  bought a farm near Lombard. Pike, who was 18 years older than Lucy, died June 13, 1920 of heart trouble at their 506 Grand Avenue North home. In November, 1934 Lucy sold a portion of William’s estate, 320 acres of the land in Bridger Canyon to Arthur, Lena, and Duane McKinney for $2,240. The McKinneys’ plan was to build the Flaming Arrow Ranch for boys; they hired Wallace Diteman as the construction supervisor. Unfortunately, Mr. McKinney died a month before the proposed opening date of the ranch, and his dream was never realized.

In addition to being a landowner and owner of several rental homes in Bozeman, 40-year-old Lucy’s occupation was listed as “nurse” in the 1910 census. Over the years, she cared for many community members including Mrs. Louis Stroup in 1906, her father George Shay, who died October 7, 1919, and her mother Rebecca, who died May 21, 1924. Lucy spent nine months in California in 1927 caring for her ill sister, Fannie Vreeland.

A woman with an independent spirit, Lucy never married again, and divided her time living at her different properties. Early Bozeman papers give a glimpse into her life. She lived on her homestead in Lombard and traveled to do her shopping and conduct business in Bozeman, where she owned several rentals on North Grand, West Lamme, and South Sixth. The March 19, 1918, Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that “Lucy Pike of Lombard was in Bozeman on Monday shopping.” The October 19, 1920 Chronicle reported that she “spent a few days in Bozeman before returning to her ranch at Clarkston to look after harvesting until the work is done.” The June 12, 1923 paper reported she “transacted business and visited friends in Clarkston.”

Travel was an important part of her life. She went to Utah for visits with her brother, Al, and to California to visit her sister Fannie. Sometimes she would be gone for ten days, other times for months on end. In 1936 she and J.S. Edwards, James Forristell, M. Dickman, Henry Rice, and Tom Ruscus, five veterans of the Indian Wars, attended a pow wow in Hardin. In April 1940 she, her niece Gladys Vreeland, Mrs. E.C. Haggerty, Mrs. George Belshaw, and Mrs. T.J. Gilkerson toured Yellowstone National Park. The paper reported,  “An early trip through Yellowstone Park is the most pleasant… roads were in excellent shape and not even wet. Snow was over the divide.”

Throughout her life, Lucy was an avid gardener, entered many flower shows in Bozeman, and usually won. In the 1922 Montana Power Company Home Improvement Contest, people were urged to drive around  to see her gardens at 313 North Grand. She won first place for her Boston Sword Fern in the 1928 Gallatin Inter-Mountain Fair, as well as other awards. In 1952, at the age of 82, she won the Unclassified Division at the 6th annual flower show of Gallatin Empire Garden Club.

Lucy was extremely proud of the fact that her father had served in the Civil War. That pride led her to become part of the Women’s Relief Corps of Bozeman, the official women’s auxiliary of the G.A.R. The Grand Army of the Republic, founded in 1866, was composed of veterans who served in the Civil War. The group dissolved in 1956 upon the death of the last member. The G.A.R. was the federal organization responsible for securing pensions for veterans and helping to establish Memorial Day as a national holiday. State organizations were known as Departments; local groups were called Posts. The William English Post Corp No. 10 of Bozeman was organized in 1885. George Shay was a member of the William English Post and when he died in 1919 was the last living member of the Post who had served in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Lucy and her mother Rebecca were members of the Women’s Relief Corps of Bozeman and devoted much time to the organization. In 1922, they attended the state encampment at Kalispell. The work of the WRC was charity, and their mission was to care for Civil War veterans. In 1923, Lucy entertained ladies at her home on North Grand in the first of a series of “Vanishing Teas.” These allowed the members to replenish their treasury for use in their work.

Lucy served as president of the WRC in 1923, 1925 and 1926—and served many years as the secretary of the state WRC. In 1928, the G.A.R. monument was erected in Sunset Hills Cemetery and stands today near the Vietnam Wall.



When I met Mrs. Pike, she was already 80 and would only live independently for five more years. When we moved from town out to our farm in March 1955, she moved to Three Forks to live with her niece, Mrs. Earl Driscoll. Lucy Matilda Shay Penwell Pike died on Sunday, April 26, 1959, at the age of 89.    

I have my memories—her giving me a birthday cake and the two of us celebrating on my 9th birthday, watching her dress up each Halloween as a witch and greeting the trick or treaters on her porch, or spending afternoons talking. I wish I had asked more questions about Montana history and her life. She would have been a wealth of knowledge about early Bozeman. She will always be affectionally known to my entire family as Grandma Pike. I will never know why Lucy M. Pike became my best friend, but I was very fortunate to have her in my life.  

Special thanks to Gallatin History Museum volunteer Jody Boland for helping with research on Lucy Pike.

Mary Ellen Fitzgerald is a Gallatin Valley native whose ancestors arrived in the valley by 1867. She was an English and history teacher for over 37  years before being elected as the Gallatin County Superintendent of Schools in 2002, retiring in 2015. She is currently a member of the Belgrade School Board, the Historic Preservation Board of Gallatin County, the East Gallatin/Hamilton Cemetery Board, and the Gallatin History Museum Board.