Groskinskys Forever Learning & Growing

Albert "Bud" and Anne Groskinsky have an insatiable curiosity and love of learning that covers a wide range of interests. They will celebrate their 59th anniversary June 1. As children of the Depression which shaped their thinking, Groskinsky's have worked hard, enjoyed life and remain very active as seniors. "It's been a great life," Anne said.

Anne's grandparents, Jan Luczkiewicz, homesteaded north of Richey. Bud's maternal grandparents got the last homestead available in Dawson County. "That tells you it was the poorest," Bud laughed. His father came to the Sidney area from the Midwest and took up farming in the Yellowstone Valley. Bud started working for neighbors when he was in the 7th and 8th grade, riding his bicycle to the farm, then started farming with his father, raising grain and hay, as a freshman.

He farmed for a couple of years after high school and earned the FFA American Farmer Award, the first awarded in Richland County. He and Anne got married and left to pursue an education, first in Bozeman, then Billings where Bud's father had property that needed tending to. Both graduated from Rocky Mountain College, Anne with a degree in Medical Technology, Bud with a degree in Chemistry.

Anne worked at Community Memorial Hospital as a medical technician in the old hospital building, and she farmed with Bud. Although she was raised on a farm, she had brothers who did the outside chores. She learned how to drive a tractor and a truck, how to irrigate and do other tasks as needed. The couple would set the water in the morning before he went to work. "We worked pretty hard to make everything go," she said. They raised pinto beans, wheat, corn and sugar beets and kept expanding. "When land became available we bought it," Bud commented. They also had renters on other land and leased out the beet acreage.

Bud's dad was not active on the farm but was very active in the community. He worked at bringing REA to the community, was on the Irrigation Project board and served on the school board when members were required to take teams in their personal cars to out of town games. He served on the Production Credit Association board and traveled to Glendive frequently to decide on loans and was also called upon to appraise land affected by the Garrison dam. "There was a back room in Turner's Café where the leaders of the community would meet and solve any problems," Bud explained. Bud's father would have been part of that group.

Perhaps that's where Bud got his spirit of giving back to the community. He was on the Irrigation Project board for 24 years, recently retired as member at large of the board of control, and is still vitally interested. "We checked the washout at Iversen's every day," he said. Bud has seen a lot of changes in irrigation methods. Pipe has replaced open ditches in many areas and structures have been placed in the canal to provide better access and regulation of water. Both features save water and reduce costs.

While automation and better equipment have advanced irrigation in the valley, Bud stressed the need for the public to understand the value of the project. "56,000 acres under irrigation are valuable to this community and the people who live here," he said.

Bud and Anne still work the land together, improving it and shaping it to get the proper slope for efficient irrigation. They used their dirt moving experience helping Dr. Ashcraft get the new Fitness Center at SHC. Bud dug the dirt while Anne hauled it away in the truck. In return, they received a lifetime membership to the center and use it frequently.

They also volunteered their equipment and expertise at Eastern Montana Bible Camp, helping with the basketball court and the pool. That followed a long tradition as the first EMBC sessions were held at Bud's grandparents' place.

Through the Groskinsky Foundation, the couple has aided countless organizations over the years. Because they believe so strongly in the Boys and Girls Club of Richland County, they recently dissolved the foundation, giving the balance to the club for their capital campaign. "It's important," Bud stressed.

Another cause dear to their hearts is health care. Anne served on the hospital board for 13 years, ending as chairman. Bud was the first chairman of the Foundation for Community Care. "We need good health care so people can be treated here instead of traveling. The new cancer center is really important," they said.

Bud has also served on the Montana Water Users Association board, the Mutual Rural Insurance of Richland County board, as an election judge and was secretary treasurer of the Montana Dakota Beet Growers Association as well as serving on the boards of Sidney National Bank and Montana Bank of Sidney. Both are amateur radio operators and private pilots. Anne has been generous with her time as well, helping with Red Cross blood drawings, serving as Farm Bureau Women's chairman and working with the Crane community fair booth seed board and competition since 1976. She still enjoys cross country skiing and feeding wild birds and pheasants. She also wove beautiful baskets.

Photography has been a favorite hobby for many years. Eye catching photographs decorate the Groskinsky home as well as many homes and businesses in the area. Many prints are donated to the Foundation for Community Care, including a book of photos, which are sold at The Wine and Food Festival.

Friends of Bud and Anne summed up the power of their photographs beautifully when they wrote the following. "In life, you meet two types of people, those with passion and those without. Those who have passion offer a unique gift to the world we live in. Bud and Anne Groskinsky passionately teach us about nature, love and its relationship as they have captured it through the lens of a camera.

In nature, there are opportunities to embrace life everywhere if you are willing to search for it. Life is an adventure and it has led the Groskinskys from exotic, far away countries to the nearby forgotten canyons of the national grassland in North Dakota. In every setting they find something to photograph, something full of life and beauty. From the petals of a sego lily in the badlands to the knots of a rope during branding season in Eastern Montana, they leave no sight unnoticed. This captured beauty is then released as they share the lifetime moments with friends and the community with their beautiful collections.

To Bud and Anne, life is a full circle. We are given life through love, nature and relationships. They have learned that to share their life with others, they receive much in return. By sharing their passion for life through photographs, they inspire others to better appreciate nature. In doing so, they too develop new relationships."

A wonderful curiosity and sense of adventure have led Groskinskys to travel the world, usually for 2-3 weeks, sometimes as some of the first people allowed in to a newly opened communist country. They have toured the Holy Land and Middle East, Africa, Outer Mongolia and Russia, India and Nepal. South America, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, China, Antarctica, Galapagos, Quito and Machu Picchu, Kenya, Vienna, Thailand and Burma, as well as enjoying a southwest safari, a Baja cruise and a horseback camping trip through the Bob Marshall Wilderness and 2 National Parks in British Columbia.

They witnessed jubilation in China when then president Nixon announced the normalization of relations and visited New Guinea just after the country had achieved independence. When they hiked the Routeburn trail in New Zealand, they were each required to carry 2 loaves of bread with their gear.

Everywhere they travel, Bud and Anne soak up knowledge from expert biologists, naturalists and historians. They both enjoyed the wild animals especially in Africa and Nepal. They have also traveled extensively in the US, sometimes in their own plane, but usually by car. Last September, they followed in Lewis & Clark's footsteps, following the Columbia River to the ocean.

"We worked super hard in the summer so we could take a trip in the winter," Anne said. "We always both worked, but that's what's nice about farming."

Anne shared many of their fascinating adventures with presentations to school children, Kiwanis, and church groups.

Closer to home, the couple enjoys exploring the local landscape and the North Dakota Badlands and sharing their finds with friends. Out in their yard, or looking out their multiple windows, they enjoy the wildlife including deer, pheasants, coyotes, fox and more.

While Bud and Anne are still active in the community, they stress how important it is for young people to step up and fill some spots. "It's important that they do. Some day, they may have to," Bud emphasized.