Many people know Doug Rauthe as the jovial executive director of Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana. Perhaps others know him for his two terms as Kalispell’s mayor. 

But few may know that he launched his career trajectory working on a Mars lander and other space and aeronautics endeavors.

Rauthe’s story began in Kalispell, where he was born and raised, the son of a man also born and raised here. Even in his youth, however, while attending Kalispell Central School, Rauthe dreamed of becoming an aerospace engineer.

“The concept of going to the moon, for me in the late ’50s, it just seemed like we could do that, and then of course President Kennedy proclaimed that we would do that by the end of the ’60s,” Rauthe said.

His dream would have to wait for him to get a little older, however, and he had an adventure to attend to first.

Rauthe said he was the first Kalispell student — while a senior at Flathead County High School — to be a foreign exchange student, spending most of the year in Italy. He returned in time to graduate with the class of 1963 and was the co-commencement speaker.

With high school behind him, it was time for Rauthe to pursue his dream. He applied for and was awarded a full-ride scholarship to the Northrop Institute of Technology in Inglewood, Calif., the only college at the time offering an undergraduate aeronautical/astronautical engineering program.

After graduation, Rauthe simultaneously began working and taking graduate studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Santa Clara, although he would never complete those studies. He would remain in California for nine years.

“It was exciting times, and great achievements in science were happening during that decade,” Rauthe said. “I was fortunate to be able to work on two projects as part of a large team that came to fruition. One was the Viking lander program, which was the first robot to land on Mars, and then worked on a program that ultimately, in the next decade, became the Space Shuttle program.”

Rauthe helped design the robotic arm on the Viking 1 lander that picked up Martian soil and collected it in test tubes for analysis. The lander touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976, beginning an era of Martian exploration that continues today.

In his work for the pre-Space Shuttle program, Rauthe operated advanced computer software for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company to complete aerodynamic designs for a “dead-stick, manned re-entry vehicle.”

“Dead stick implies there’s no power. You’re gliding out of orbit onto an airport,” Rauthe said. “A rather fancy airport, actually.”

AN UPHEAVAL in the aerospace industry, however, led to many projects being canceled and tens of thousands of engineers being laid off across the country, according to Rauthe, and it during that upheaval he, too, changed jobs.

He became a consultant to special projects for the U.S. Navy with Vitro Laboratories and Automation Industries.

He coordinated negotiations between the U.S. Navy and subsystems contractors for missile launch systems for the Poseidon submarine-launched ballistic missile and its successor, the Trident missile.

But Rauthe had become a father by that point and his oldest was nearly old enough to begin school.

“Being from Montana, I knew that there was a better place to raise children than Silicon Valley,” he said.

Instead of continuing his engineering career, Rauthe chose to parlay his art hobby into a business, taking advantage of an opportunity to buy an art supply and picture frame store in Kalispell and moving his family back to his hometown, opening Rauthe’s Art ‘n’ Frame in 1976.

WHILE RAUTHE would run the business for 23 years, his larger claim to fame came in 1990 when he was elected mayor of Kalispell.

His road to the mayor’s office began in the late 1980s, after he became involved in local politics as a result of being a business owner. Rauthe worked with a group of residents to review Kalispell’s strong-mayor form of government.

The issue was eventually brought to voters, who decided it was time to switch to a weak-mayor form in which the mayor led the city council while a city manager would be hired to oversee the city departments and calculate the budget.

“When it became apparent that the incumbent mayor did not support that, I ran against him and defeated him to ensure the smooth transition,” Rauthe said.

According to Rauthe, the city of Kalispell had by that point become significantly large in business terms, with more than 125 employees and a budget of more than $15 million.

“To elect a full-time mayor and expect them to be qualified to run a business that large was really kind of taking a chance. It was a popularity contest, and, to run a business that large, that’s not the way to hire,” he said.

Rauthe’s first act, within minutes of being elected, was to hire Kalispell’s first city manager.

Other high points of Rauthe’s two terms as mayor included creating Lawrence Park from a gravel pit, expanding and improving the intersection of Main Street and Idaho Street, improving Depot Park and extending First Avenue East across the railroad tracks.

While Rauthe ran unopposed for his second term, he was defeated in the 1997 election by a term-limited state legislator. He said he had no sour grapes over the loss, noting that it was good timing for him.

THAT GOOD TIMING was partially made by the fact that in 1994, he had been asked to apply for the executive director position at Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana — then known as Northwest Montana Human Resources. 

He did and was hired.

For several years, Rauthe had a more-than-full plate, serving as part-time mayor, running his art and framing business and leading the private nonprofit agency. After leaving office in January 1998, he wound down Rauthe’s Art ‘n’ Frame, selling it in mid-1999.

“I streamlined my professional life,” Rauthe said.

Community Action Partnership provides public services in Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties through state and federal grant-funded programs.

Those programs include Section 8 housing vouchers, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding, energy assistance and weatherization programs, employment training, in-home services for seniors, home-buyer education, free tax preparation, financial literacy classes, free legal assistance and assistance in obtaining health care services.

Along with serving as the agency’s executive director, Rauthe serves on the national board of directors of the Community Action Program Legal Services organization. He also served 10 years as the president of region 8 of the Community Action Association, which includes Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

Rauthe also is a past president and charter member of Glacier Kiwanis and a past president and board member of Flathead Industries.

In addition to celebrating his 69th birthday today, Rauthe recently was able to enjoy the holidays with his wife of 46 years, Beverly, and his three adult children — daughters Rebecca and Erika and son Carson — who all made it home for Christmas from their new homes in, respectively, Spokane; Washington, D.C.; and Missoula.

“It’s been a wonderful life,” Rauthe said. “To be given the opportunities that I’ve had to make a difference both in my profession and in my community has been a real blessing. And my current job — a person couldn’t have a more gratifying job than I have, to work with the caliber of people that I work with, serving the citizens of our community and making a difference in lives. What could you do that’s better than that?”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.