An important, dynamic voice in literature about Montana and the American West was stilled last week with the death of Ivan Doig at age 75.

Doig, a Montana native, wrote 16 books — many of them historical novels set in Montana.

Many readers are familiar with the exploits of Doig’s iconic McCaskill family that run through many of his novels.

Through the McCaskills and many other characters, Doig brought an incisive, creative view to Montana history.

“I’m drawn to write about the past, I guess, because it seems to be such a part of our bloodstreams,” Doig told the Inter Lake in 1999. “I do think the past really counts in people’s lives.”

His writing about the past earned him widespread popularity.

Australian author Thomas Keneally described Doig as “one of the great American voices, full of grace, abounding in humanity, easeful in narration, hypnotic in pace, grand in range.”

He will be missed, but he will also be read for years to come.

Farewell, Gov. Babcock

Another giant figure from Montana’s landscape also left us recently. 

Former Montana Gov. Tim Babcock was notable for rising up from his farm childhood in Eastern Montana to becoming a leading figure in politics during the tumultuous 1960s. Along the way, he also served his country by serving in the U.S. Army Infantry in World War II.

Babcock was elected lieutenant governor on a ticket with Gov. Don Nutter, and when Nutter perished in a plane crash in 1962, Babcock helped heal Montana’s wounds with his level-headed leadership. He was later re-elected to a full term, but failed in his bid for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

In his later life, Babcock was “Mr. Republican” in statewide politics, attending every national GOP presidential convention for 60 years. His longtime wife, Betty, brought her own special touch to Republican politics as well as well, having herself been a state legislator and serving as a delegate to the state Constitutional Convention.

There were some hard times as well, especially his ill-fated associated with industrialist Armand Hammer, which led to a conviction on a campaign finance violation that occurred in Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. 

Nonetheless, Tim Babcock was the real deal. As Gov. Steve Bullock noted, “He was a pillar of politics in Montana” and he “will be missed.”