Peggy Newman received the Chamber of Commerce Community Pride Award last week for her 30 years of dedication to the Nights of Lights. 

Newman and her husband, Roger, were part of the first Coming Alive Committee. For 14 years they held a Nights of Lights open house at their dentist office by Discovery Square. 

She grew up in Helena, Roger in Columbia Falls. His dad worked at the aluminum plant. They both ended up at Carroll College in Helena to study dentistry and met at a school dance. After Roger graduated, they married and moved to Columbia Falls in 1981. They opened a dentist office and Peggy worked as a dental hygienist.

She recalled the town had recently put in a new sidewalk along Nucleus Avenue, yet the it only had one stop light. Since then she has seen new schools built and residential areas come in with walking paths. 

She credits Susan Nicosia, current city manager, with having the parks improved. These amenities all make it a great place to live, she said.

She explained her role in the community has been for the past 30 years. 

“A volunteer — to give back for the many blessings that I‘ve had here. I’ve worked quite a bit with my husband and that went well, but you just got to give back. The church, to the school, to the community. They’ve just been very good to us in our business. And great friends here,” Newman said while choking back tears.

“Since I don’t have children, I have a little more free time than some, and I felt it was my responsibility,” she added. “I like Columbia Falls a lot.”

In addition to helping with Nights of Lights and taking care of the gorgeous flower patch by Hungry Horse News, she has been involved at St. Richard’s Catholic Church for years. She helps with their church service at the Montana Veterans Home. 

She was also the “tooth lady” for about 25 years at the elementary schools. It wouldn’t have lasted for so many years without committed school nurses, she says. She would teach proper teeth brushing to about 400 or 500 kindergarteners through fourth graders in February for children’s dental health month. It was her opportunity to spend time with lots of children.

“You couldn’t help but walk away feeling pretty good,” she said.

The people who say they’re from Columbia Falls form a larger group than the actual population of the town, she said. Residents who live up the North Fork, in the Canyon, next to the mountains and in the agricultural areas around the town all consider themselves part of the community. The town is bigger than it looks, and also “its heart is big,” she said. This shows in the frequent fundraisers and community projects, or events like Heritage Days and Night of Lights. St. Richards Catholic Church community kitchen is staffed by different groups in town whether that is the Boy Scouts, wrestling team, school groups or another church group. 

“I have loved living here in Columbia Falls,” Newman said.

She recalled hearing as a child that Helena wasn’t a very friendly town, but at the time she didn’t know what that meant until she moved to small-town Montana. After over 30 years of living in Columbia Falls, she knows and loves the small-town feel. She said that Helena residents tend to be more on guard due to the political party in power changing every few years.

She recalled the first time she sent her husband to the grocery store he took longer than she expected because every item on the list included 15 minutes of visiting. He had to wave at people in their cars and talk to people in the store. Even if he didn’t know them yet he would soon, she said.

Some senior citizens go to the grocery store specifically to visit with people, she said. The employees know this and are extra friendly and helpful. 

In her mind, helping individuals is what community is all about.

“With the world a mess, sometimes we can’t help that big world. But, what we do one-on-one is what makes the difference,” she said. “It has a ripple effect, I think, to the greater world.”