The story of Chief Charlo had been on Donna Maddux’s mind for a long time, about 46 years to be exact.

The now-retired educator came across information about Charlo, known as Little Claw of the Grizzly Bear, in 1970 during research for a fourth-grade unit she intended to write on Montana history. Teachers had more flexibility to shape their curriculum in those days, she noted.

“Families were coming to Montana who didn’t know beans about Montana,” recalled Maddux, who lives in Olney. That drove her desire to bring more Montana history into the classroom.

As Maddux pored over archives at the University of Montana, Chief Charlo, head chief of the Bitterroot Salish from 1870 to 1910, stood out to her as a leader of distinction.

“He made an unforgettable impression on me,” she said.

Maddux, industrious by nature, wrote an entire book about Little Claw in biography form. The chief’s whole life was detailed in that lone manuscript, completed in 1970 before home computers were used to save files.

Then the unthinkable happened: There was an accident and the manuscript was destroyed.

“I think it was fate,” Maddux says now. But at the time, losing the book draft was devastating.

“I couldn’t touch it again for a long time. I grieved for it,” she said.

What she didn’t know then was that she would gain her own insight into native culture as son-in-law Ben LaRoque joined the family. Maddux now has grandchildren who are enrolled tribal members.

When Maddux retired in 2005 from the final 10-year chapter of her education career as Flathead County superintendent of schools, writing — or rather rewriting — the book about Little Claw was very much on her to-do list.

It would take another 10 years, but she recently finished her book, “My Friend, Little Claw,” published in December by Stoneydale Press Publishing Co. It is geared to young readers 12 to 15 years old.

This time around, the story is told through the eyes of Sleeps-with-Bears, Little Claw’s friend.

Maddux went the distance in striving to make sure her historical novel accurately reflects the pivotal time for the Bitterroot Salish during Chief Charlo’s time. Charlo’s father, Chief Victor, was a principal signer of the 1855 Treaty of Hellgate. In 1891 Chief Charlo and a small band of the Bitterroot Salish were forced to move from the Bitterroot Valley to the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Though Chief Charlo “had multiple reasons to be an enemy of the United States, he repeatedly took the high road and always put his people first,” Maddux stated in the book’s epilogue.

She met with the elders of the Salish and Kootenai tribes and with descendants of Chief Charlo as she set out to tell his story.

“The tribal people were forthright,” Maddux said. “It was their official position that they don’t like outsiders writing about the tribe. I kept waiting for them to [write about] Charlo and it didn’t happen.”

She finally decided she would be the one to do it.

“I tried to be true to the voice of Little Claw,” she said.

Maddux’s son-in-law drew the illustrations for the book and local photographer John Ashley provided a photograph entitled “Spirit Above, Spirit Within,” for the cover art.

Maddux plans to have the state Office of Public Instruction review the book for use as an American Indian educational book for public schools. It’s a rather laborious process that involves tribal members “weighing in” on the historical story.

“My Friend, Little Claw” is now for sale at area bookstores and museum gift shops.

Now a great-grandmother, Maddux continues to find new ways of feeding her desire to keep learning.

“Educators tend to value lifelong learning,” she said. “I’ve been a lifelong learner.”

After she retired in 2005 she relocated to Missoula for five years to be closer to her grandchildren, and then moved to Deer Lodge for a year. She became a certified lay pastor during her time in Deer Lodge and pastored the First Presbyterian Church there for a time.

Her preaching style was rather conversational, she said, recalling how parishioners told her, “You just kind of talk with us.”

Maddux moved back to the Flathead Valley in 2012.

She has kept her hand in church work and currently chairs the board of directors for the North Flathead affiliate of Love INC, an outreach ministry that connects volunteers from several local churches to citizens who need assistance.

Maddux is a regular at story hour at the Whitefish Community Library, where she dons aviator gear for her “Story Lady” persona who flies around the world in her hot-air balloon, touching down to tell stories to children.

She serves on the Whitefish Library Association board.

“This is another passion of mine,” she said about the library. “The library is a great equalizer.”

And she’s still learning.

“Every year is an opportunity to grow and do things a little differently,” she said. “I always ask, did you have 20 years of experience or one year of experience 20 times?”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.