Road bends after 55 years in newspaper business.

Among other things

By Paul Fugleberg

There's a bend in the road ahead.

There's nothing like a heart attack to make a person feel his mortality. That's what happened to me during a stress test on May 1.

Fortunately, Dr. Nichols and the skilled respiratory and nursing staff at St. Joe's Hospital spotted the onset and wheeled me into the emergency room where I chewed a bunch of aspirin, was given a "clot buster" that dissolved the clot, was given a bunch of blood tests and other stuff and was soon stabilized. Then they told me I was going for a helicopter ride. Lifeflight wasn't available at St. Pat's so Alert helicopter came down from Kalispell and took me to St. Pat's in Missoula. Uffda, what a day!

My thanks to all who helped — at St. Joe's, St. Pat's, the Alert helicopter crew, family, friends and co-workers for their care, encouragement and prayers.

The bottom line is that there is no apparent heart damage.

But there are a few more bottom lines. After 55 years in the newspaper biz in various capacities, I can see the bend in the road ahead. Now, I want to get started in the cardio rehab program at St. Joe and build my strength back so I can see what's around the bend.

The word "retire" isn't in my vocabulary. To me, "retire" means "re-tread." I hope to do some freelance writing and photography like I did for several years after selling the Flathead Courier and Ronan Pioneer in 1980, do some proofreading and copy editing of manuscripts, and some consulting work.

I appreciate the years at the Leader and they've invited me to submit an occasional column. This one has been going under its present title, "Among Other Things," since 1956 - two years in Canton, S.D., and since 1959 in Polson. Prior to that it was "Main Street Musings" in Roundup for a couple years and "The Wonderin' GI" with the Great Falls Air Force Base paper in 1953 and 1954. My thanks to the readers for their kind remarks over the years - and for the constructive criticism.

And I thank God for the ability to have been able to share the joys and sorrows, the challenges and disappointments, the triumphs and tragedies of life in caring communities. I've really loved all the places I've worked - but there's no place I'd rather live than in Polson, Montana.

So, with all that said, let's take a look around the bend and see what's there.