Home of: Margene Asay

Margene Asay’s goal is simple and grand: She tries to do something good every day. For more than 35 years, Margene has been meeting that goal by working to keep the people of Mission Valley healthy and happy.

The spunky director of health education came to Tribal Health in 1977, the year it was started. She first worked as the alternate resources director. At the time, the department consisted of only three people.

Today, she works as the director of health education, taking her passion for keeping people of all ages healthy.

Eighty percent of her time is spent in the health centers, where she’s seen firsthand how staying fit can benefit the people in the community.

“(The centers) are really important because it’s a proven fact that if people can work out, it reduces their risk of having diabetes, heart attacks,” Margene said.

Last week, she lost loyal St. Ignatius fitness center user Doug Allard. She said through his diabetes and even cancer, the benefits he saw because he was so dedicated to working out.

She’s also passionate about making sure every one buckles up when they’re on the road.

“I’ve said if I can save one child’s life by promoting buckling up, I have done my job right,”  she said.

Margene supervises the car seat program, where people can pay a small fee to get a car seat. That money goes back into the car seat costs. They also make sure parents know how to properly install the car seats. She’s also helped with several advertising campaigns that promote seatbelts.

Getting into schools and promoting health lifestyles at an early age is something Margene wants to do more of. A Wii Fit was recently purchased for the St. Ignatius fitness center and Margene is hoping to get a bowling league set-up for children.

A large part of Margene’s motivation to do good every day comes from honoring the memory of her late husband, Jerry Asay. Margene talks fondly about the love story she lived for 47 years with “Asay,” as she called him. They met as college students at the University of Montana-Western in Dillon. Margene was studying to be a teacher and Asay had come from Choteau on a pole vaulting scholarships.

“I called him a jock, and I didn’t like jocks. But that’s how we met,” Margene said.

They were stuck for life.

After spending 10 months in Germany the couple returned to teach for nearly eight years in Ryegate. Soon, they relocated back to “home,” when Margene took the job at Tribal Health and Asay began teaching at Kicking Horse Job Corps.

They had two sons together.

When Jerry died in 2004 after four open heart surgeries, Margene lost a part of herself with him.

For years, the Asay’s mailbox was just steps from U.S. Highway 93 and was always decorated — for St. Patrick’s Day, for Halloween and all throughout the holidays. During that time especially, it was often the talk of the town. It got her the nickname “the Holiday Lady.”

“I’d come up with the ideas and [Asay] would do all the work,” Margene said. “One time we had a horrible fire season and someone drove by and reported that the teepee was on fire.

“I have so many stories about our decorating because we’d just make it fun.”

One year, Asay rigged their teepee so Santa Clause came out of the top. More recently a hitch hiking Santa has caught the attention of passers-by.

The widening of the highway in 2004 forced Margene out of the couple’s home and into a new one east of the highway on Old Highway 93 less than a year after Asay died. With the help of family and nephew Clayton Matt, Margene was able to buy several acres of tribal land off of Old Highway 93.

Although the transition into the new house without Jerry was extremely difficult, Margene has continued to decorate her new mailbox area. It’s taken a lot of courage to continue the tradition she and Asay made, but she knows Asay would be happy she does it.

The new house is off the main road, but it’s still visible from HWY 93. People now take a detour so they can get a glimpse of the decorations.

It’s about time to start putting up the Halloween decorations this year. Margene is already looking forward to having the trick-or-treaters enjoy them, then knock on her door.

Doing good things keeps her going, she said.