Aunt Marge: A High Country Newspaper Writer Who Understood Small Town Life

Aunt Marge is someone I didn’t get to know very well until I was an adult. She was a support to me in my adult years and understood the small town politics I had to live through to have a successful nurse-midwifery practice in Montrose.

Marge as a baby with 
her mother, M. Pearl Hartt.
Marge in ruffles? – The above photo was taken in Rawlins in the back yard on Maple St.  From L to R – Marie, Marge and Pearl.
Posing with the family car are Marge, Grandma Spragg (M. Pearl’s mother), Pearl and Marie.
Four of the Hartt sisters on a swing in  Rawlins, Wyo – Marie, Louise , Pearl and Marge
L to R – “Bob (dog)”, Chuck, Marge and daughter, Martha.

I always admired that she was a involved in the newspaper industry – wrote for the Lander, Wyoming paper.  I remember her telling me  “Wyoming wants to be like all the other states and at the same time all the other states want to be like Wyoming.”  The paper, High Country News is still published and was relocated to Paonia, CO – which is close to Montrose, CO

She married Chuck Higley, who was involved with the management of John Kelly Hartt’s sheep businesses. By the 50th year on incorporation of the Pioneer Sheep Company (1947), my Uncle Chuck was the ranch manager.   

Aunt Marge (second from the left) with the staff of High Country News

Post script – The paper that Marge wrote for is called the High Country News. Here is an article with a bit of history of her involvement with the paper – https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/bombardier-conservationist-tom-bell-and-high-country-news Someday, I a going to take a day trip and look through the paper archives of her columns. Here is a link to the High Country News’ tribute to Aunt Marge – https://www.hcn.org/issues/105/3526

High Country News in Paonia, CO