THE MORRIS RANCH

The clamor and bustle of Highway 93, a multi-lane artery connecting Whitefish and Kalispell, reached inside and belied the soft, quiet visions the little lady spun in her living room. She made it seem to be still a two-room log cabin.

Helen had been one of millions of victims of the deadly world-wide influenza epidemic following World War I. Her parents, the Belvederes, had married in Tacoma when he, born in Italy, was just 19, she, 14. Just twenty-two months old, Helen was one of four orphans the pestilence made of her family. She and a brother were adopted locally, while the other brother an...