Charles Tribe

Chuck Tribe, 82, U.S. Marine, smoke jumper, forester, builder of boats, soccer player, conservationist, dreamer of big dreams, and loving husband, father, and grandfather, died Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, in his home on a sunny afternoon under a blue Montana sky. With his best friend and love Ginny at his side, Chuck climbed into his wooden craft and rowed away across the quiet waters.

Born in Athens, Ohio, on Nov. 18, 1933, to Charles and Maria “Brownie” Tribe, Chuck was never to know his mother, who died at his birth. But her spirit followed him throughout his life. In childhood, he was known by his mother’s nickname “Brownie”. When Chuck was 21, his father and stepmother, Mary, added younger sister Nancy to the family.

He graduated from Athens High School in 1951 with the Korean crisis about to come to a full boil. At 17, Chuck needed his father’s permission to enlist in the military. That permission was not forthcoming, so Chuck managed to land a summer job on a blister rust crew with the U.S Forest Service in northern Idaho. That’s when he passed through Missoula for the first time. That summer in the Rocky Mountains was a revelation to him, leaving an impression that lasted the rest of his life.

Returning to Ohio, he enrolled at Ohio University. At a wiry 150 pounds, he walked on to the football team where, according to Chuck, he had a brief but successful career as a blocking dummy. Chuck never shied from a challenge.

No longer needing parental approval upon reaching age 18, Chuck enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, and went ashore in Korea on the Marine Corps birthday in November, 1952. This experience began a life long interest in what’s happening in the world and a commitment to civic and social responsibility.

Home intact from Korea in 1955, he married his first wife, Corinne, and they set out for the West, where Chuck had been accepted into the Forest Service smoke jumper program. That enabled him to finish his college career at UM with a degree in Forestry, and eventually move from smoke jumping to full-time employment with the Forest Service. Chuck and Corinne had two children and later divorced.

Moving around to the distant outposts of the Forest Service Northern Region, Chuck’s understanding of the complexities of large-scale natural resource management and the fundamental necessity of a strong conservation ethic in decision-making were honed. In his years at the Lolo National Forest headquarters in Missoula, Chuck was the Forest Planning Officer for the effort that produced one of the earliest truly conservation-based Forest Plans in the Nation and cemented his conviction that details matter and standards and practices are not just words, but fundamental concepts necessary for ethical forest management.

On Jan. 7, 1982, Chuck and Ginny married in an outdoor ceremony on the snow-covered public dock in Polson Bay. Chuck and Ginny shared a nearly 35 year adventure, living life to the fullest with their combined family, which became seven children with the birth of their son, Charlie.

Chuck’s passion for the world of nature took root early, informed by his ramblings among the woodlots and fields of his grandfather’s nearby Ohio farm, where his mother was born. That same passion led him to participate in some of Missoula’s early work on open-space protection as a volunteer. When it came time to retire, he didn’t retire at all, but simply started working full-time on other things. When the Five Valleys River Parks Association was reshaped into Five Valleys Land Trust in 1988, Chuck was a founding board member, and continued to serve there for the next 27 years. His feeling for the land and his insistence on doing things according to the highest ethical standards were critical to the organization’s evolution into a highly-regarded community land trust. Chuck served as President during the years of the Mount Jumbo acquisition, another example of Chuck’s willingness to embrace daunting challenges. His fingerprints can be found all across the beautiful open and protected landscapes that grace the Missoula Valley. Chuck always saw another challenge, once the last one had been met.

On a visit to his hometown in 2012, Chuck and Ginny stopped by the old farmhouse where Chuck’s mother Maria was born and raised. The sweetness of the visit was made immeasurably sweeter for Chuck when he learned that the farm that had been so precious to him had been protected with a conservation easement, just as so much of the land around Missoula.

Chuck also took his penchant for doing things right and meticulously to his love for building fine wooden boats, canoes, kayaks, and recently, just to keep up with the times, a stand-up paddle board. Every one his floatable creations was a thing of beauty. When comments were made about Chuck being slow, he replied that he would rather think of himself as “particular”. Each boat building project took on a life of its own and when he spoke about one of his boats, he referred to them almost as if they had human qualities. When one boat was finished, he was already thinking about the next one.

Always, though, love of family was the focus and driving force in Chuck’s life. For his children, he practiced what he preached. Things they would see as setbacks, he helped them explore as a new puzzle. He supported his children through some of their toughest times with his quiet demeanor, advice, love and patience. He loved each one unconditionally. He was green long before green was ever cool. His politics were grounded in inclusiveness, our obligations to each other, and our duty to be good stewards of the earth. Chuck would rather we would just say he lived a good life. We will miss him terribly.

Chuck is survived by his wife, Ginny; his children, Rebecca Slater (Allen), David Tribe, Michael Lewis (Lisa), Mathew Lewis, Amy Shattuck (Aaron), John Lewis (Melissa), and Charlie Tribe (Leah); nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; and his sister, Nancy Chapman (Ken).

Chuck can be honored with donations to Five Valleys Land Trust, to support collaborative projects that advance small scale agricultural land conservation in the Missoula Valley or to an organization of your choice.

A summer memorial is planned.