Mrs. Tester goes to Washington

On Jan. 5, Helen Tester, who makes her home north of Hayden, flew to Washington, D.C., to see her youngest son, Jon, sworn in to office as the new junior senator from Montana.

“She had a ball – she was running on adrenalin,” said her eldest son, local veterinarian Dr. David Tester. “Our family was going to visit the Capitol building and planned to climb the three flights of stairs into the dome, and my mother insisted she was going to go, too. I didn’t think it was a good idea, and we didn’t want her to try it. But she really wanted to go up there and thought she could make the climb.”

Helen, who stands straight and tall and moves with confidence, celebrated her 87th birthday on Feb. 7.

On the day before the planned climb into the dome, the family visited the three floors of the Ford Theater, where John Wilkes Booth fired the shot that killed Abraham Lincoln. After negotiating the theater’s stairways Helen announced, to the relief of her family, that she had changed her mind about climbing into the dome of the Capitol building.

The family also had scheduled a guided tour through other government buildings. “We got her a wheelchair,” David Tester said, but, at first, she resisted the idea.

She now says that she was glad the family insisted on the wheelchair. “The buildings are so big and the halls so long and their floors are so hard and our guide took such big steps. …” She shakes her head and smiles.

What buildings did she find most impressive? “We didn’t have time for everything,” she said. “We arrived in Washington on Tuesday and were there just four days.”

The buildings she found particularly impressive were the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court building, and she loved the paintings, murals and statues that seemed to be everywhere.

“And, of course, there was the Lincoln Memorial,” she added.

After the swearing-in ceremonies came receptions – tables spread with food and crowds filling the rooms.

“We were invited to the reception the Kennedy family hosted in one of the large rooms of the Capitol complex,” she said. “An older woman came to where I was sitting and put her hand on my shoulder and introduced herself saying, ‘We are so glad you are here.’ It was Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert Kennedy. “I also met the Clintons, who were together at the reception.”

“And,” her son added, “She got a hug from Senator Obama.”

She has pictures, taken by one of her nephews, to prove it.

Back home, far from the excitement of the nation’s Capitol, Helen lives quietly in the house she and her late husband, David, built, next to her son David and his wife, Becky. Some of David’s oxen and several horses graze just beyond her windows. She has two cats, Charlie and Kitty, and a dog who answers to Willie. She plays bridge regularly with other women who didn’t realize she was the mother of a soon-to-be U.S. senator.

“I didn’t talk about it until one day one of them asked if I was related to him,” she said. “I told her, yes. Even though I didn’t talk about my son’s running for office, I feel it is very important for us to pay attention and know what is going on in Washington, to be informed. After all, those people are making decisions that are affecting our lives.”

Helen and her husband turned their ranch at Big Sandy, Mont., over to Jon and his wife, Sharla, in 1978 and moved to the Rathdrum Prairie.

“After giving the farm to Jon and his family we didn’t want to stay and be tempted to tell them how to do things,” she said. “My husband became manager of the Kootenai County Fair and I agreed to be assistant manager. He did the talking and I did the work,” she said. “He loved to talk to people.”

On the subject of raising children, Helen said she feels the farm in the Big Sky Country was a great place. “The boys learned responsibility early because they had to help.” Bob, the middle son and now retired, spent 32 years in the National Guard, and Jon, has farmed, taught school, served on both the local school board and in the Montana Legislature.

Helen explains one story that has been circulated about how Jon, , at the age of 9, lost three fingers on his left hand in a meat-cutting machine. The family had a small meat-cutting business on the farm and packaged meat for local people.

“I felt terrible about the accident,” she said. “My husband had to go to town and Jon and I were just cleaning up. Jon tried to remove a shred of meat that had become caught and the blades just took the outside three fingers right off. They found the fingers later and if I had just thought maybe we could have packed them in ice and taken them with us to be sewed back on. They do that, you know. But,” she shudders. “I was so anxious to get him to a doctor. My husband blamed himself, too.”

The loss of the three fingers on his left hand changed Jon’s ambitions to play the sax. David said that where they went to school, once you reached the age of 8 you could pick an instrument and learn how to play. “My brother picked the sax. But after the accident the sax was out, he didn’t have the fingers needed,” David said. “So he just changed to the trumpet.”

“He never griped about the loss of the fingers,” Helen added. “He just went ahead and did what he wanted to do.”

That included forming a high school musical group that played for various events around the area. Jon also served as student body president. As a result of his musical experience, he was offered a scholarship in music to the University of Great Falls.

What do the sons believe their parents gave them in the way of a values for living their lives?

When asked, Jon said there is so much but, “I will just list three: Honesty; straight talk, don’t beat around the bush. Just tell the truth. Hard work. Anything worth accomplishing will require hard work. Don’t take your health and your family for granted. You cannot afford to lose either.”

After more thought he added, “My folks were always positive about the future and were not afraid to go to work to affect change for their own future but more importantly for the next generations’ future. Common sense played into their actions and I hope mine. They lead by example.”

When it comes to her sons, of what is Helen most proud? She thinks for a moment before answering. “They are good, they are honest and they would do anything for me,” she said. “They are just nice to be around.”