Tom Peterman
Retired Lutheran Pastor
Conrad High School, Class of 1964
My dad grew up in Conrad, Montana – the only boy of six kids. His mom waitressed and his dad worked for Cargill. Grandpa Peterman left school after 6th grade to help on the family farm and Grandma made it to 8th.
In junior high, my dad ran with a rougher crowd – stealing hubcaps their rite of passage – but he loved school. And school loved him back. At the end of his sophomore year, his teachers gave him the Heisey Award for “outstanding improvement in citizenship, scholarship, and effort.” He was, in his words, “absolutely shocked.”
But that recognition changed everything.
He felt seen. Believed in. And he rose to it. By senior year, he was class president, football captain, and voted Most Popular. He became part of the first generation in his family to graduate high school and the first to go to college.
The morning he finalized his college application, my grandpa signed the paperwork and left for work. Just before walking out the door, he turned to my dad and said:“Remember, son, there’s sit-down smarts and there’s walking-around smarts. You’re going to need them both.”
Those were the last words he ever said to him.
That afternoon, while my dad was playing football in Browning, his pastor showed up at halftime to deliver the heartbreaking news that his dad had died on the job, he was electrocuted in a grain bin.
After the funeral, as they were driving into the cemetery, my dad looked back and saw cars stretching more than three miles. “Most of the school was there,” he told me. “Teachers I never even had.”
Conrad High School changed my dad’s life. It gave him opportunity and encouragement, plus a community that showed up for him when he needed it most.
He went on to spend his life lifting others up, building churches and communities while fighting for the most generous version of inclusivity. He’s humble, kind, sharp, and endlessly resourceful. He rarely speaks unkindly of others, because more than anything, he wants everyone to live a meaningful life.
He’s truly Montana-made and we’re lucky to have him.
