Decades before her work to save and restore the 10th Street bridge in Great Falls, Arlyne Reichert was still “The Bridge Lady.”As a teenager growing up in Buffalo, New York, Reichert dated a man whose father was a supervisor at Niagara Falls during construction of the Rainbow International Bridge that spans the Niagara River. She recounted in a 2020 StoryCorps chat that the supervisor let her traverse the catwalks of the landmark-in-progress.“Two weeks later, Eleanor Roosevelt, the president’s wife, christened it,” Reichert said in the 2020 interview. “And the article in the paper, the Buffalo Evening News, said she was the first woman on the bridge, and I said, ‘Oh, no.’ I was on that bridge while it was being constructed.”Just a few years after that, in 1946, Reichert first laid eyes on the 10th Street bridge in Great Falls while riding into town on a train to start a life with her new husband Harold. She recalled in 2020 that the bridge, with its arch supports that reflect off the water, was a lovely sight.It still spans the Missouri River today because of The Bridge Lady. Reichert worked for decades to save and then restore the bridge as a Great Falls landmark, earning her the nickname. Her daughter Cheryl has said that the work required Reichert to be a plaintiff, community organizer, nonprofit founder, grant writer and seven-figure fundraiser.It was a remarkable accomplishment, though for Reichert it was just the final act in a lifetime of public service. A mother of five, she was active during the mid-20th century in the PTA and the League of Women Voters. Reichert held her first public office as a delegate to the historic 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention.A close companion of Arlyne Reichert, Jack Stimpfling, took this portrait around 1979. Credit: Courtesy of Claire BaizOnce turned down for a job because she was a married woman, Reichert went on to have a long career at the McLaughlin Research Institute, a medical research facility that grew significantly during her tenure. She retired as its assistant director and was replaced by a full staff.Reichert died in May 2024 at 98. A celebration of life is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21 — where else? — on the 10th Street bridge.Reichert grew up in Buffalo in a house full of family. She met Harold Reichart at a USO event on Christmas Day 1942. Harold, enlisted in the Air Force, asked Reichert to dance and impressed the family so much that he was later invited to their house for cookies. They married four years later, after the war, and moved to Great Falls where Harold was stationed.Reichert’s mother, a widow, moved to Great Falls as well, according to Claire Baiz, Reichert’s daughter. Reichert’s mother stressed the importance of civics and citizenship. She would often say that you may not care about politics, but politics cares about you.Baiz said that Reichert was unafraid to join the public discourse, a quality she attributed to being “endearingly naive.” She recalled a PTA meeting around 1962 when Reichert set the tone.This 1946 photo of Arlyne Reichert and daughter Cheryl was taken at a Great Falls photo booth. Credit: Courtesy of Claire Baiz“Mom got up in front of the crowd and said she didn’t want any half-assed ideas,” Baiz said.While active in various Great Falls groups, Reichert was a stay-at-home mom for 23 years. But in 1967, Harold was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He retired from the Air Force and was a captain of the Great Falls Fire Department. Faced with a terminal illness, he encouraged Reichert to find a job to keep the family out of financial trouble.“My dad said, ‘Hey look, you still have three of the five kids at home, and it looks like I’m not going to be here,’” Baiz said.Harold died in 1968 at age 48.“That was really tough for him to pass,” said Jerry Rukavina, a family friend who grew up a block away from the Reicherts. “He was a good guy, a good fireman. But Arlyne and her kids continued to be together.”Rukavina said that Reichert kept strong family ties through this tough time. Baiz said that Reichert’s talent with people kept the family pulling in the same direction.“My mom was always available for us,” Baiz said. “When I say available, I don’t mean just a presence. She had this capacity, no matter who she was talking to, you were the only person in the room. The only person who counted.”So Reichert entered the workforce and ultimately landed a position at the fledgling McLaughlin Institute as an executive assistant. Over the course of her 25 years there, she contributed to the research, learning how to handle research mice, for example.“Easier than people, really,” Reichert joked in 2020.Growing up with Reichert was an intellectual pursuit. Baiz said that they had a set of World Book encyclopedias in the living room. Mealtime discussions might raise a question that no one could answer, so they would consult the books.“Part of that is that my mother emphasized academics above everything,” Baiz said. “Being a scholar was much more important than being a success. Intellectual curiosity was paramount.”Reichert had many friends and more acquaintances. Trips to the grocery store were filled with agonizingly long chats, Baiz said. She also had the talent of riffing long speeches at a moment’s notice. These skills came in handy when she was elected as a delegate to the historic 1972 Constitutional Convention.She was one of 19 women who participated in the rewriting of the state’s Constitution. That group was invited to a special dinner with Jeanette Rankin, who was 92 at the time and a legendary political figure as the country’s first woman elected to Congress.The 19 women delegates of the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention pose for a photograph in Helena. Reichert is at center in the back row. Credit: Montana Historical Society Library and Archives, Helena“I’ll never forget that, because we had that special time with Jeanette Rankin,” Reichert said in 2020. “And each of us was given the opportunity to really spend quality time with her.”Participating in this government body of 100 delegates in one room left a political impression on Reichert. She returned to Helena in 1978 to serve one term as a legislator, and she pushed unsuccessfully for a smaller legislature based on the experience of the convention.A BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSOURIHer campaign to save the 10th Street bridge started in earnest in 1994. Reichert wrote a letter in the Great Falls Tribune urging against its demolition. Days later, she was quoted at a public meeting declaring its strength.“They’re going to have one heck of a time blowing it out of the water,” she said, according to a report at the time.The Bridge Lady had spoken.Built in 1920, the 10th Street bridge had seen better days. Officials debated the bridge’s fate in the late 1980s, and they delayed plans to demolish it when preservation supporters pushed back. By 1994, the city was ready to build the modern Ninth Street bridge, which connects the city with Highway 87 to the north.Reichert’s bridge campaign would continue for more than two decades. Her children called it their sixth sibling and an object that required their mother’s time and energy and money.“She adopted the bridge, and that was her raisons d’être for a lot of years,” Baiz said.Reichert led efforts to fundraise and appeal to the public that the bridge had historical value and beauty. More functionally, she argued that it would serve as a crucial link for the growing River’s Edge Trail system along the Missouri. She was often quoted alongside her daughter Cheryl, who offered steadfast support.Reichert formed a nonprofit organization, Preservation Cascade, to facilitate the bridge campaign. While the group had some success attracting grants and donations, it was a polarizing community issue.“She would not take no for an answer,” said Bill Bronson, who succeeded Reichert as president of Preservation Cascade. “But what was always fascinating was that she caught a lot of heat during that time. There were lots of nasty things said about her and her family.”Bronson said that Reichert wasn’t one to hold grudges. She was a steady presence, confident in her stance on issues and ready to persuade the public. She wasn’t combative; she came ready to talk things out.“I have seen her in a number of public situations where there might be some contention in the atmosphere,” Bronson said. “What I always saw was perseverance, a sort of inner calm about herself. And enough of a self assurance where she said, ‘No, I think the position I’m advocating is correct, and I’m going to continue to advocate for it.’”In 1998, the Great Falls City Commission agreed to a partnership with Preservation Cascade to allow the restoration of the bridge. Four years after writing that first letter to the editor supporting the bridge, Reichert had already raised $50,000 to start cleanup.As a public-private partnership, no city tax funds have gone toward the bridge restoration, Bronson said. And Preservation Cascade is in charge of maintenance and lighting of the bridge. Until very recently, Reichert’s son Greg switched on the bridge lights manually each day, according to Baiz. Bronson said the group has raised several million dollars over the past three decades.Arlyne Reichert poses for a photo during a Christmas/Hanukkah celebration in 2022. Credit: Courtesy of Claire BaizWork on the bridge and the shoreline landings continues today, but Reichert saw significant progress toward her vision. There was a 2003 ice cream celebration on newly remodeled portions of the bridge, where Reichert told the Tribune, “I better pinch myself to see if it’s real.” In keeping with Reichert’s initial vision, the bridge today serves as a key crossing as part of the growing River’s Edge Trail system of nearly 60 miles.Reichert remained sharp as she entered hospice in early 2024. Baiz said she would point to her head and say, “This is fine.” She’d gesture below her neck and say, “This is kaput.” Overall, Baiz said her mother was at peace with a full life nearing its end.She died in May, known statewide as the oldest living Constitutional Convention delegate.Baiz treasures the 1972 Montana Constitution as one of Reichert’s strongest legacies. Baiz has been working with a nonprofit called Friends of the Montana Constitution to promote the document ahead of a voter review in 2030. Both Baiz and Bronson said Reichert worried that the public would lose sight of what made the document special. “She would say, ‘Don’t people realize that this was kind of a magic moment in the history of this state? We had 100 people of different persuasions, different politics. But we sat alphabetically. We did not sit by party,’” Bronson said.In Great Falls, she was The Bridge Lady. The 10th Street bridge is a monument to her work, and a recent flyer for a celebration of her life calls it the Arlyne Reichert Community Heritage Bridge. Bronson called her citizen Reichert.In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town.The post From the state Constitution to the Missouri River shoreline, Arlyne Reichert helped shape Montana appeared first on Montana Free Press.