Brett Tibbles, son of long time Helena residents, Melville C. and Leah Tibbles, died unexpectedly Friday morning at St. Peter’s Hospital. Brett was born April 15, 1947, in Williston, N.D.

Brett soon moved to Great Falls where he attended grade school. In 1960, the Tibbles moved to Helena and Brett attended Helena High School. He was a national honor society student, played coronet in the band and was selected for the Montana Centennial Band. He graduated in 1965, valedictorian of his class. Brett then attended the University of Montana for two years. In 1968, he transferred to New York University and in 1969, earned his B.A. degree and was awarded the prestigious Thomas Wolf award for poetry writing.

After graduation from NYU, Brett enlisted in VISTA. He served for two years in Delta, Colo., where he taught music appreciation to young Hispanic students. He was very proud of this service and felt that he had aided some of his students in moving on to higher education.

After VISTA, Brett moved to St. Louis. There he worked for the Missouri Department of Human Services. He also resumed his education at Washington University where he studied art and was awarded a Master’s Degree of Fine Arts in 1981. Brett’s art was shown in a number of galleries. Brett also wrote a regular column for the “new age” magazine Jet Lag while he lived in St. Louis.

Printed in the Memory Book for the 40 year reunion.