2/10/2025
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].
Holter hosts sale of ‘Book Guy’ David Spencer’s eclectic collection
The Wiegand Creativity Center in the Holter Museum of Art has been used for various events, group meetings and even weddings, but last week there was a different setup. The center had been transformed into a makeshift bookstore, filled wall-to-wall with books once owned by David Spencer.
Spencer, who was known around Helena as “The Book Guy,” died last November at the age of 76 and left behind a legacy of his passion, about 25,000 books.
Described by many locals as a bibliophile, he would often be seen in downtown bars and businesses with a book-filled tote bag, ready to spark a conversation with other patrons or staff who served him.
After Spencer’s death, Marisa Diaz-Waian, a close friend of his, raised the question of what to do with his collection. Together with the museum’s executive director Christina Barbachano, they came up with the plan to create a temporary pop-up bookstore in the Holter, where Spencer had worked for the past 35 years.
“We love books. We love learning. We love David. And so we thought there’s an insane amount of books here,” Diaz-Waian told Montana Free Press. “How do we do something that’s going to be able to honor David and give back in the community the way that he always did in his walking life, right? This is his entire life’s collection and work and passion, and it would have broken my heart to see, with his passing, it just put in the trash.”
David’s Bookstore, open Tuesdays through Saturdays until Feb. 25, serves another purpose. Proceeds from the book sales will be shared between Spencer’s estate and the museum, said Diaz-Waian, who had known Spencer for the last 15 years and has been handling his end-of-life expenses.
“He lived very meagerly. He didn’t have much in savings. He gave to the community. He gave what he had. He gave his time. He gave his heart. So why wouldn’t we do the same?” Diaz-Waian said.
It took two days and a handful of volunteers to pack, transfer and unpack Spencer’s collection from his one-bedroom apartment to the museum.
Small mountains of paperbacks and hardcovers filled tables in the museum’s center. What couldn’t fit on the tables was then placed in boxes that were displayed in stacked rows.
Holter staff encouraged customers to either bring their own tote bags, purchase the museum’s bag with a Spencer decal printed on the front or reuse empty boxes to carry out their book finds.
Some books still had Spencer’s handwritten notes and makeshift bookmarks from old receipts and brochures tucked away in the pages.
One of the shoppers, J.P. Robertson, said he had met Spencer at the Hawthorn wine bar where he works and came down to the bookstore looking for something specific.
“There’s a couple books that we talked about that he was really passionate about and so was I,” Robertson said. “I’m trying to find those, and it just feels like I’m kind of connected to him as well to see all these books.”
Others, like Marly Kendrick, leisurely perused the stacks.
“He had a deep curiosity for life,” Kendrick said as she looked through the boxes.
Most customers described his collection as eclectic because of its diverse genres and topics. Diaz-Waian said that Spencer’s taste in books is a direct reflection of who he was.
“He had this unique ability to make extremely deep connections between a vast amount of things, and so I think it’s easy to even become more eclectic because you start seeing all of these interesting interwoven things,” Diaz-Waian said. “His ability to make these connections and see in increasingly larger and deeper ways, his book collection mirrored that and continues to.”
What happens to the books that go unsold?
Diaz-Waian said one idea is to create an arch sculpture from the remaining books and place it on the Lewis and Clark Library campus to further memorialize The Book Guy’s legacy.
Credit: JoVonne Wagner / MTFP
5 Things to Know in Helena
County approves $100k contract to GSM: In a meeting last week, Lewis and Clark County commissioners approved an annual $100,000 contract to Good Samaritan Ministries to fund its peer support services at Our Place. The funds come from the county’s Department of Criminal Justice Services and Mental Health Fund and will help the center continue to provide behavioral health services. The contract expires in 2032.
City opens sidewalk program: The city of Helena is accepting applications for its sidewalk improvement loan program, beginning Monday, Feb. 17. The loan program is designed to help property owners with sidewalk maintenance and replacement costs by consolidating all projects into one contract that lowers expenses. The program also offers a zero percent loan that property owners can pay back through their property tax bill over the next 10 years. Visit the city’s website to apply or for additional information.
Helena airport seeks city property: The Helena Regional Airport Authority is asking city commissioners to approve the transfer of about 13 acres of city-owned property between Airport Road and the BNSF railroad to the airport. During a meeting last week, Deputy City Attorney Matthew Petesch presented the request to the commission and said the airport authority wants the land for future commercial development. According to city documents, there are no specific plans for the property. Commissioners will consider the request during the next commission meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, at the City-County Building.
City discusses a water service line program: City Public Works Director Ryan Leland updated the commission last week on cost estimates for residential water service lines in public right-of-ways. Leland presented the commission with different estimates depending on whether the city hired additional staff and purchased equipment versus private contractors to facilitate the work. Leland then recommended a $2 per month fee per residential connection. However, the program is still in the conceptual stage and will be discussed at future city meetings.
Local winners for Code Girls United challenge: Helena teens Makena Pedersen and Aurora Obie were recently named winners in the nationwide Congressional App Challenge. The competition was created to showcase middle and high school students’ software skills. Winners were chosen from each congressional district of each state. The Helena team’s app, “Stay Fetch,” helps people find and adopt a pet compatible with their lives. The winning apps will be on display at the U.S. Capitol during the National Science Fair in April.
3 Takeaways From
Last week, the Helena Education Foundation hosted a series of community discussions on the topic of children’s cell phone use, both in and out of the classroom. Emily Cherkin, a screentime consultant and author of “The Screentime Solution: A Judgment-Free Guide to Becoming a Tech-Intentional Family,” hosted a presentation for local parents and teachers on ways to address technology-related issues. MTFP sat in and chose three highlights from the event. Cherkin’s comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
No. 1: “I invite you tonight to just start by replacing judgment with curiosity for yourself, for your parenting partners, for each other, and to know that we’re here because we want to be. I mentioned tech-intentionality. So tech-intentional is a word that I sort of coined because I kept saying to people, ‘I’m not anti-tech, I’m tech-intentional.’ What I mean by that is using screen-based technologies in a way that aligns, or nurtures, enhances and supports ourselves, our children and our families in a way that aligns with our values, and resisting, delaying and limiting any screen use that interferes with optimal development. Less is more. Later is better. Relationships and skills before screens.
No. 2: “I actually want to highlight that there are sort of, what I see as, two distinct problems, especially for children. There are personal smartphone devices that they are given and provided by their families. Then there is also the problem or challenge of the devices that are provided often by schools. We know this has increased significantly in the last five to 10 years. So it presents a different challenge. I get parents saying to me all the time, ‘Well, we do all these things at home, we have all these rules, we have all these limits.’ I had a parent today say my child knows what YouTube is because of the school device, not because of something we did at home. And schools feel frustrated because parents aren’t setting limits or kids are staying up all night scrolling and parents don’t have any idea. So there’s a back-and-forth conversation that really does need to happen here.
No. 3: “One of the problems with parental controls is that we have this false sense of security. I would rather you spend all of the hours that you’re going to spend trying to set up those parental controls and update them every time your phone updates and invest that in the conversation and relationship with your child because that is going to contribute directly to that stronger relationship.”
Comings and Goings
Coming: The luxury apartment complex Summerville Flats, 2845 N. Sanders St., is accepting applications, according to its social media page. The complex offers studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom floorplans, with monthly rents ranging from $1,465 to $2,750.
Might Be Fun
The Lewis and Clark Library announced on social media that it is starting a new crime podcast club and will host the group’s first meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at Brothers Tapworks, 40 S. Last Chance Gulch, beginning at 6 p.m. The library will sponsor a drink and provide other refreshments.