Sara Lou Springer

Sara Lou Springer, 84, an amazing mother, loving wife, selfless grandmother, avid gardener, outdoor adventurer, prolific writer, passionate environmentalist, and meticulous curator of family and Heron history, passed away peacefully from cancer complications surrounded by family on February 16th.

Born July 18, 1940, in Kansas City, Mo., Lou was a long-time resident of Heron, Mont. She fell in love with the area after a Sunday drive from Libby led her to the tiny town. She and Bob, her husband of 65 years, purchased an old homestead up Elk Creek in 1974. The property has been a labor of love for both Lou and Bob for the past 51 years.

Lou was an amazing gardener and was instrumental in starting the Heron Food and Garden Co-op. Growing vegetables and flowers brought her so much joy - as did observing the birds and insects that flocked to the bountiful plot she had cultivated. It was common to see friends sitting with her and Bob in the garden, chatting and laughing amongst the giant squash plants, towering sunflowers, and colorful rows of marigolds, zinnias, and her favorite flower, dwarf morning glories.

Always spirited, Lou loved a good thrill - and if she had to wear a helmet and a life jacket - that was even better! Her love of white water led her down the Salmon, the Lochsa, and the Clearwater rivers. She was always game for a float with friends and had many notable adventures on rivers throughout the western states, including the San Juan, the Green, and the Colorado, as well as a scary trip down the Rio Grande. Her final float was down Bull River last summer - a beloved stretch where the family has shared countless good memories.

Never to be kept indoors during the winter months, Lou was also passionate about cross-country skiing and hosted several epic full-moon ski parties on the property. She and Bob were also instrumental in coordinating many backcountry ski trips in Canada. Lou and Bob's daughter, Carrie, met her first husband and father of her child, Annika, on a ski trip to Kokanee Glacier.

Lou loved a good party, good conversation, and doing good for her community.

She orchestrated ski parties, community meetings, champagne brunches, treasure hunts, river and camping excursions, and family holidays. She fed countless people both at home and at fire camp when she worked for the USFS in Trout Creek. She volunteered at the Heron Library, helped with elections, and was instrumental in securing the empty Heron school property so that it could be used as a community center.

Lou had intense fervency and devotion to the environment and tirelessly fought the threats against it. She worked closely with environmental groups, spreading knowledge and awareness by campaigning and writing. She was an active member of the Cabinet Resource Group.

She didn’t just love nature, she truly observed and appreciated even the smallest facets. Her ability to identify and imitate birdsong was uncanny and she could tell you the time using the sky - always within fifteen minutes. Later in life, one of her favorite pastimes was sitting on her porch listening to the morning symphony of bird songs.

Lou's other passion was literature. Reading it, writing it, analyzing it, sharing it. She read thousands of books which gave her unique mastery of wordcraft and vocabulary, making her quite the force to be reckoned with on a Scrabble board.

She wrote a column, “The West End," for the Sander's County Ledger for many years. In addition, her work was featured in The River Journal for several seasons. Lou also published, in collaboration with her husband, the hiking guide, Eight Great Trails in the Southern Cabinets. Most recently, she published a historical chronicle about the first settlers to homestead Elk Creek.

In 1960, Lou met the love of her life, Bob, while attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., where she studied anthropology. According to Lou, it was love at first sight. They married shortly after a whirlwind romance and quickly started a family. Their passion for the outdoors led them on many early adventures, including a four-month trip to Mexico in a VW van with their two young children, and countless fishing and camping trips to Montana before moving to the state. Those fishing trips left a lasting impression on Pat, Lou and Bob's son, who has been fishing in Alaska for the past 39 years. Madison, Pat's daughter, is following in her father's footsteps and has fished with him since 2018.

Lou and Bob moved to Montana in 1969 where Lou graduated from the University of Montana in Missoula. After graduating, the couple accepted positions as social workers in Browning where they spent three years working on the Blackfoot reservation. Although they didn’t stay for long, it was long enough to change them fundamentally - for the better.

Lou is survived by her husband, Robert, daughter, Carrie Rule, son, Patrick Springer, granddaughters, Annika Odt and Madison Springer, brother, Kurt Kopfer, and half-brother, Eddie Rodieck.

She is preceded in death by her son-in-law, Robert Rule, mother, Louis Kopfer, father, George Rodieck, and stepfather, Carroll Kopfer.

We will all miss you, Lou. You did an outstanding job in this production; now you get to go on to the next play and we hope you have a blast. Thank you.

The family wants to thank the entire staff of Bonner General ICU and Cancer Unit for their compassionate care and the many friends who have helped Lou and Bob the past year.

Per Lou’s request, a celebration of life will be held in May to pay homage to the many champagne brunches she and Bob hosted throughout the years. Please contact the family for more details.