40 Years Later, Visitor Still Loves Area

It was 40 years ago that Mark Boddicker made a stop in Wolf Point and was so incredibly impressed that he often spoke about the time with family members.

Last week, Boddicker, 80, and his 40-year-old son Andrew spent time in Wolf Point to take in the treasures of northeastern Montana.

Mark explains that in the mid 1980s he needed to travel from Iowa to Medicine Hat to make an agricultural repair. With his vehicle acting up, he made a stop in Wolf Point at a gas station and purchased a candy bar.

“It was the wheat harvest that affected me,” he said. “It was spiritual. God was definitely in view when it happened.”

Andrew added, “He was moved by the wheat harvest.”

In fact, Mark was so inspired by Wolf Point that he wrote a poem about his experience, titled “Spring Wheat Winter Ground.”

“Time in spring does consume All things come alive Silhouetted wheat so graced By conception to endure Land waves amber grain Of gold aroma to inhale Once more to drench the needs Of life who dwell in time Would then summer, winter, fall Mesmerize and capture all Conception must not pass by The spring within who tells us why Father sow a profound sound The word, the time toiled to grow Infant held in trust to show Must we then fall to winter’s ground Feel, hear, there I see, The wind, ground, eternal be And you, mother earth, I must request Are you part of heaven’s nest Is it ground that you impose Or just wheat that comes and goes Mark noted that Wolf Point has changed a good amount since his first trip to Wolf Point. “That gas station where I got the candy bar is gone,” he said. “The town has expanded.”

His farm in Iowa features corn, beans and cattle.

He is glad that he was able to enjoy the local beauty of Wolf Point another time. “Why did it wait 40 years to come back? I don’t know,” he said.