The Story of Fern and Vern

This January marks the 100th anniversary of two Phillips County pioneers. On January 4th, 1919, Vern Mangis was born the third child of John and Linna Mangis – the first of their children born in a Malta Hospital. His older sister, Dorethea, was born on the homestead in the Bennet Lake Community some 12 miles South of Malta.

On March 5th, 1920 Fern Compton was born in the Malta Hospital as the third child of Henry and Leafy Compton. This was after her mother suffered through a three-day wagon ride from the homestead north of Loring in the dead cold of a Montana winter.

Vern was an intelligent...