Retired University of Montana professor Katherine “Tobie” Weist has spent much of her life helping others, whether overseas, across the country or near her home in Missoula.

The 84-year-old great-grandmother has spent time everywhere from South Africa and South Korea to the Republic of Georgia and Botswana. As a Red Cross volunteer since 2000, she’s also helped people closer to home as a greeter at blood drives and as a pillowcase presenter, visiting elementary schools and teaching students how to prepare for a disaster.

But some of her most impactful volunteerism has come as a Red Cross disaster responder, working at emergency shelters in Western Montana and as far away as Louisiana.

Earlier this summer, the Missoula Sentinel Kiwanis Club presented Tobie with the Lyle Heath Community Service Recognition Award, which recognizes a local volunteer who unselfishly donates time to area nonprofits.

A native of Ohio, the former Midwest farm girl came to Missoula in 1969 after being hired at the University of Montana as an anthropology instructor. In 1970, she earned her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of California Berkeley and became a full-time professor.

Tobie taught at the UM campus for 30 years, often taking overseas teaching assignments as well, before retiring in 2000 as a professor emeritus.

Even with a lifetime of worldwide experience, Tobie admits she initially was a bit bored in retirement.

“I retired and was torn, wandering about, wondering what to do with myself,” she remembers.

But that changed when her Red Cross calling was literally sparked by a forest fire. In the summer of 2000, a wildfire in the Bitterroot Valley jump-started her service with the humanitarian organization.

“I went to the Red Cross command center in Missoula to help take in monetary donations, and food and clothing -- even horse feed,” she said.

That fire was one of the biggest in country that year, with Red Cross leaders coming in from Washington, D.C., and beyond.

During that response, Tobie learned about what goes into providing care and comfort during a disaster. She took what she absorbed there to South Africa in 2001 as a member of the Peace Corps. Her in-depth work as a Social Anthropology professor also came in handy because she had lived in three African countries while teaching.

“(International experience) allows you to respect a lot of things, certainly many cultures and languages,” she said. “You get used to different things happening, like riding in rumbling buses filled with people and animals.

“It is easier to enter into a disaster situation and not be freaked out. You cannot depend on the old ways of doing things. You have to adapt and make it a better situation.”

Tobie also spent time in the Republic of Georgia working at the National Museum of Manuscripts as part of her Peace Corps journey. And in 2010, she was a teacher with the Semester at Sea program, in which college students traveled the world on a cruise ship while taking classes. About 570 students participated in the four-month program that visited nine countries, and Tobie taught classes each day.

Katrina and beyond

Africa, though a challenge, was nothing compared to what Tobie saw in the United States in 2005 as Red Cross disaster responder during Hurricane Katrina.

“In some ways it was extremely difficult and harrowing, even traumatic,” she said. “Not just for me, but for all. The number of people coming in, the crowd, was gigantic.

“People needed medical care, food. Volunteers were sheltered together dormitory style with bunk beds. And the need was so great.”

Tobie and a group of Red Cross volunteers helped Katrina evacuees at shelters in St. Charles and Alexandria. It was an already incredibly difficult situation made even tougher by Hurricane Rita, which followed closely on the heals of Katrina. Evacuees had to be moved from one shelter to another to escape that storm.

“There was a mile long of traffic. We took up the whole highway,” Tobie said of the transition from one shelter to another.

With toilets backing up, no electricity or running water, it was a tragic situation, Tobie said.  She remembers one shelter at a community fairground.

“It was very hot in September in Louisiana,” she said. “Some buses were loaded to bring homeless people to another town but dropped them at the fairgrounds with no notice. We had one person who needed care for a colostomy bag, one had just received a last dose of chemotherapy the prior day. Some were complaining of heart problems, so we called in emergency medical.

“I slept in the same area as them, but on the floor. I woke up to a huge amount of crying. One man who had reported heart problems the day before had died and was sheltered with his two little children. We had called (EMTs) in to help (the day before), and they dismissed him. But he was not OK. Many of those we took in were not OK.

“The Red Cross did as good as they could. The organization I saw was as good as it could be, well organized. But it is taxing on you.”

Tobie and the other volunteers carried forth, serving at two or three other shelters in Louisiana before their three-week assignment ended and they returned home.

Wild lands, wildfires

Back home in Western Montana, wildfires continued calling Tobie into service. Whether it was Missoula, Hamilton, Seeley Lake or elsewhere, Tobie regularly volunteered at shelters whenever needed.

“Montanans don’t like shelters, but when they have to go, they do,” she said. “And they are happy to have a roof over their heads.”

In recordings and manuscripts at UM’s Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, Tobie talks about teaching overseas in South Korea, Botswana, Nigeria and Tanzania and of her extensive work on the Northern Cheyenne reservation and how it influenced her anthropology career.

Tobie now enjoys spending time with her two sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  And even though she has hung up her Red Cross shelter vest, she encourages others to lend their time and talent to the organization.

“I think there is a lot of gratification working toward a clear, lineated cause where the danger is clear,” she said. “The Red Cross spends a lot of effort on training its volunteers for shelter work. It is very easy to be a volunteer.”