About Us

The Custer Battlefield National Cemetery became part of the Department of the Interior in June 1940 and was designated part of the National Park Service in July of that same year. The first Park Service personnel, Superintendent Edward S. Luce, did not arrive until January 1941 – Luce would provide leadership of the “Custer Battlefield” for the next 16 years. Custer National Cemetery became the Custer Battlefield National Monument (CBNM) in March 1946 and was under the administrative supervision of Yellowstone National Park until 1953.

The Yellowstone Library and Museum Association (YLMA) was established in 1933 and, beginning in 1943, a sales outlet was opened at the Custer Battlefield – postcards and a battlefield pamphlet were the only sales items. Construction of the museum administration building began in March 1952 and was completed in time for a rainsoaked dedication on June 25. With the completion of building a more active and expanded sales program was initiated and it was proposed at the annual YLMA meeting in October that the sales outlet at the Custer Battlefield become a separate organization.

A memorandum from the Park Service’s Regional Director, dated December 5,1952, approved the “establishment of an Association for the furtherance of the interests in historical research and related subjects to Custer Battlefield National Monument.” On January 11, 1953, several prominent citizens of Montana and government personnel met and organized the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association (CBHMA). A constitution and by-laws were formally adopted at the meeting and were approved by the Regional Director of the National Park Service on January 27, 1953. The first Board of Directors and officers of the Association were elected:

• Mr. George G. Osten, Treasurer
• Major Edward S. Luce, Executive Secretary
• Mr. Joe Medicine Crow
• Mr. Fred C. Krieg
• Mrs. Evelyn S. Luce
• Mr. Walter C. Nye

View or download complete file: CBHMA History (pdf file)

Ted Heath, President
478 Sailfish Drive
Hiawatha, IA  52233-1036
tedheath49@netzero.com
Term ends June 2026

Michael Hansen, Vice President
3830 South S 13^th Street
Sheboygan, WI  53081-7284
mikebravo1@charter.net
Terms ends June 2025

Sue Heath, Treasurer
478 Sailfish Drive
Hiawatha, IA  52233-1036
sheath321@netzero.com
Non-voting board member

Dale Ramsey, Secretary
25311 South 88^th Avenue
Frankfort, IL  60423-8452
drcuster1876@yahoo.com
Term ends June 2025

Don Fisk,
14 Old Squaw Road
Sheridan, WY  82801
writingbull@gmail.com
Term ends June 2027

Jerry Thomas
3000 Gary Avenue
Manhattan, KS 66502-2016
ljjms@cox.net
Term ends June 2027

Dale Wagner
1926 South Brandon
Springfield, WI  65809
headgrinch@aol.com
Term ends June 2022

Gary (Owen) Wang
7968 Silver Jade Drive
Denver NC 28037-8026
garywangarb@gmail.com
Term ends June 2026

After you have read the Superintendent’s message, you will know as much as we do regarding timing of construction for the new museum at the battlefield. I have dealt with many superintendents and sincerely appreciate them taking their time to explain to the CBHMA their current knowledge of when construction at the battlefield will occur.

I hope everyone is doing well and those who made the journey to the Little Bighorn have rested up. With only two openings and two candidates, we are
pleased to announce that Don Fisk was re-elected and Jerry Thomas was elected to the board for the first time. Congratulations! We appreciate their interest and dedication to this part of history, and are pleased to have a full board.

We also thank our outgoing board member Gordon Ramsey for his service. He might be off the board, but he remains actively involved with the  symposium, serves as by-laws keeper and parliamentarian, and is our auctioneer.

The weekend turned out very positive. With the open-or-not-open? status of the battlefield remaining in flux when our 2024 activities were planned, we had to relocate many of our activities. Thanks to all our board members the events went smoothly, and a special thank you to our field trip guide Paul Hedren. Greg and Keri Smith, previous Three Brothers owners, catered our hamburger party and steak dinner at a new venue, as well as our field trip meals.

The new symposium site was also a positive. It looks to be the same for the battlefield status in 2025, as hopefully, construction begins soon on the new museum which is tentatively planned to be open before the 150th anniversary of the battle in 2026. Be sure to read the Superintendent’s message in this issue (See previous).

With that in mind, we are already planning. As an example, we stopped at Fort Phil Kearny on the way to the Little Bighorn. They are building an addition on to the museum, with glass on the exterior for easy-viewing of the Fort, and other terrain. They were working on it while we were there. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, after which they will apply for a permit to move artifacts into the addition. If we tied that in with Fetterman, it would be a good fieldtrip.

As a reminder, the next Dispatch will be published in January, 2025.
—Garry Owen, Ted Heath

We hold an annual meeting in June. An updated schedule of events and registration form for the 2025 Annual Meeting will be posted in early 2025.