Former Senator Carmine Mowbray

RAF Featured Supporter Carmine Mowbray

If there was ever an individual who epitomizes volunteerism for the RAF, it’s Carmine Mowbray, from Polson, Montana and St. George, Utah. She volunteered to publish RAF Newsletters, worked on the pilot shelter at Ryan Field, swung a Pulaski cutting sagebrush at a Missouri Breaks airstrip, and staffed the RAF booth at trade shows.

A native of western Washington, she and her husband moved to Montana in 1973. They started a printing business that grew into a regional printing plant serving western Montana, and published a small chain of award-winning weekly newspapers. For nearly two decades they flew a Turbo Lance to manage their six locations around Montana. At the same time they were raising four busy kids, all of whom have grown and are starting families of their own. Mowbrays sold the publishing enterprise to a larger chain in 2000. At that time Mowbrays employed 50 people.

No longer tied to a business, Carmine pursued other interests. She served on First Interstate Bank’s advisory board; spent 14 years on the local Polson hospital board, and taught motorcycle safety for ten seasons. She chaired Polson’s live arts council for a dozen years, and produced an award winning radio show for Montana Public Radio. To exercise her passion for journalism she published two works of historical fiction, one of which won a national award. Of her time serving in the Montana Senate, she says, “It was a real honor and very stimulating to be surrounded with 49 type-A workaholics who love to debate.”

Carmine now owns a 1960 Cessna 182 equipped with a three blade prop and a Sportsman STOL. “I can reach some outstanding places with this plane. By supporting the RAF we can all work together to maintain the destinations we all are privileged to use.”