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Our Legacy was Built by People

The Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home was named in honor of Tom Roy in 1979 to celebrate our purchase of our first home located at 2824 West Central. Tom came to Missoula in 1974 and joined the Youth Homes Board upon arriving. Tom had been involved in the Bozeman Youth Guidance Home and soon became an integral part of the Missoula home and program. Not having any professional staff beyond the house parents, the Board asked Tom to serve as Chair of the Administrative Committee until we hired our first Executive Director year in 1976. Tom and his committee did all the detailed administrative work to keep us alive in those early years. Tom then served as Board President as we embarked on our efforts to secure permanent homes. In 1979 we moved in and named the home to honor Tom’s dedication and willingness to work tirelessly on behalf of children to give them a voice. Perhaps his commitment is best stated when he was talking about what was most important to him in his life and said “that my sons would look back and say I had been a good father.”



Susan Talbot came to the Youth Homes in 1976 as the board liaison from the United Way of Missoula County Board of Directors. After serving a year in that capacity, Susan joined the Youth Homes’ board and served for eight years of which two were spent as our president. While an extremely generous donor it was truly Susan’s willingness to roll up her sleeves and get whatever needed to be done accomlised that really defined her spirit and style of engagement. These projects ranged from hosting the kids at her summer cabin to roasting a pig at our early summer fund raising parties. Many people have learned from her roles in numerous non-profits and she has raised a generation of philanthropists that benefit Youth Homes and many other causes. After leaving the board and as we were developing our first “treatment home” in 1985 it seemed fitting to honor Susan for her quiet and strong voice on behalf of children. We added a second home to the program in 1987 and named that second program in her honor.



In 1991 the Missoula Attention Home was moving to its permanent facility at 550 North California Street. The Youth Homes was looking for a name besides the rather confusing “attention home” as it was often heard as a “detention home” and that was far from fitting. After a naming contest that failed to find us a cleaver name we turned to our Executive Director for a name. He asked if he could honor his last and best boss, Shirley Miller, from Cut Bank and Helena, Montana. Shirley was involved in youth services in a variety of ways throughout her government career, from searching for Native Youth talents to youth development to special education. Throughout Shirley was always positive, always able to find young and hard-working staff and always wise enough to get behind, support and guide their youthful enthusiasm. Her talents, at leading from behind and always looking to advocate for youth, made Shirley an ideal person to carry the legacy of attention rather than detention for young people in crisis. The Shirley Miller Attention Home was relocated in the middle of 1991 and the program moved in just months after Shirley’s death at too young of an age.



Our Family Care Program is named after the late Dan Fox, a lifelong advocate for children. Dan worked for over 20 years in Montana’s State Child Protective Services Program and was a believer in mediation and conflict resolution for families in crisis. Dan left us all too soon at the age of 47 but his commitment to and concern for these children lives on through our work. Dan’s first work with our kids was as a social worker in Child Protective Services and later, and at the end of his life, as the program coordinator for the western region of child protection in addressing high needs children in the state’s custody.



In 1995 the Youth Homes returned to its roots from the first Youth Home in 1971 which was an all boys home. The founding of a treatment home to specialize in the emotional issues of adolescent boys provided an ideal opportunity to honor Dennis Radtke and his great work in Missoula since his arrival in 1973. Dennis served on the Youth Homes Board in 1973 and served a full term then until 1981 and served again in the late 80’s and into the 90’s. In addition to all of Dennis’ work on behalf of the organization and the children served, Dennis worked as a Guidance Counselor at Hellgate High School for over 30 years. His willingness to stay on the line and working directly with adolescents throughout his entire time at Hellgate honors the work of our therapeutic youth care workers and their critical role in their relationships with the children we serve. Dennis went on to with Youth Homes as a clinical supervisor in our foster care program and then worked for CASA in Missoula.