At the 1977 Aber Day Kegger, a now-defunct music festival boasting 1,000 kegs of Oly, he danced (possibly naked) at the Lower Miller Creek rodeo grounds to Bonnie Raitt and the Mission Mountain Wood Band. A decade later, Sonnenberg helped pioneer the College of Technology’s Culinary Arts Program, securing certification by the American Culinary Federation for the school, and in doing so, allowing students west of the Mississippi to obtain certification through the school for the first time. He would later become department chairman and chef instructor of the Missoula Vo-Tech Culinary Arts Program.
“It was quite a process to get the school certified, and Frank basically got it going and got it started,” said Kathy Kautzman, Sonnenberg’s former wife.
“Frank was against the war. He was an early influence on me that way,” said Dave Thomas, a Missoula poet, and lifelong friend to Sonnenberg. “We were early members of a (Students for a Democratic Society) chapter that didn’t last too long. It got a little radical for the political climate around here.”
Thomas includes memories of camping and river trips among his fondest memories of Sonnenberg, and recalls one such trip to the Hi-Line with the late Missoula artist Jay Rummel.
“We showed him around and I wrote a few poems,” Thomas said. “Frank was pretty good about getting us out in the country.”
Despite his deference for the outdoors, Sonnenberg had a passion for hot asphalt and smoking tires, driving a super-charged 1954 Oldsmobile.
“He was pretty good behind the wheel. He was an old hot-rodder,” Thomas said. “That Olds was souped up. We’d take it to Lewistown on that strip they had back in the ’60s, and there was an illegal drag strip south of Chinook.”
A maven of the English language, Thomas helped Sonnenberg write his obituary, which ran shortly after the man’s Sept. 23 death from chronic illness.
The opening paragraph reads: “Frank got his wish of delocking the 324 cubic inch engine of his beloved 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 and burned rubber down the dragstrip of the Great Beyond and thereby blended his love of the Montana landscape and its health into the spirit that animates us all.”
Sonnenberg’s two sons animated him perhaps more than anything, but “Penguin parties” likely placed a not-so-distant second.
“Back in college, we had a group, this was in the early ’70s, and we called ourselves the Penguins. There was maybe 10 of us, and we would go camping, fish and hike, take trips into the Missions,” said Gary Lynam, a close friend to Sonnenberg. “It was a lot of people from around town, Monte Dolack was part of that group, it was a really creative group of artists, and Frank was a great cook. We had a real nice time at those. About 10 years later, a bunch of us had gotten married and had kids, and we decided to have some Penguin party reunions. We had a memorable one on Blacktail Ranch. We had a great reunion there, and explored some caves. Christopher (Sonnenberg’s eldest son) was just a little guy.”
Friends remember Sonnenberg as a classy host, preparing expansive gourmet meals to fete his guests. As a chef, he worked at numerous restaurants across town, including the old Florence Hotel, where he famously made colossal omelettes to feed his famished friends.
“When we were in college, we’d split one of those four or five ways. We were just sort of eking our way through,” Lynam said.
He briefly ran Wild West Pizza in the basement of Luke’s Bar, and baked a signature homemade whole wheat crust, which Lynam said was the best pie he’s ever tasted.
“It was a different feeling in the ’70s in Missoula,” says Lynam. “I’ve seen it change a couple of times, but that was a special time.”
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Chip Whitson wrote on Oct 9, 2008 5:51 PM: