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The Obit Project

The Obit Project

Written by: Jad Abumrad and Jule Banville
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About this listen

Stories about the lives of real Montanans after they die. Co-hosted by old friends and colleagues Jad Abumrad (founder of Radiolab and creator of Dolly Parton’s America and 2025’s Fela Kuti: Fear No Man) and University of Montana professor and journalist Jule Banville (An Absurd Result). This 12-episode production of the Montana Media Lab at the UM School of Journalism started with a class of college students learning about the long tradition of obituary writing. It culminated with them and other journalists creating a new form that explores universal truths, legacies and reckoning with the memories of those we love. Hear the stories wherever you get your podcasts and on Montana Public Radio.

Social Sciences
Episodes
  • The Ghost Lady Is My Neighbor
    May 7 2026

    When she was in high school, Lotus Porte-Moyel interviewed her neighbor, Ellen Baumler, about being a successful woman. Ellen’s success was measured in history books – she wrote 13 of them about the people and places of Montana and was the historian when it came to its capital city of Helena. But really? She was possibly best known for her good work on ghosts and Montana’s many spooky spots.

    Reported and narrated by Lotus Porte-Moyel, current student at UM Journalism

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    23 mins
  • Vanished in Vietnam
    Apr 30 2026

    In 1965, Montanan pilot Dean Pogreba pulled up into the clouds over North Vietnam and was never heard from again. That left his wife and kids to always wonder: Was he still out there? Over the years, a few clues and stories gave his family hope. Maxine Pogreba lived her own full life before and after her husband died, but without someone to bury, she had to find her own path of grief and memory.

    Reported and narrated by Charles Bolte, alum of UM Journalism’s graduate program.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    25 mins
  • Friends Till the End
    Apr 23 2026

    Brendon Galbreath’s death was covered by most major news stations in Montana. He died after being pulled over. At first, it wasn’t clear if a cop shot and killed a 21-year-old citizen of the Blackfeet Nation in Missoula or if he died by suicide in that moment. But this isn’t a story about that. It’s about the beautiful moments we share with our friends, the kind that never show up in news stories.

    Reported and narrated by JoVonne Wagner, alum of UM Journalism currently at Montana Free Press

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    19 mins
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