Ben Steele Report Card Found

The move to new facilities for old Catholic schools in Billings turned up a unique bit of scholastic memorabilia featuring one of Billings’ most celebrated citizens.  The Billings Gazette reports that in 2016– as St. Francis Upper Principal Jim Stanton began to take inventory of the troves of old artifacts and items in the nearly 100-year-old Kate Fratt Memorial Parochial School building– he came across an eighth grade report card for Ben Steele, the famed Billings artist, educator, World War II veteran and survivor of the Bataan Death March.

Steele had A’s in Christian Doctrine that faded into B’s by the end of the year, with solid B’s in Arithmetic and Agriculture.  For one month, the famed artist held an A in Drawing.  The rest of the year he earned B’s, and had a solid showing in Civics.