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Basque Studies Program Newsletter · Issue
59, 1999
Goian Bego, Pat and Eloise
Bieter
Those of us who are involved in Basque studies were
saddened to hear of the death of this well known Boise,
Idaho couple in an automobile accident this past January
24.
Eloise (Garmendia), 73, was raised in a Bizkaian
family in the heyday of the boarding houses and other Basque
activity in central Boise. She spoke only Basque until grade
school and was a charter member of the Basque Center and
served on the first Board of Directors of the Basque Museum
and Cultural Center. Eloise was happiest, however, as a
mother to their five children: Chris, Dave, John, Mary and
Mark.
Pat, 68, was an educator in Boise for forty years,
having taught junior and senior high school and, after
completing his Ph.D. in Education, at Boise State University
from 1969-1995. Pat was elected as a Democrat to the Idaho
House of Representatives in 1996 and ran unopposed for
re-election in 1998.
Although a native Minnesotan of Irish and German
descent, Pat came to embrace the cultural heritage of
Eloise. In 1972, Pat was a student of the Basque Studies
Program’s Summer Studies Abroad in Ustaritz and
Aranzazu, where he became seriously interested in the
language and culture. While there, he conceived of creating
an academic year-long program in the Basque Country, which
came to fruition in August of 1974 when Pat led Eloise,
their five children, a group of eighty Boise State
University students and a handful of teachers to
Oñate.
In 1982, Pat was instrumental in creating a
consortium (University Studies Abroad Consortium, USAC)
between BSU and UNR in order to create a permanent study
abroad organization which offered courses of study to U.S.
university students in the Basque Country. He served as
mentor and advisor to USAC until the present. USAC now sends
several hundred American students to the Basque Country to
study each year.
Pat and Eloise loved every aspect of Basque culture.
A good athlete, Pat played a pretty good round of pala
corta. He worked hard to perfect his Basque language skills
and taught the language on several occasions at BSU. Both of
them enjoyed Basque choirs and Pat sang in the Biotzetik
Basque Choir from its beginnings in 1986. But those of us
who knew him well know that one of his proudest moments was
winning the Boise Basque Center Mus Tournament in 1995 with
long-time partner Severiano “Frailea”
Legarreta.
Funeral services were held at St. John’s
Cathedral, the same place where Eloise and Pat met and were
married forty-four years ago, and just a block from the
house in which they lived their entire life. They had a
rich, balanced, and varied life. They were decent and honest
and participated fully in life. They were good people,
fiercely loyal to family and friends, remarkably warm, and
caring to people of all walks of life. They were committed
to the common good through their church, schools and
dedication to public service. All who knew them mourn their
loss.
Fittingly, the Boise City Arts Commission will
commission a public art project in honor of the Bieters. It
will be located on the Basque Block on Grove Street.
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