Knowing Trevor

By Erin Nicholes, of The Montana Standard - 05/25/2007

Orville Anderson stands in his parents’ Anaconda garage where his son Trevor dreamed of opening a bike shop. Trevor, 22, hand-crafted the wooden work table and was in the process of rebuilding the blue bike. Lisa Kunkel / The Montana Standard.

ANACONDA — When Pete Kurtz opened Sven’s Bicycles each morning, he counted on Trevor Anderson visiting.

“Trevor was in almost every day,” said Kurtz, former owner of the now-closed store. “He was hoping to set up his own little bike shop.” Anderson, 22, was found dead Thursday after a five-day search (see main story above).

Friends said he was someone most people recognized, but few truly knew.

“He had high expectations, and he always wanted more,” said Kevin Kovacich, Anderson’s neighbor. “His mind was always going.” Anderson was “borderline intellect-ually functioning,” with a childlike vocabulary, social difficulties and obsessive tendencies, his dad, Orville Anderson said.

But behind the label, he loved carpentry, working on bikes and cars and longed for a job, buddies and a girlfriend.

“People didn’t really know what he was into and all the dreams he had,” Orville said. “He didn’t get to accomplish 99 percent of them.” The family’s small green home is full of windowed curio cabinets, entertainment centers and bed frames Anderson handcrafted.

“This one he was actually nice enough to give us,” Orville said, running a finger over a curio’s smooth edge. “He didn’t like the bed frame he had, so he tore it out and built” his own.

He learned woodworking at Kovacich’s, where his frequent visits turned into lessons.

“At first, we ran the saws and eventually we turned it over to him,” Kovacich said. “He was very careful, very meticulous. For the most part, everything he did, he did on his own.” He also made bicycles and was often seen pedaling around, sometimes as far as Georgetown Lake.

In his grandparents’ garage west of town, Anderson worked toward his dream of opening a bike shop. A bike frame still sits in a vice on a workbench he built, tools line the walls.

“Once he gets onto something he can throw 110 percent of himself into it and lock everything in the world out,” said Kurtz, who sold Anderson tools when he closed Sven’s.

If cars were on his mind, Anderson went to Cook’s Collision on Park Street.

“Sometimes he was down here every day,” owner Ken Cook said. “He was pretty smart about cars.” He longed to use his abilities and at times became depressed when jobs didn’t pan out, Orville said. But, he did find some fulfillment working at Albertson’s.

“He had taken the time to go onto the Internet and research how to be interviewed,” his former boss Michele Harris said. “He printed out his page of possible questions … and had filled each one out with his answers.” His constant presence in Anaconda, his friends said, will be missed.

“We notice when he doesn’t come around,” Kovacich said.