By LYNNETTE HINTZE / The Daily Inter Lake

Dennis Pickavance told Mae Moon a year ago that if she beat cancer, she could roll the first ball down the alley when Pick's Bowling Center opened.

Pickavance didn't live long enough to make good on his promise, but his wife, Lou, made sure his wish was granted.

On Monday morning, Moon, 83, stepped up to the line and rolled the first ball, officially opening the expansive state-of-the-art bowling facility near Bigfork.

"They were both going through health problems," Lou said of Moon and her husband. "He wanted her to throw the first ball, and you know how I feel about granting his wishes."

Pickavance, known in Bigfork as "Pick," died in July after working on the project for four years. Lou and two of the couple's eight grown children, Dave Pickavance and Diane Pickavance, pushed on to finish the bowling center and make good on another promise he'd made - to give Bigfork a bowling center it could be proud of.

It wasn't just cancer that Moon overcame to stake her claim as the first bowler at Pick's. Her bout with ill health began with a severely sprained ankle last January, followed by a blood infection that nearly took her life.

"The doctor said if I had waited another day, I wouldn't have made it," she said.

Just one day after returning home from battling the blood infection, she was hospitalized again, this time with colon cancer. Moon battled back from her cancer, then broke her hip.

"It drove me crazy laying around," she said. "But I'm here. I made another year."

After a several-month hiatus from bowling, Moon rolled a respectable 140, picking up a couple of spares and scoring two strikes in a row.

She and her husband, Robert, have been bowling since the 1950s. In March they will celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary; she was 16 when they married in 1942.

"We were just babies," she recalled. "All the men were wanting to get married before they went off to war."

Robert, a World War II and Korean War veteran, watched proudly as his wife completed the first game at the 20-lane center.

DEVIN WEGENER, a Bigfork High School senior, was the second bowler to take to the new lanes on Monday. He's been anxiously waiting for the facility to open because he wants to bowl at college level.

"To get into college bowling you have to bowl 100 to 120 games a week," Wegener said.

He wants to bowl for Vincennes University in Indiana, and with a 201 average and a well-honed hook to his throw, he's well on his way.

PICK'S Bowling Center will begin league bowling next week and will have plenty of open bowling as well, Lou Pickavance said.

The bowling lanes are equipped with 42-inch scoring monitors and a one-level floor design. Some of the bowling lanes feature home-style couches, coffee tables and ottomans.

In addition to the 20 lanes, there is an arcade for children, a snack bar, a bar and lounge, Sweet Lou's Casino and a separate sports-bar area with pool tables and games.

"This place will give the whole family a chance to be entertained," Lou said.

Pick's is located on Montana 82 near the intersection with Montana 35. For more information call 837-2233.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com