The story of the call and work of William Petzoldt to work among the Crow Indians in Montana is truly a story of God's providence. The mission work among the Crows had its beginning in the hearts of the Petzoldts when they were serving the First Baptist Church of Sheridan, Wyoming; the Indians often went there to trade. At a calling of the "Council of the Crow" in 1903, a request was made for a missionary teacher. "We want our children home with us (they were presently being taken 25 miles away to a government school). Build us a school (here at Lodge Grass) and we will bring all our children from the agency and the Roman Catholic schools, and let you take care of them."

In December 1903 William brought his young wife with a baby in her arms to Montana, with no permanent shelter but a tent. He entered the field without knowledge of tribal language and his general knowledge of the Indians was limited, having been born in the East. A month was spent in the mountains with the Indians getting out logs for the new mission house, the thermometer always below zero. The land required for the mission (160 acres) belonged to a pagan chief, White Arm. He had no children, and it was questioned whether he'd relinquish ownership. Eventually White Arm reasoned thus: "White man cannot live in teepee, Indian can; White Arm will give his home to missionary." He moved out into a teepee and gave his warm log home to his teacher. Thus began the cementing of the white and red man together in a mutual program of uplift. John White Man Runs Him commented at that time, "Life was very hard for us. We were a lost tribe between the white man's world and the world we knew. Dr. Petzoldt and his wife came at the right time.

"In their first year tragedy struck the Petzoldts as little Cedric, their only son, died, as the nearest medical help was over 50 miles away. He was buried on a little knoll behind the mission station with a tombstone appropriately engraved "In memory of little Cedric, by the Crow Indians." This little grave marked a unique development. The Indian had always buried their dead in clefts in the rocks, or in trees, or on scaffolds erected on the treeless prairie. Death and burial were terrible ordeals for the pagan Crow.Soon, a Crow family lost a child, which they buried by the side of the little "Jesus papoose's" grave. It would be safer there. Maybe the great Spirit of the "Jesus people" would bring the parents one day to the place that the child had gone.

The school flourished, worship services were held, and sewing, baking, and washing were taught by Mrs. Petzoldt to the older Indian girls. Dr. Petzoldt then started visits to other districts and even set up a church for the white people who were moving into Lodge Grass. A comment made by the Petzoldts reflected on their work; "The assurance of victory does not lie in the fact that this is a promising field, but in the fact that this field belongs to God."

In 1937 Dr. Petzoldt baptized Arlan White Man Runs Him, the great-grandson of one of the six Indian scouts with General Custer in his ill-fated campaign in 1876. White Man Runs Him gave his own name to Dr. Petzoldt that day, an honor seldom conferred by an Indian upon a white man. In conferring the name the Indian said, "My friend, after knowing you for twenty-five years and watching your life and work among my people, I feel the time has come to give you my name. You have won my heart not so much by what you have said, but by the pure and unselfish lives you and your good wife have lived among us Crows..."