Charlie Barham, Webmaster/Publicity

Matt Bender, Yearbook

Bill Black, Campus Services

Dave Brown, Food & Beverage

Fred Crispin, Finance

Ellen Decker, Associates

Frank Decker, H.Q.

Bob Kenagy, Registrar

Len Milberg, Events/Schedule

Bill Sutphin, Student Crew

On behalf of the Class of 1952, it is our pleasure to invite the Class of 1953 to make our headquarters at the Princeton (football) stadium your headquarters for Reunions next May 31st to June 3rd, 2012.

Your classmates are invited to use our headquarters facilities during open hours, including our "living room" (lounge area) and bar (beer and soft drinks).  Our headquarters will be closed for dinner for Class of 1952 members only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.  However, your classmates are welcome to join us after 8:00PM on those nights for misic and dancing, and you are also invited to join us for luncheon before the P-Prade on Saturday, and for breakfast on Sunday at our Headquarters.

There will be a charge of $10 per person for anyone attending the Saturday luncheon, which charge will also include the Sunday breakfast.

From our allotment of on-campus beds in Scully, we will hold until March 15th, two (2) beds for your class at a charge of $125 per bed for up to a three night stay. 

We will provide at our headquarters for the registration of your classmates and guests.

Additional information about the Reunion will be posted at a later date.

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Four days after avalanche tragedy, Oly comes home
Gail Schontzler, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, January 6, 2012

Four days after an avalanche killed his master and buried him alive, a little Welsh Corgi dog named Oly walked out of the wilderness and into the arms of Cooke City rescuers, who brought him home to his grieving family in Bozeman.

I'ts bittersweet," said Kerry Corcoran Gaillard, who husband, David Gaillard, was killed by an avalanche Saturday when the couple was cross-country skiing.

"I was excited" to get Oly back, she said, "But it amplified the loss of Dave a little bit.  You automatically wish it could be Dave."

David Gaillard, 44, was the Defenders of Wildlife Northern Rockies representative, a wildlife advocate, a dad and stepdad, and co-president of the Irving parents council.  He and Kerry, who teaches art at Bozeman High School and the Bridger alternative program, had been married just over one year.

How a little dog could survive four days in the wild, when temperatures dipped into the teens, is "beyond belief" said William Gaillard, David's father from Connecticut.  "It truly is a miracle."

Kerry and David had been cross-country skiing southeast of Cooke City, with Oly trotting in their tracks, when the avalanche hit about 2 p.m.

Silver Brelsford, 15, a sophomore at Bozeman High, said her mother remembered seeing Oly taken down by the first slide.

"He was swimming" in the now, Silver said.  "He got covered by the second slide."

David's last act was to try to save Kerry, telling her, "Retreat to the trees."  She grabbed a tree, as the avalanche tumbled by.  When the slide stopped, she started digging in the snow, trying in vain to find David.

The rescue team said considering that only one person was up there they couldn't believe how much digging she did," said her sister, Kathleen Corcoran.

Kerry never saw or heard her dog.  Neither did the three-man search and rescue team from Cooke City that went back in the dark Saturday night to find and retrieve David's body.  Bill Whittle, owner of Antlers Lodge and a rescue team member, said they found him with avalanche beacons.

Even the Gallatin National Forest avalanche experts who went up Monday to investigate saw no dog.

Yet four days after the accident, Cooke City retiree Dale Dempsey was walking his dog and noticed a little Corgi standing outside the Alpine Motel, where the Gaillards had stayed, Whittle said, "He put two and two together."

The Corgi was waiting in front of Room 17, whining a little, and then walking across the street to stare into the restaurant where the Gaillards had eaten breakfast, said Robert Weinstein, Alpine Motel manager.

People in tiny Cooke City know every dog in town, and Weinstein remembered how obedient the Gaillard's Corgi had been.

"People started gathering, talking," Weinstein said.  "Nobdy could believe this is that dog.  We were all doubting.  How on earth is it possible?"

Whittle phoned the family in Bozeman, got a description of the dog and his name.  Sure enough, it was Oly.  He had walked four miles our of the wilderness.

"He was definitely hungry,"  Weinstein said.  "But he wasn't injured."

Silver said when the family got the call from Cooke City saying, "We found your dog," they assumed that meant the dog's body.

"We were taken aback," Silver said, when they said, "'He's alive."  We were so amazed."

"We're thinking he dug himself out because of his short legs, and he followed the trail back to the point they parked to go ski," Silver said.  From there, Oly somehow made the right turn to reach Cooke City.


Whittle said he and Dempsey drove the dog back to Bozeman.  "I was glad to take a trip to town and bring little Oly home."

On Thursday, Whittle said, a skier followed Oly's trail back to the avalanche to try to figure out how the dog survived.

"He was buried about 50 feet below David, about 3 feet deep," Whittle said.  He added he thinks that "Oly was buried for four days and he hug himself out....They're incredible animals."

Back home, Oly seems pretty sound.  The first day he was "very tired and a little depressed," Silver said, scared by loud noises and hiding under the table at times.  But he's better now.

Kerry, who has had Oly about five years, said she wanted a Corgi because of their "gusto" and happy personality.

"He's a very loyal, faithful dog," Kerry said.  The Cooke City search and rescue members, she said, "were so kind to come all that way, make the long drive."

David's 11-year-old daughter, Marguerite, "is very happy to have Oly back," Silver said.  "Oly was one of her very good friends.  It didn't completely ease the pain, but it helped a tiny bit."

Thanks to Bill Gaillard for sharing this story with us.