SIHA Board of Directors

Gary Gadwa, President of the Board, is a 1978 graduate of the University of Idaho with a M.S. in Wildlife Management. Gary devoted 28 years to protecting, perpetuating, and managing the fish and wildlife of Idaho during his career with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG). Electing to work in the field, Gary spent the majority of his career within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (NRA), the Sawtooth Wilderness, the southern end of the Frank Church Wilderness, and the White Clouds.  His work in these very special wilderness and backcountry areas provided Gary with extensive opportunities to experience the country via horseback, trail cycle, snowmobile, kayak, raft, as well as aircraft as few, if any, others have ever done.  His wildlife field studies included research on wolverine, elk, sheep and goats with opportunities to trap and relocate many other species from bats to small carnivores, lions, bears, and all major native big game. Gary twice earned recognition as Idaho Conservation Officer of the Year, the only IDFG Enforcement Officer with this honor.  Gary is committed to preserving and interpreting the natural and cultural history of Idaho, and has been “addicted” to learning everything about the Sawtooth & Salmon River history since becoming acquainted in the early 70s with several central Idaho “pioneers”.  Gary also serves on the board of the Stanley Clinic, as Commander of Sawtooth Search and Rescue, is a key EMS and fire department volunteer, and is active in Homeland Security as an amateur radio emergency coordinator. In 2004, Gary received the second annual Sawtooth Society Bethine Church Sawtooth NRA Service Award, the first such award having gone to his wife, Laurii, who also is instrumental to SIHA.   Gary and Laurii raised and educated two children in Stanley and have been year-round residents since 1979.  Gary enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, Harley riding, trail cycle riding, snowmobiling, restoring old Fords, amateur radio, and photography.

Vicki Jo Lawson, Vice-President of the Board, has a background in environmental education and public lands management.  She worked as an instructor at the Clemmie Gill School of Science and Conservation, the Kern Environmental Education Program, and the Yosemite Institute.  For twelve years, Vicki managed interpretive programs for the National Park Service (Yosemite), and for eighteen years, she served as a recreation planner for the U.S. Forest Service (Boise National Forest and Intermountain Region Office).  For a brief time, she operated an interpretive planning and consulting firm called Shared Visions.  Currently, Vicki works part-time as the Idaho Recreation and Tourism Initiative Coordinator, a position hosted by Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.  Vicki holds a degree in environmental studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  She and her husband, Steve Botti, and their son, now 28 years old, have been camping, hiking, skiing, rafting, and keying out plants in the Sawtooths for the past twenty years.  She now lives in Stanley with her husband and their geriatric cat.

Paul D. Hill, Treasurer of the Board, and his wife, Ann, have been coming to the Sawtooth NRA for 30 years.  After a 35 year business career in Atlanta, Georgia, including ten years in private law practice and 25 years in executive management positions (including chief executive officer) at two major banks headquartered in Atlanta, Paul and Ann retired to live in Stanley and Ashland, Oregon.  Both are active in a number of civic and community organizations in both locations, including the Sawtooth Society and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Paul serves on both Boards).   Paul’s passions, which serve him well as a director of SIHA and President of the Sawtooth Society, include a love of things wild and a fascination with American history.

Ann Legg, Secretary of the Board, is an Idaho native who was raised in a farming/ranching family in the small community of Cambridge.  Since 1993, she has lived year-round near Stanley with her husband, Bob Sevy.   She holds a history degree from Boise State University and a law degree from the University of Idaho.   She practiced law for numerous years in Ketchum and continues a part-time, home office practice from Stanley.   If asked about her primary passion for life in the Sawtooth Valley, she will tell you that “I ride” – not mountain bikes, motorcycles or ATVs – only horses – since childhood and for always.   And she will assure you that she has found no trails which compare to those in the Sawtooth-Salmon River country.  She also will tell you that she was initially attracted to SIHA by the museum and her love of history.

Joe Gallagher grew up in Philadelphia, and came to the Sawtooth Valley in 1971 as a teaching assistant for the Idaho State University archaeological field school.  Tom Kovalicky, Valley Creek Ranger at that time, put Joe up for a couple of nights at the Ranger Station, just until the field school’s camp could be set up.  Joe had never seen a place like the Sawtooth Valley.  He was 23 years old that summer, and the Sawtooths imprinted on him forever. After a few more years in graduate school at Southern Methodist University, Joe returned to Idaho to work for the Sawtooth National Forest. He became their first professional archaeologist.  His first boss was Art Selin (also currently on SIHA Board of Directors).  As Joe moved from location to location with the Forest Service, he also worked with one of the best historic preservationists in the west, eventually working commercially to repair, restore and preserve historic buildings around the country.   He now does that fulltime, having retired from the Forest Service in 2008. His projects can be viewed at www.logdoc.com.  Joe and his wife, Tricia, were married in Pocatello 38 years ago.  They have three sons, all of whom live on the East Coast where their professions or military service have taken them. Joe hopes to build a home in the Sawtooth Valley soon.

Marilyn Marquis, who sports a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and an MBA in management/finance, enjoyed a professional career in the nuclear and geothermal industries, as well as in business management and financial planning.  Now retired, Marilyn spends the summer and fall months in her home in Lower Stanley.  She has known and loved the Sawtooth-Salmon River Country since her first visit to the area in about 1973.  An avid outdoors person, she enjoys hiking, fly fishing, gardening, and tennis, and takes particular delight in observing the annual sequence of area wildflowers.  Marilyn is widowed with two sons and four grandchildren; her younger son, Rich, and his family are year-round Stanley residents.  Marilyn is committed to the Stanley community in many ways.  She is a member of the “Mountain Mammas” service organization, and has long-term ties to SIHA.  Marilyn serves on the SIHA committee responsible for restoration of the historic icehouse at the Stanley museum complex and is a devoted and extremely enthusiastic supporter and promoter of the project.

Hi McComish is a third generation Californian from the Bay Area who fits wonderfully into the Sawtooth-Salmon River Country. While Hi holds degrees in geology, business, and foreign trade, his professional career was as a real estate broker specializing in post office facilities throughout the rural U.S. Hi and his wife, Ann, reside in Tiburon, CA, but spend their summers and portions of winters at their home in Goat Creek. Between them, they have four children and eight grandchildren. Hi first visited the Sawtooth-Salmon River Country in 1972, and he has returned every summer and many winters since. Hi learned to kayak from Stanley’s Joe Leonard, and has kayaked many rivers in Idaho, California, Colorado, and Oregon. Hi is also an avid hiker, particularly in the Sawtooths, and enjoys various winter sports. SIHA has given Hi the opportunity to help protect and preserve the area’s incredible natural environment and its historical treasures. As chairman of the SIHA committee responsible for restoration of the icehouse at the Stanley museum complex, Hi is, in large part, responsible for the success of that project.

Helen Pardoe is the third generation of her family with strong ties to the Stanley Basin. Her grandfather, Dan Mahoney, brought his family to the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch in the early 1930s. The Mahoneys loved the area so much that they bought the  M-M Ranch in 1936.  Helen’s father, Dan Mahoney Jr., began bringing his family to the M-M in the mid-1960s, and Helen has come to Stanley every summer since. Helen graduated from Vassar College in 1980, and is very involved with educational not-for-profits. She resides in New York City with her husband, the Reverend Ted Pardoe, and their four children, Ashley, Ellie, Wooley, and Charlie.  In addition to serving on the SIHA and Sawtooth Society Boards, she is a trustee of Kent School, President of Dreamyard, an arts in education program in the Bronx, and is currently teaching two-year olds at St. Bartholomew Preschool. Helen rides, fly fishes, and cooks for the masses while enjoying the Stanley community. Helen loves the Sawtooth Mountains; to her it is home!

Art Selin, a retired U.S. Forest Service professional, was instrumental in establishing SIHA back in 1972.   Art served SIHA as the Forest Service liaison until he retired from the Forest Service in 1991.  Art has a wealth of historical knowledge when it comes to the Sawtooth-Salmon River Country, and has the lengthiest association with SIHA of any current board member.  Art lives in Twin Falls and is now a rare book collector and dealer.

Wes Wills will tell you that his earliest memory in life is of camping with his family at Redfish Lake, and that the Sawtooth-Salmon River Country has been a central part of his life ever since!  Wes now realizes that as a native Idahoan, he did not appreciate the privilege that it was to live at the door step of this magical country until he had lived twenty years in other states.  Wes has now come full circle and makes his home at the mouth of Fisher Creek in the Sawtooth Valley.  Wes, who for some years has served as a director of the Sawtooth Society, is very excited to join the Board of SIHA and is especially looking forward to working with SIHA’s Sawtooth Forum and Lecture Series.  To Wes, serving on the SIHA board is a tremendous opportunity to better understand our heritage and connect people with the place.…… believing that the more we understand our heritage and how human actions affect the critters and the environment, the better stewards we can become.

John Van Der Wal began his career as a CPA with KPMG.  Thereafter, he held several positions in financial management, including corporate controller of a multinational manufacturer and CFO of several manufacturing and service companies.  Since 1992, he has been a part-time financial consultant to a few corporate clients.  With his wife Susan, he maintains homes in Inverness, California and in Stanley.  His hobbies are reading, chess, and hiking.