07/26/2025
We are excited to announce that Gayle and Kathryn Sacry are named the grand marshals of Barrick Golden Sunlight Frontier Day Parade!
There are few people who have roots as deep in the Whitehall area as Dr. Gayle Sacry. Since 1877, nearly as long as there have been settlers in the area, Sacry’s have called the valley home. But when the Frontier Days planning committee chose a grand marshal for this year's parade to pair with the theme "Back to Our Roots," it wasn't just a long family history that made them choose Dr. Sacry and his wife, Kathryn. It was the couple's decades of dedication and service to building a stronger, better Whitehall that made them excellent honorees.
Dr. Sacry's story begins in the South Boulder Valley south of Cardwell in 1936. He was raised on a small family ranch that he says was "just big enough to require lots of work."
"It was an ideal circumstance, really," he remembers. "We didn't have to worry about drugs. We didn't have lots of problems that young people have now. I grew up on the ranch and was involved in all the sports in high school--football, basketball, track."
Dr. Sacry was a decent student at Whitehall High School, but when he told the principal about his intention to attend medical school, the principal said, 'Well, then, you're going to have to study a lot harder than you have in high school.” Dr. Sacry admits, "And he was right, but I figured I could do it. Even though I wasn't as smart as some of them, I could work harder."
In 1959, working his way through college on a road construction crew in Coeur d'Alene, Gayle went one evening to a church camp also attended by Kathryn Elefson, a college student from Missouri who was living that summer with her brother and his family in Spokane. She had a waitress job. The pair hit it off. Kathryn headed back to Missouri University to finish her senior year, and Gayle reported to St. Louis in September for his first year of medical school. They married one year later, 65 years ago this summer. Kathryn taught high school English in St. Louis until Gayle finished medical school. “I retired from teaching and took up a ‘mother’ job,” she said.
Four children, Carla, Brenda, Steven and Roger, joined the family as Dr. Sacry began practicing medicine—internship at Orange County, California, residency at Contra Costa, California and then for six years in a small town in Alaska.
“When we went to Alaska, Cordova was without a physician,” Dr. Sacry said. “I was the only physician for a hundred miles around. There were no roads into the town then. You had to fly in or come by ferry boat. One of the great experiences in Alaska was doing bush flying in our Maule aircraft. Using floats, skis and tundra tires made flying in Alaska a great time.”
“I had received good, practical medical training and was eager to put it to use. So, in Alaska, I did lots of things--delivering babies, doing surgeries, assisting the town coroner (!) as well as carrying a busy general family practice. There was a nice little hospital there. We were lucky to have a pretty good nursing staff and an excellent lab tech. I arranged for the local dentist to go “outside” for additional training so that he could administer anesthesia when I needed to do surgery. So we did a lot of things in that hospital out in the Alaska bush that would be unheard of for a small hospital now.”
Dr. Sacry’s experience would prove valuable six years later when the town of Whitehall found itself in desperate need of a physician. The family relocated to fill the need, but Gayle and Kathryn expected to stay only a couple of years until the Jefferson Valley Development Corporation could find a permanent practitioner. That was more than fifty years ago!
The Jefferson Valley Development Corporation helped establish a “clinic” first with a mobile home where Dr. Sacry practiced for a year. Dennis Sacry, DDS, had completed dental school by then and wanted to “come home.” The JV Development group then helped get a modular building where both Dr. Sacry and his nephew could work, and the rest is history. Five wings have been added to that original modular building. In 1985, Dr. Terry Reiff joined the Sacry men, and in 2003, Steven Sacry, Physician Assistant, came. In 2023, the clinic celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Along the way, Gayle and Kathryn became beloved members of the Whitehall community.
Kathryn had been an active community member in Alaska, and when the family settled in Whitehall, she was welcomed with open arms. She was a 4-H leader, Sunday School teacher and general busy Mom. She said, “I wanted to help make the community a good place where my kids could live.”
“When my girls were sixth grade and eighth grade, I organized a little group of singers, had them and their friends come,” Kathryn remembers. “The next year Steve was in the sixth grade, and he said, ‘Why can't boys come?’ So I sent notes to school and told my kids they could ask their friends to come sing. On the appointed day, 50 kids came walking up to our house from school, and we had Sunshine Singers that lasted for six years. I also gathered 20 or 25 women singers, too. My friend named that group the Kitchen Blenders. And they gave joint concerts with the Sunshine Singers.”
Kathryn supported Gayle in many of the projects he spearheaded including building three homes for Habitat for Humanity, constructing the library, creating the skate park, building two senior living centers and investing resources and time in rental housing in town. One fundraiser that Kathryn organized was to benefit Habitat for Humanity. There was a big night of entertainment, games, raffles, cake walks, etc. in which the town was challenged to “Beat the Docs for Habitat.” The various doctors, dentists, vets, PhD's in town pledged a nice amount for Habitat and the community beat that amount in a pleasant evening.
The Sacry’s roots, indeed, go back a long way. Gayle says he met Walt Shaw when they were both first graders. That was 81 years ago, and they are still friends! Many other friends and supporters join us in honoring the Sacry contribution toward this stable, solid community. Their work and love for Whitehall will extend beyond their lifetimes and for generations to come.
