Sydney Desmarais is known by most in town as Dr. Desmarais, the vet who runs the Lone Peak Veterinary Hospital in Big Sky. Sydney grew up an hour south of Boston along the shores of Narragansett Bay in North Kingstown, R.I. Undergraduate college led her to Burlington, Vt. where she studied pre-med.
Raised a nomad and profound lover of working dogs, Heather Walker grew up all over the place but now calls Big Sky home. “We packed up tents every four years and moved,” she laughs. “I’ve lived in probably more than ten places over the course of my life.”
F irst pulled to southwest Montana from the cold clutches of Michigan, Scott Hoeksema (Hooksum-uh) moved to Bozeman in 1999 to attend Montana State University. While in college Hoeksema split his year studying Land Resources and Environmental Science and working in Alaska.
Although a self-described Angeleno, Dr. Patricia Gordon has called Big Sky home for close to two decades as a homeowner, contributor to the community, and member of the Yellowstone Club. The mountain town drew her in the early 2000’s for its values and simplicity.
Peter Schmeiding will be the first to tell you: he’s not one to talk about himself. But for the Ennis, Big Sky and Bozeman dentist, there’s a lot more than just a successful dental practice to discuss.
Growing up watching her mother Sheila make cowboy hats, Ericka Kirkpatrick certainly learned a lot about the unique trade. She’d help with all the aspects of the trade, but she was sure it wasn’t something she’d take on as her own career.
Waded Cruzado, President of Montana State University, has a message for aspirational students in the state: Hard-work matters. Cruzado should know. She is a first-generation college student from Puerto Rico who, due to hard work and perseverance, serves as one of the few Latina presidents of a university in the nation.
Among the 24,000 American, British and Canadian troops who landed at Normandy Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were scores of Montanans. They included ranch kids from places like Choteau, Geyser and Sand Coulee. Thankfully, many made it back home and lived long lives.
Brad Niva moved to Big Sky at such a time that he gets to experience the Big Sky we all knew before the pandemic ever happened. Or at least, a Big Sky relatively removed from some of the more obvious pandemic details.
Jean Behr has the sweetest laugh, the best smile and the most beautiful red hair. Her laugh populates just about every story she tells, and her kindness is apparent in a board meeting, at her food truck and through an iPhone.