This fall, Great Falls High School will recognize about 50 graduates from its 130 years in the first class of Legacy Alumni.
The inaugural class will be inducted during GFH’s Homecoming weekend, Oct. 2-3.
Principal Geff Habel said it’s always bugged him that there’s not a place within the building to really learn about the school’s history.
When he became principal in 2019 and during construction of the Hub, staff had to clear out the basement and found a bunch of trophies and memorabilia, but had nowhere to put it.
Habel said he thought, “there had to be a way to tell the success stories of Great Falls High. History was being lost.”
To start, they put some in cases with photos in Championship Hall, and started a committee to “celebrate the people that need to be celebrated.”
Photos: Great Falls High, C.M. Russell High graduation 2025
Various student-athlete accomplishments are displayed in the fieldhouse, Habel said, but those were largely left to coaches so they haven’t been kept up or current over time.
Since they’ve started their committee, Habel said they’ve found pamphlets and newsletters dating to before the school yearbook started in 1907.
The project grew, he said, because they knew they needed to include more than athletics and said “who are some of the people who have walked through these halls in the last 130 years?”
The committee has become the Great Falls High School Legacy Alumni Association, a 501(c)3 organization.
“The number of people who have a vested interest in Great Falls High is amazing,” he said, and they’ve been bringing in old letter jackets and sweaters, and memorabilia, including a sweater from the 1940s and a yearbook from 1940.
The school was founded in 1890, with the first graduating class in 1893.
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Since then, Habel said there have been 39,000 graduates.
C.M. Russell High School opened in 1965, Habel said, so GFH has 75 more years of history.
It’s not a competition, he said, but so many generations have come through GFH.
The Legacy Association has developed three key goals: to preserve, honor and inspire.
The goal is to digitize the print materials and place kiosks around the school, creating somewhat of a museum atmosphere, so people can come back and learn about the school, Habel said.
John F. Kennedy was at Memorial Stadium in 1963, a few months before he was assassinated, Habel said, but there is nothing in the school documents the visit.
Since a lot of students don’t use the lockers, which are inset into the walls, Habel said they’ll remove a section to install a display case for some of these items.
The inaugural class of Legacy Alumni includes about 50 people who have made a positive impact in service, the arts, athletics and/or culture.
“We’re excited about what’s possible. There are some great stories,” Habel said, and they’re hoping it inspires the next generation of legacy alumni.
Among the inaugural class of inductees are:
- Josephine Trigg: Great Falls High was established because four young girls, including Trigg, wanted to continue their education and asked the school district to establish a high school. Great Falls High was established in 1890 and six years later, the original building, which is now Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, was built. Trigg graduated in 1893 and the next year, became the music and arts supervisor for Great Falls Schools and worked for the schools until 1899. She later went to the Great Falls Public Library and eventually served as the children’s librarian until her retirement in 1945, according to a local newspaper article on her death. The Trigg family lived next to Charlie Russell and the families were close friends. They acquired a collection of Russell’s work, which Trigg left to the city in her will, with the requirement that a gallery be built to house the works, which is now the C.M. Russell Museum.
- Elmer Williams, the first GFH student to win a Scholastics trophy in 1920. The event was established by the University of Montana in 1904 and was the precursor to what is now the Montana High School Association. Scholastics invited every high school in Montana to send three to five students to compete in oratory and track events. Williams set a record in the 440. Winners were sent to Chicago for the national competition.
- Talmadge Collins, class of 1918
- Pam Spencer Marquez, class of 1975. She made the Olympic team three times, for the 1976 and 1984 Olympics, and also made the U.S. team in 1980, when the U.S. boycotted the Summer Games in Moscow due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
- Francis Fogarty, class of 1942. Habel opened a yearbook from the 1960s and found a newspaper article announcing the new commander of the first U.S. nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, in 1963, who was Fogarty. At 102, he’s living in the VA Hospital in Spokane. Habel spoke to his daughter and invited him to the ceremony.
- John Howard Hoover, class of 1903. He went to Annapolis and served 40 years in the U.S. Navy, including both World Wars. He retired as an admiral and worked under Chester Nimitz. His brother, William Hoover, was also a GFH graduate who went to law school and returned to Great Falls, eventually becoming president of the Anaconda Copper Company.
- C. Lester Hogan, class of 1938. He invented the microwave gyrator and, while in the Navy, worked on acoustic torpedoes and went to the Pacific Theater during WW2. In his 1938 yearbook, he wrote that his ambition was “to be a millionaire.” Hogan was part of the rise of Silicon Valley, working at Bell Labs and was the CEO of Fairchild Camera and Instrument.
- Alma Smith Jacobs, class of 1934, former Great Falls Public Library librarian and Montana State Librarian, both historic firsts for a Black woman during her time.
- Wade Parker, class of 1955, student body president, Habel is verifying, but he’s believed to be the first black student body president. Parker went to Chicago and worked in the state child welfare and foster care system. In 1969, he was nominated as one of the 10 outstanding men of Chicago, along with Jesse Jackson
- Harold Moe, class of 1929. He was the first All-State in three sports in 1927. A 1959 article identified him as the best athlete to come out of GFH. He went on to Oregon State University and played professional sports. His daughter is attending the event.
- Gene Marianetti, class of 1954, was a NASA public affairs officer during the Apollo missions
- Chip Erdmann, class of 1964, judge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
- Ryan Lance, class of 1980, is now CEO of ConocoPhillips
- Jaymee Sire, class of 1998, food blogger, TV host and host of the Food Network Obsessed podcast. She was previously a sports anchor with ESPN.
Habel said when he took the principal job, a local man brought in some of his parents’ things, including yearbooks, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and Vietnam bracelets.
Habel said they want to display those kinds of items to “preserve and honor” the school’s stories and those of its graduates.
In another box delivered that had been sitting in a storage area for awhile, Habel found an article from 1923 honoring the top 10 GFH students for academics.
The article mentioned the Woehner Medallion, which Habel hadn’t heard of, so he looked into it.
Fred Woehner, owned the local drug company and offered to give a scholarship and medallion annually to a top student.
The first was given in 1913, the last in 1939 when he died.
The medallion is 18-karat yellow gold with GFH, the goddess of wisdom, an owl, book and “fiat lux” for let there be light,” engraved on it.
Habel went looking for one and found one from the class of 1929 for sale at a Missoula jeweler for $6,995.
“To me, the kind of thing this Legacy Alumni Association wants to have back here, on loan, whatever, in a protected case, displayed safely,” Habel said. “These are some of the things we’ve said, ‘they deserve to be here.'”
Want to go, donate, learn more?
Legacy Alumni will be recognized during GFH’s Homecoming game Oct. 2.
On Oct. 3, they’ll be hosting tours at the school beginning at 9:30 a.m. plus a Legacy Alumni exhibition from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Old Gym.
The induction ceremony is 12:30 p.m. in the Davidson Auditorium.
The Legacy Alumni benefit dinner is 5-9 p.m. Oct. 3 at Rendezvous, on the second floor of the 410 Central building. Dinner tickets are capped at 300.
The full schedule and tickets are available here.
