A very good friend of mine perished in a freak accident on the Bitterroot River Wednesday afternoon.
Dick Galli, a vibrant 72, was a very well respected Hamilton shop owner, rod builder, and friend to the community and rivers. Dick was almost always energetic, honest, refreshingly direct, and took great pains to treat everyone who set foot in his shop with equal respect, from the most obnoxious ‘dude’ to the most grizzled old local fisher.
From what I can piece together they launched at Angler’s Roost and probably in the process of settling gear in the boat got swept upon a brush pile / sweeper, hung up for several seconds, the upstream edge of the raft dipped and they were swimming before they knew it. Dick didn’t make the island near Skalkaho Creek with the others, and his body was later recovered down by Quality Supply by the search and rescue guys.
All of us who knew Dick will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his family. On one level of thought, there is a bit of comfort in knowing that Dick was doing what he loved up until the very end. That still doesn’t help much today.
Dick was an ultra-experienced and thoughtful guy on the water; it is almost unthinkable that something like this could have happened to him. If he were hear today and someone else had perished a couple of days ago, Dick would have been deeply saddened to have lost a friend (as all of us are today), and gently reminded everyone that the river must be deeply respected at all times. He’d say something like don’t take moving water anywhere for granted, even for a second.
You’ll be missed, my friend.
