Longtime resident siblings are marshals

The gold nugget doesn’t fall far from the wheelbarrow in Custer.
Thirty years after their parents were honored, siblings Gary Lipp, Margie Hutton and Mary Sires are being honored as Gold Discovery Days Parade Marshals for their many years of putting time, talent and labor into the festivities. 
All three siblings graduated from Custer High School in 1970, 1972 and 1974, respectively, and their oldest brother Jerry, a 1968 graduate, passed away in 1998. 
“We’re pretty excited about being chosen, because 30 years ago, it was our mom and dad (Bill and Dolores),” said Hutton, although Dolores passed away in May that year. 
“My mother’s mother and my mother’s grandmother belonged to the Custer Women’s Civic Club. They’re the ones that promoted the Pageant of Paha Sapa,” said Hutton, “so they could raise money to build the log community building here, which is now known as the YMCA.” 
Hutton said everyone in town wanted the community building, so they all joined in and started participating in the pageant. The log building was built with the proceeds, and President Calvin Coolidge’s wife dedicated it. 
In later years, pageant proceeds were also used to restore the Custer sign, which had been vandalized, and to build a public swimming pool in the late ’50s and early ’60s. 
Meanwhile, Bill moved to Custer from Timber Lake to work at the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp and helped build Sheridan Lake. That’s where he met Dolores at dances on the weekends. Bill was also a volunteer fireman in town for over 45 years. 
“We had a good family,” said Gary. “The folks were both good, hardworking people. Not anything fancy, but we got food, shelter, clothing and all that kind of stuff.”
Gary worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a wildland firefighter for 38 years and was a member of the Custer Volunteer Fire Department for 44 years, where he started the department’s fire cadet program. He was also the very first certified fire instructor in South Dakota and served as the mayor of the City of Custer for four years. He has lived in Custer all his life. 
In his younger years, Gary was in the Pageant of Paha Sapa. He also walked in the Gold Discovery Days Parades with the other children, wearing fancy uniforms and handing out candy. Later, he passed out candy from fire trucks during the parade.  
“I don’t think I’ve missed any parade ever,” said Gary. “I like the parades. You see all the people and the classes from the high school. Some of those people are pretty old now.”
Gary said it was an honor to be named a parade marshal with his sisters and be recognized for his history in the community of Custer. 
“I was pretty excited that they recognize the local folks,” said Gary. 
Hutton has also lived in Custer for most of her life. She graduated from Black Hills Beauty College in 1989 and opened her own shop, Miss Margie’s, in May of 1990, working as a cosmetologist. For many years, she would block off the parking space in front of her building so residents from the nursing home could sit there to watch the Gold Discovery Days Parade. 
“Number one, they needed a place where they could use the restroom, and number two, they needed shade. I did hair once a week up at the nursing home for 22 years,” said Hutton. 
Hutton served on the Gold Discovery Days committee for five years in the mid-’80s, helping put on the huge event and later recruiting new committee members. As a “youngster,” Hutton participated in the pageant, and as a committee member she was the costume chairman over 105 pageant costumes and helped with the pageant dances.
 “Our childhood growing up in this town was wonderful. We looked forward to the celebration every year. It was a chance to be in it with our school chums. Some of them lived in the country, so we didn’t see them all summer until pageant practice time,” said Hutton. “The real draw card was you got a ticket for a free ride at the carnival, and they set the carnival up right on Main Street, right in front of the Gold Pan.” 
Hutton said she has loved it all, but she especially loved the pageant and the rodeo held at what is now the football field. She said Native Americans would participate in the pageant and dance. The committee would also send people home with buffalo meat to feed their families in the wintertime.
“It served a good purpose, the Pageant of Paha Sapa, a wonderful purpose of everybody giving and passing it on to keep it going,” said Hutton. “It was a great tradition, and it’s sad we didn’t keep it going.”
Regarding being named a Gold Discovery Days Parade Marshal, Hutton said, “I’m very happy about it. This is part of my growing up, and I’m pleased to be chosen as a parade marshal, especially with my two siblings that are still here.”
Sires worked at the nursing home and state hospital in Custer and volunteered with the fire department ladies auxiliary and the VFW. She and her husband also ran the Black Hills Café for eight years. Sires now lives in Gillette with her daughter, Kristi.  
Over the years, Sires always looked forward to Gold Discovery Days because it was a time when family and friends returned home. Sires also participated in the pageant as a child, and said she wished they had been able to keep it. 
“It was a good thing for the kids to get to do,” said Sires. “My girls were in everything they could be in. My son was in a few things, but there wasn’t a lot for boys.”
This included Gold Discovery Days Royalty. Her daughter Kristi was queen in 1996, and her daughter Katie was princess in 2000. 
When Sires learned she was named a Gold Discovery Days Parade Marshal, she said, “I thought it was awesome. I couldn’t believe it. I never dreamed of ever getting to do that, so it’s pretty neat…It makes me proud.”