historic crail ranch

Anne Marie Mistretta, HCRC Chair, has been active with Crail Ranch preservation since 2003. Anne Marie retired from Big Sky’s school district, where as the Superintendent/Principal, she was instrumental in expanding the district to include Lone Peak High School. Anne Marie and husband Jerry raised 4 children, and have 6 grandchildren. Full time Big Sky residents, they volunteer with several local non-profit initiatives.  Anne Marie enjoys fishing and skiing.

Al Lockwood and his wife, Jane, came to Big Sky in the summer of 2003 to get away from the heat in Tucson, AZ their hometown.  Al had a grassroots interest in local history wherever he happened to be living. In Tucson, he was a docent at the Arizona Historical Society museum for many years, and he developed the first docent program for the 300-year-old San Xavier Mission on the Tohono O’odham reservation near town. In Big Sky, Al signed on as a docent at the Crail Ranch in 2006 and was elected first chairperson of the Historic Crail Ranch Conservators when they were formally chartered in 2007. In his five years as chairperson, Al worked to make the Crail Ranch a self-sustaining, accessible, and enduring educational resource for the Big Sky community. 

Margaret Leeper lived in Fairfax County, Virginia for 40 years where she taught elementary school and served as a Reading Specialist.  She and her husband John bought a condo in Big sky in 1990 and thus became seasonal visitors for many years.A home purchased in Bozeman brought them back to Montana on a permanent basis.. After living there for 10 years, they bought a home in Big Sky and one in Englewood, Florida allowing them to enjoy both wonderful places.Two sons, their wives and two grandchildren live on the east coast. Margaret likes skiing, hiking golf, tennis, camping and learning about early life in the Gallatin Canyon.

Sarah Peterson fell in love with Big Sky in 1973 while vacationing in MT with her husband Marv and their two daughters. She’s returned every year to enjoy skiing and hiking and other winter and summer outdoor activities.  After teaching middle school U.S. history and language arts for four decades in Ann Arbor, MI and Watsonville, CA, she and Marv retired and began spending winters and summers in Big Sky. She became a docent at the Crail Ranch several years ago and has found working at the ranch a wonderful way to continue to learn and teach history to the many summer visitors who find the story of the Crail family and other homesteaders in the Gallatin Canyon intriguing.