Gary Svee

Gary Svee (1943-2019[2]) was an American author and journalist, known for his Westerns. He was born in Billings, Montana, growing up on the banks of the Yellowstone, Rosebud and Stillwater rivers,[3] and was a graduate of the University of Montana's School of Journalism.[4]

Gary Svee
Born1943 (age 77–78)
Billings, Montana
DiedJuly 14, 2019
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
GenreWesterns
Notable worksSanctuary
SpouseDiane[1]
ChildrenDarren
Nathan[1]

Svee was a former editorial director for the Billings (Montana) Gazette. He was on the newspaper's staff in 1993, when the town suffered a wave of vicious racial and religious hatred.[5] Citizens who attended a Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration returned to their cars to find racist literature on them. Swastikas were painted on a Native American family's home, Ku Klux Klan flyers were openly distributed, the Billings Jewish cemetery was desecrated and a brick was hurled through the window of a Jewish family whose six-year-old son put the family's Menorah in it for Hanukkah.[6][7]

The people of Billings banded together, with volunteers re-painting the home and ridding it of the hate-filled graffiti; religious groups held marches and those who were not members of a particular religion began attending other services in addition to their own, to show unity and support for each other. The Billings Gazette printed a full page depiction of a Menorah,[8] asking residents to put the page up in their businesses and homes.[6][7] Svee related how the image was chosen for the paper, saying, "I guess it was a question of looking for an image to put this together. During the second World War, the Danish King is reputed to have come out after the Jewish community was forced to wear stars by the Nazi occupiers, that he was reported to have come out with a yellow star too."[7]

While hundreds of residents displayed the newspaper's Menorah, the incidents were still occurring. The Billings Chief of Police, Gary Inman, issued a challenge to the town's citizens: for every instance of vandalism, ten more people should display the picture of the Menorah; by the end of December, 1993, there were over 10,000 Menorah images openly displayed in the town. The wave of hatred ended.[7] Svee was one of those who worked with the Institute of Peace at Rocky Mountain College to start the Festival of Cultures in Billings, which offers residents an opportunity to both celebrate their heritage and learn about the heritage of others.[6]

Svee, a fiction adviser to the Saturday Evening Post, credited his writing ability to being raised in a family of storytellers, and to his mentor and teacher at the University of Montana, Dorothy M. Johnson.[9] Svee also teaches writing at Montana State University.[1]

Svee's novel Sanctuary won the 1990 Spur Award given annually by the Western Writers of America for the best Western novel award.[4][10] Svee was also the co-author of Script-ease, a guide to writing fiction.[11]

Bibliography
  • Spirit Wolf (1987)[12]
  • Incident at Pishkin Creek (1989)[13]
  • Sanctuary (1990)[10]
  • Single Tree (1994)[14]
  • The Peacemaker's Vengeance (2003)[15]
  • Showdown at Buffalo Jump (also published as Incident at Pishkin Creek) (2003)[13]
  • Outcast (2005) [16]

References
  1. Svee, Gary (April 2005). Outcast. ISBN 0595340148.
  2. Rogers, Rob. "Former Billings Gazette writer dies at 75, remembered for a long career penning novels, editorials". The Billings Gazette. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  3. "New Joliet Library open house Saturday". Carbon County News. 2004. Archived from the original on 24 December 2004. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  4. "Saturday Evening Post Press Kit" (PDF). Saturday Evening Post. p. 11. Retrieved 15 December 2010. (PDF)
  5. "Not In Our Town study guide" (PDF). Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved 15 December 2010. (PDF)
  6. Pickett, Mary (2 May 2010). "Newspaper active in many community causes". Billings Gazette. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  7. "Not In Our Town I: The Original Story". Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  8. "Menorah". Billings Gazette. 1993. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  9. Rhoades, Shirrel (22 October 2009). "One-on-One with the Author:Gary Svee". Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  10. Svee, Gary, ed. (1990). Sanctuary. Pocket Star. ISBN 0-7434-6350-1. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  11. Neff, William Albert; Svee, Gary, eds. (2010). Script-ease. CreateSpace. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-4528-2584-7. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  12. Svee, Gary, ed. (1987). Spirit Wolf. Center Point. p. 191. ISBN 1-58547-516-5. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  13. Svee, Gary, ed. (1989). Showdown at Buffalo Jump. Pocket Star. p. 256. ISBN 0-7434-6351-X. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  14. Svee, Gary, ed. (1995). Single Tree. G. K. Hall and Co. p. 252. ISBN 0-7838-1220-5. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  15. Svee, Gary, ed. (2003). The Peacemaker's Vengenance. Simon & Schuster. p. 352. ISBN 0-7434-6346-3. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  16. Svee, Gary, ed. (2005). Outcast. iUniverse. p. 206. ISBN 0-595-34014-8. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
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