Sam Gilluly
1908-1984

Inducted June 9, 1990

Sam Gilluly continued a family tradition of leadership in Montana journalism. He was a respected editor, an influential advocate for the newspaper profession and the author of a history of the state’s newspapers. His father, John A. Gilluly, served as president of the Montana Newspaper Association in 1916 and 1917 and was inducted into the Montana Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1965.

Born in 1908 in Billings, Gilluly received his BA degree in journalism from the University of Montana in 1930 and married Esther Hart, also a 1930 journalism graduate, in Missoula in August of that year. He accepted a job with the Great Falls Tribune as a reporter and circulation driver to Glacier National Park. A victim of a Depression-era cutback, he was laid off by the Tribune in early 1932, but weeks later landed a job as editor of the Glasgow Courier. He would remain at that newspaper for nearly three decades.

In 1933, construction work started on Fort Peck Dam, the biggest reclamation project in the nation at the time. Gilluly covered all aspects of that project for the Courier and as a correspondent for the Great Falls Tribune and the Associated Press, until the dam’s completion a dozen years later. When construction of the huge Glasgow Air Force base began in the mid-1950s, Gilluly was on top of that important story as well. He covered it for the rest of the decade.

Recognized as one of Montana’s best weekly editors, Gilluly lectured to University of Montana journalism students in 1946 on the responsibilities, frustrations and rewards of community newspapering. He pointed out that a vigorous editorial page was essential to a weekly, and readers had only to glance at his editorial page to know that he practiced what he preached. He wrote one or two opinion pieces in each edition for 28 years, including one year when the paper was a twice-weekly publication.

Gilluly left the Courier in 1960 to become publications manager of the Montana Chamber of Commerce in Helena. He resigned that position in 1967 to become director of the Montana Historical Society Museum in Helena. As director, he dedicated a new wing of the museum and helped dedicate a number of community museums in Montana.

Upon his retirement from the Historical Society position in 1974, Gilluly served as manager of the Montana Newspaper Association in Helena for the next five years. He was, during his Helena years, a highly respected and influential lobbyist for the newspaper profession. His final contribution to journalism in Montana was a book, “The Press Gang,” which detailed the history of newspapering in the state. He died in Spokane on May 20, 1984.

Gilluly was known for his keen sense of history and for his love of Montana and Montana journalism. As one admirer wrote, “He believed in community and social programs, and he believed that a good newspaper could lead the way.”

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