New York native colors world with amazing art

"My name is Gail Wolters Lyster, and I was born in Flushing, N.Y., on April 27, 1949. My mom's name was Olinda Carlotta Mellow and dad's name is Jack Frank Wolters. I have an older sister named Honey, and I have a brother named Rande.

"We lived in the woods of Putnam Valley, where life was just wonderful, and simple. Life was all about playing at the brook, and being outdoors. We had no television during my early years, so we spent a lot of time at our craft closet. There were always plenty of projects for us to do.

"When we were little, during preschool days, our dad was an apprentice electrician, and he had to go from place to place to work. We had a 36-foot trailer and we traveled from site to site. We would set up our trailer, and live there until dad's job was finished. We would then move to the next job, and for many years we were little rovers. It was fun and we were everywhere. I am sure that is one reason we were such a tight little family unit. We continued doing this until dad built our house in Putnam Valley.

"When I was about six, I started school at Putnam Valley Central. I had to walk a quarter of a mile to catch the school bus. I went there through the ninth grade. It was a small school, with simple little classes. I graduated from junior high in 1963.

"I have always loved art, and I know it was my mother's influence. My mom always called me, "Busy Fingers," because I was always working on something. I thought I was going to grow up to be a taxidermist, because I was always skinning out little animals. The first thing I ever did was a little mole that the dogs had killed. I skinned him out, and I gave him to my dad.

"I went to high school at Peekskill, which was about 20 miles from our house. I went there three years, and I was on the swimming team. There were no female sports, so I was a cheerleader. We had a marching band, and by being a cheer leader, I was also involved in the band. I liked being part of the band, doing formations, and all of that. I loved being on the school bus with the teams and the band members. We would all sing and chant — it was so much fun. I graduated from high school in 1966.

"I got a full academic scholarship to Hiram Scott College, in Scott's Bluff, Neb. At first, I was very homesick and I missed my mom and dad. I did adjust and it was great fun. For the first time I had my hands in real art, in many mediums. In 1970, I received my degree in secondary art education.

"I met my husband while we were in college. My husband's name is Thomas, but everyone knows him as Zep. We were married in Fort Collins, Colo., in 1972. We have been married 33 years. Zep is a theatrical rigger. We have one daughter and her name is Kate, and she works with me in our art studio. We had our studio downtown for 22 years, but now we are working out of our house.

"Zep and I moved to Sandpoint in 1979. At that time, Zep was a logger and I worked in leather. We had this old truck that had a skylight, and I had my workbench in it. I worked on custom leather projects, and Kate had her own little work bench next to mine. My buddy, Susan Conway, needed help painting tiles and I started working with her. I bought the business, Fine Art Tile, and it became a full-time job.

"Sandpoint is changing, and it is sad to see things change so quickly. I love this town, and I have such wonderful friends in Sandpoint. I am afraid of some of the things that are happening. I have always thought that we have so many people, from all over, that have clear minds in making decisions about our future. Sometimes, I doubt if that is happening."

(Due to space limitations, I can list only a few of you that recognized Gail: Jim Orbaugh, Joyce Hartley, Bobbie Huguenin, Sylvia Greenwood, Carol Rivers, Bernice Webb, Cynthia Nelson, Judie Conlan, Erik Daarstad, Pat Stevens, Allison Murphy, Helen Newton, Jackie & Carlos Fuarez, Sue Hatch, Barbara Peterson, Betsy Hammock, Kathy Murphy, and Wayne Sundgren.)