Rachel Dahl
Fallon has its rituals, the kinds that anchor a town, steady a generation, and remind us why small-town life still matters. Chief among them is the annual Christmas tree lighting on the first Friday night of December, a tradition as familiar as the crisp air in Oats Park and the chorus of kids waiting for the countdown.
This year, as snow framed the edges of Maine Street and families crowded shoulder-to-shoulder for cocoa, carols, and fireworks, Mayor Ken Tedford invited the community to honor two people who quietly represent the very heart of Fallon: Gary and Susan Imelli, chosen this year to light the 2025 community Christmas tree.
Before they pushed the specially crafted plunger used every year to light the tree, Mayor Ken Tedford spoke about the Imelli family, a name woven into Fallon’s history. Gary is the eldest living son of Allie and Doris Imelli, longtime residents whose legacy stretches across agriculture, rodeo, youth programs, education, and civic life.
Allie, a lifelong farmer and rodeo cowboy until the kids came along, was active in the 20/30 Club and helped launch everything from rodeos to community projects. He later served as director of the Fallon High School Rodeo Club. Doris, equally formidable, was a talented seamstress and school secretary, coaching girls’ softball and helping establish the very fields on North Maine Street that generations of Fallon athletes now call home.
The Imellis raised four children, Frank (lost to polio in 1954, before the vaccine), Gary, Carole, and Les, shaping a family steeped in service.
Gary graduated from Churchill County High School in 1964 and played football on scholarship at Western Montana College, where he met Susan. He earned his teaching degree, returned to Fallon, and built a decades-long career in education: teacher, vice principal, principal, then assistant superintendent.
But perhaps the work closest to his heart, as Mayor Tedford noted, is his role in founding the Fallon Youth Club, where he has served as president for eight of its 20 years. Through lean years and prosperous ones, Gary has been the steady hand and its greatest advocate. Long before “youth development” entered modern vocabulary, Gary understood the importance of that idea and spent a lifetime devoted to it.
Susan, meanwhile, spent years serving patients as a lab technician at Banner Churchill, all while supporting parish projects at the Catholic church and quietly mentoring young people. Together, Gary and Susan sponsored exchange students, participated in the CASA program, and opened their home and their hearts more times than anyone can count.
When the Mayor finished speaking, he invited the Imellis forward, where they stood beneath the towering tree, branches wrapped in lights, with the whole town glowing amber in the early dark. With the crowd counting down, Gary and Susan pushed the plunger, and the City of Fallon Christmas tree burst into life.
As the traditional fireworks erupted, the city also kicked off the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the first of many activities that will culminate in the July 4th celebration this summer.
The Lahontan Valley Concert Choir carried on singing at the Fallon Theatre. Santa’s Village bustled, ice skaters glided, and fireworks cracked overhead, invoking the small-town magic Fallon is “famous” for among those who have grown up with it.
For a moment, the whole town paused to honor two people who have spent their lives serving it. In a season built around giving and gratitude, the Imellis’ legacy is one of quiet, everyday generosity, the kind that does not seek recognition but deserves it all the same.
And so, Fallon has stepped into the Christmas Season the way it always does, glowing from the inside out.
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