Rodeo pioneer Fidelia Gilger dies at age 91

Rodeo was quickly moving into today's professional sport when Fidelia Tope took her riding talents on the road with costumes she'd made herself - and a trick riding saddle she bought with her $80 monthly late 1930s paycheck as a Colony, Wyo., school teacher. Rodeo pioneer Fidelia Gilger died Saturday, April 23, 2011, at age 91. Black Hills Roundup Chairman Scott Reder said Monday, "Everybody who knew her knew that she was one of the local rodeo pioneers. "She did a lot to help the sport of rodeo grow to what it is today." Gilger was born in Belle Fourche and graduated from Belle Fourche High School in 1937 - but her story is similar to a few ranch children even today since living in town was a part-time proposition for Crook County ranchers. The Tope Sisters first performed at the Deadwood rodeo and were quickly signed for the Roundup. "Deadwood really gave us a chance," Fidelia said. "Then we rode here, and at Council Bluffs, Rapid City, all over." Fidelia and her younger sister Rosemary, now Rosemary Seymour of Spearfish, took turns at the wheel to pull horse trailers to performances all over the Northern Plains. "They were setting up (rodeo) rules then," Gilger said soon before the Roundup's special recognition of the Tope Sisters and other women rodeo pioneers...more