Columbia Falls native now hometown pharmacist

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Dani (Gilley) Perry has her dream job. She’s a pharmacist at Sykes Pharmacy in Columbia Falls , inside the Cedar Palace Medical Center.

But longtime fans of Wildkat basketball may remember her as the scrappy point guard that helped lead the girls basketball team to state A tournaments in 2010 and 2011 — her junior and senior years. She was also an excellent volleyball player.

State didn’t go so well for the girls those two years, despite a wealth of talent.

“We don’t talk about state,” she joked during a recent interview.

Perry was also an excellent student, graduating at the top of the Class of 2011 along with Nate Thompson.

She is the fourth generation of her family to graduate from Columbia Falls — preceded by mom Laurie Harvey, grandma Shirley Hoerner and great-grandma Doris Hoerner. After graduation, with scholarships to help, she enrolled at the University of Montana, took the prerequisites for pharmacy school and then later enrolled in the University’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy, where she graduated in 2017.

She married her high school and college sweetheart, Tanner Perry, a 2009 graduate from Columbia Falls, in 2018. Eleven months ago, the couple had what one might call an instant family, as Dani had identical twin girls, River and Rylie.

The plan was always to return home to Columbia Falls.

“This is my home. My family is here,” she said. “Getting to work in a pharmacy in my hometown is a dream come true.”

The couple set that plan into motion during college. Tanner worked while she finished up school and right after college she went to work as a pharmacist for Albertsons. It was a good experience, but she didn’t like the travel. But in 2020 a job opened up at Sykes and she accepted it. Sykes has since been purchased by the nonprofit Greater Valley Health Center and Gilley now manages the Columbia Falls location. Tanner is a salesman for Fun Beverage and the couple was able to find some land and build a house before the housing market exploded.

As for the twins, she noted when she first had the ultrasound it took a couple of months to sink in.

“There’s a 0.45% chance of having identical twins,” she said.

Dani says she loves being a hometown pharmacist. She isn’t on social media and seeing locals is a way to keep in touch with the community, family and friends.

Her advice to someone looking to pursue a career in medicine? Study hard in high school and get good grades, which leads to scholarships. Avoid student loans and work to during college if you can.

And have a passion for what you do.

“I love talking with the patients,” she said. “It’s nice knowing people who have been here 20-plus years.”