Picabo resident Travis Dilleha, 68, who oversees the RR fishing club on Purdy family-owned land at Silver Creek, is suffering from extensive small cell cancer.
The Dillehas have been part-time residents of the valley since 1990. Sherry Dilleha was the late Ruth Purdy's caregiver for seven years and continues to help Bud Purdy.
"We came out for a wedding and just kept coming back," Sherry said. "We left our hearts here." Until Ruth Purdy become too ill, they were spending half the year in Tennessee, where their four children and six grandchildren live, and half the year in Picabo.
"Ruth was the mom I just lost, and I was the daughter she never had," Sherry Dilleha said.
The friendship between the Purdy clan in Picabo and the Dillehas prompted the community to gather together on their behalf. A benefit party will be held for at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Picabo Convenience Store. People are asked to bring a favorite dish, dessert or hors d' oeuvres. There will be beef offered as the main course, and a no-host bar. The cover charge is $20 per person. Items will be auctioned off in live and silent auctions.
"We just celebrated our 30th anniversary," Sherry said. "This man has done everything. He has lived a lot of lives."
Indeed, Dilleha, who served in the army for more than two decades, was also recently retired as a game warden in Tennessee.
"I was in the army for 23 years," he said. "The active years were scattered through those years. I served in Germany, Hawaii, Vietnam and England and learned the Arabic language when the Middle East was my target area—while in Special Forces. I was no hero, just a soldier doing his job."
For more information or to donate, call Mike Riedel at 788-4414, or Nick Purdy 720-5150.
Travis and Sherry Dilleha
