Hallie Galaise - American Museum Of Fly Fishing

Hallie Thompson Galaise(1895–1957)

Photo used with permission from the Orvis Company.

Hallie Thompson Galaise was born and raised in Manchester, Vermont. Like many of her contemporaries, Galaise sought a job in the fly-tying shop of the Orvis Company. At the age of sixteen, Galaise was the last Orvis tier who was tutored by Mary Orvis Marbury.

When Orvis was purchased by Dudley “Duckie” Corkran in 1939, Galaise was one of only two employees on the payroll (the other was Bert Orvis). As its new owner expanded the company, Galaise continued to tie flies in the Orvis tradition. She was often featured throughout the 1940s and 1950s in promotional printings, appeared in the spring 1949 issue of Vermont Life magazine, and was interviewed for a 1954 article in the now-defunct column Made-in-Vermont, published by the Associated Industries of Vermont.

Until her death, Hallie Galaise tied dozens of flies each day without a vise and with the assistance of only a small pair of scissors.

Photo courtesy of the Orvis Company.

Shortly before her death, Galaise handed this fly to Howard Wilcox, telling him to hold onto it because it was the last one she would ever tie. It was donated to the American Museum of Fly Fishing by Howard’s son, Ronald Wilcox.

From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.