Farrell Gale, 43, a member of the Bureau of Land Management, died on July 11, 1980, when the plane he was in helping drop batteries to firefighters fighting a two-acre wildfire crashed. It was speculated that the parachute of the package they were dropping either opened prematurely inside the plane or got caught in the tail end upon exit causing the plane to crash into an isolated peak of the Schell Creek Range.
Mr. Gale a White Pine resident since 1957 was the owner of the Ely Flying Service and the Ely Investment Co and served with the White Pine Development Corporation. Mr. Gale was born May 9, 1937, in Beaver, Utah. He married his wife Peggy in St. George Temple on May 27, 1958. He was a member of the Ely Second Ward Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he was also a high councilman. He was survived by his wife Peggy, mother Maurine of Beaver; sons Shane, Lance, and Brett; daughter Erin; brothers Alan, Bryce, and Mark of Beaver and Bryant and Chris of Cedar City, Utah; and sister Melinda Whittaker of Fillmore, Utah.