Gary Roberson and Terry Crayden met in high school during Analytic Geometry class. One day Roberson overheard their teacher asking Crayden about a recent caving exploit. Roberson chimed in about his own interest in caving, and the two were out hunting “virgin borehole” (what cavers call undiscovered caves or cave passages) the next weekend. Now, 40 years later, the duo is on the development of their third show cave together. Talk about destiny!
My Dad (Gary Roberson) and his friends have always had silly nicknames for each other. Dad is “Herr Gar,” because he took German in college and was always practicing his German while they were on long caving trips. Voila! It stuck. Terry Crayden became “Cray-dog,” which was soon shortened to just “The Dog.” We can’t forget “The Bear” and “Fig,” who very appropriately had the last name of Newton.
A week after the grand opening of Indiana Caverns, I’m glad my Dad has had his trusty sidekick, Mr. Terry “The Dog” Crayden, beside him throughout this endeavor. Getting to this point has been more of a marathon than a sprint, but I think the two have somehow made this race into a relay. We were all waiting at the finish line to congratulate them on a dream that took almost a lifetime to become a completed mission.