CRESAP FOUNDATION - Key Persons

Gail Cresap was born and raised in Vinita, Oklahoma. After graduating from Vinita High School she attended William Woods College for Women in Fulton, Missouri. After her marriage to Denny Cresap they purchased a Ford Dealership in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. There they had their first and only child, John. Gail worked side by side with her husband in the dealership for five years. Then came the purchase of a fledgling company, an Anheuser Busch distributorship, located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Gail was the office and warehouse manager for the next ten years. Due to the success of their company she was able to leave those duties and take a big leap forward to pursue her own interests. Gail started and ran the day to day operation of Grand Lake Alpacas, a million dollar plus operation. She raised and showed prize winning alpacas and won many blue ribbons and national awards. Gail was very instrumental in starting the PAAS, Peaceful Animal Adoption Shelter, a no-kill shelter located in Vinita Oklahoma. It has become a national success. They transport animals to different states that want dogs and cats and have to-date transported over 5000 animals to welcoming homes. Also a very fulfilling project, Gail started a program in the Vinita Public Schools, Adventure Academy. It's a summer program designed to help a select group of underprivileged boys and girls. They may be reading impaired or have other subjects that they have fallen behind in during the normal school year. They are exposed to many things that may not have been available to them otherwise. For example, field trips outside the Vinita area. Gail's foundation provides all of this at no cost to the school system or the child. She continues to oversee the management of her ranch, Big Creek Ranch, located near Lenapah, Oklahoma. There she has a large cow /calf operation.

John was born August 1964 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to his proud parents, Gail and Denny Cresap. He spent his very young years in Pawhuska, Oklahoma before the family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma where he completed his education at Sooner High School in 1982. During his high school years, John worked in the family business, Premium Beers, delivering Anheuser Busch product in and around the Grand Lake area. A pretty popular gig for a young man. From there, John attended the College of Santa Fe, graduating with honors and receiving a Bachelor's of Business Administration degree. A degree that would prove to be very useful in the coming years. After graduation, John took a position with The Anheuser Busch Branch Distributorship in Denver, Colorado. There he was responsible for Special Events in their On-Premise Department as well as selling their Master Cellars wine, all the while promoting and learning as much as possible about their products and how to put on a successful event. It wasn't long before John was asked to join the family operation on a permanent basis. At the age of 24, John was given the opportunity to oversee all aspects of the Ardmore operation as Branch Manager for Red River Distributing and soon after to include Branch Manager for their Lawton operation, as well. In October 1999, the Cresap family acquired the Oklahoma City area and considerably increased their territory in Oklahoma. Also, at this time, John became President of Premium Beers, LLC - a huge step in responsibility. Under John's leadership, additional acquisitions were made; the purchase of Clinton, then Altus and lastly, Guthrie territories were added. These additions increased their delivery territory to 27 counties in Oklahoma. He was now controlling the largest distributorship in the state of Oklahoma and had become one of the Anheuser-Busch Breweries top 15 wholesalers in the nation. After a tremendously successful run in the beer business, John and his family sold Premium Beers of Oklahoma to Anheuser-Busch Brewery, St. Louis, Missouri, on December 31, 2011. This was the end of one legacy and the beginning of another. John was ready to pursue his ultimate dream of traveling the world and his passion for philanthropy. He wanted to help improve the quality of life for Oklahomans.