Excerpt from the article awarding the first Bill Tolhurst Award in 2008.

(First part of article above).

This year the 'Bill Torhurst Award' is proudly presented to Orval Banks and Carolyn Knapp. 

We love you both. Thanks for giving so much!

In 1985, a handful of people recognized there was a need for a search dog unit to assist law enforcement in Illinois and Wisconsin.  Together they formed the ILL-WIS Search Dog unit, which today is one of the longest existing volunteer K9 search teams in the United States, with over 500 callouts in 28 years.

In 1996, the same group of people donated their time, energy and involvement to become founding members of CSAR.

They have a passion for search work and a love for dogs.

They believe in networking and training hard.

They have an unselfish attitude toward helping fellow dog handlers succeed.

They are willing to mentor, donate their time, and share their knowledge and experience.

Most of all, they taught us the true meaning of the word "TEAM".

Bill Tolhurst was a friend and mentor to them when they first started out. So we find it especially fitting to honor three people with the 2013 Bill Tolhurst Award. We thank each of them for 28 years of hard work and dedication to search work.  Thank you Patti Gibson, Sharon Naskrent and Bob Naskrent.

CSAR Jane Harlan made the presentation:

"I had the distinct honor and pleasure to present the lifetime achievement award to my good friend and mentor, Denver Holder, at the recent CSAR seminar in Alabama. I met Denver at the Black Mountain CSAR seminar in 2003 at my first seminar. At that time, I didn't know how much he would shape my SAR career or how many others he had already mentored. I have trained under him with 2 airscent dogs and one trailing dog and have watched him work 4 dogs in that time. If you had the pleasure of training with him, you know he says little but reveals much. I continue to be amazed by how much I learn about air movement and thermals from his vast amount of time spent as a wildland firefighter."

Denver Holder has been involved in SAR since 1983 and has served as president of NCSARDA since 1984. He has also served on the Board of CSAR. During his service with NCSARDA, Denver has worked mantrailing, air scenting and cadaver dogs. He has participated in over 1100 SAR missions that blessed countless families. He has given of his time, talent and wisdom by instructing at many, many SAR seminars over the years. He has been a friend and mentor to countless members of the SAR community. He is always there to lend help and counsel when needed. Thank you Denver for all you have done and continue to do for the search and rescue community.

This year, CSAR was proud to have two exceptional members nominated for the Tolhurst Award. Irene Korotev of Missouri Search and Rescue K9 and Kathy Newman of Minnesota Search and Rescue Dog Association received the Tolhurst Award at the 2016 seminar. These two women have dedicated themselves to SAR service for many years as handlers, and also as instructors and mentors for countless other handlers. Congratulations to Irene and Kathy for a well-deserved award!

In 1996, the ILL-WIS Search Dog unit was at a low in handlers and dogs. We had just come through a reorganization of the unit. We had lost members and now those of us left were losing our original search dogs to age. So we opened up the unit for membership and who comes in but Janet Anagnos, Dennis Schenk, and a few months later, Carol Lussky. They literally saved our cookies, and the unit!

In these past 21 years, they have all become a vital force of ILL-WIS and CSAR. All of their dogs have had numerous finds. They all have instructed students in HRD and trailing, and in the tradition of Bill Tolhurst, they have mentored many serious-minded dog handlers.

It was our lucky experience to have Bill as one of our first instructors in Appomattox, VA in 1996, and for many years thereafter. He was one of the finest people you could ever meet and he set a high standard in teaching and mentoring all of us. ILL-WIS is forever grateful for the help he gave us in training and the advice he freely gave to us when we got stuck on a difficult search.

So it is with great joy and pleasure that Janet, Dennis, and Carol receive this award for following in Bill's tradition of teaching and mentoring new handlers, for their own individual accomplishments, and for being such great ambassadors of the SAR world. You make ALL of us proud, and Bill would be too.  Congratulations to you all!

In 1996, the same year Canine Search and Recovery was founded, a small group of dog trainers in north Alabama came together to found North Alabama Search Dog Association. Two of these founders are still going strong in the world of search and rescue and have kept NASDA on track through the years, helping the team's members hone their SAR skills and certify many, many canine partners. Darcy Harbaugh and Janet Geist are those two founders. They attended their first CSAR seminar in the spring of 1997 and have become integral members of CSAR and the SAR community since.

Darcy and Janet both exemplify Bill Tolhurst's passion and generosity to the world of SAR. They have worked constantly since the founding of NASDA to always be sure their team members are ready for any mission. They go above and beyond to keep their team at the top of their form and well respected within the SAR community.

Darcy and Janet have given much to CSAR over the years as well. Darcy has served on the Board of Directors as Secretary and then as President. When Carolyn Knapp passed in 2009 and most of the Board resigned, Darcy stepped up immediately to fill in as interim Secretary and then as President the following year for two terms. She guided CSAR through some rough times immediately following Carolyn's death. Janet has served on the Board as a Board member, as Vice President, and then in 2020 as President. Once again, CSAR was in a crisis following the discovery of the loss of our non-profit status, our charter and a large amount of money through fraud. Janet immediately went to work to regain our 501(c)3 status, re-establish our charter, and work through years of problems with the IRS. It is impossible to imagine another person that would have been able to lead CSAR through that terrible time. She worked tirelessly to ensure our organization was restored as it should be.

Janet and Darcy are both NASAR evaluators and have given much of their time over the years in certifying canine handlers to the high standards set forth by NASAR. They have both taught many times at the annual CSAR training seminar in area, HRD, and water HRD. Both Darcy and Janet receive outstanding reviews from their students in all disciplines each time they teach at our seminar.

Whether at a seminar, at home with their own team, or joint training with other teams, Janet and Darcy never hesitate to work with handlers who may be having any sort of issue with their canine partner, some aspect of the search process, or with the handler's own training system. They are patient, instructive, and creative in helping handlers figure out the problem and coming up with ways to remedy and work through them. They have never believed there is only "one way" to teach, train or fix anything. They keep trying until they come up with the way that works best for that handler and their canine.

Congratulations, Darcy and Janet, on receiving Canine Search and Recovery's Bill Tolhurst Award.