Woodrow Wilson Moreland AKA “Hard Rock Willie” quit school just shy of 16 years of age to pursue his life of a working cowboy. Already an accomplished horseman and ranch hand since the age of 12 he had often missed school because he was “too busy.” Moving from one job to...
William Patrick “Pat” Dew was born on March 6, 1892, in Wood Lake, Nebraska. As a small boy, he helped his father feed cattle on their farm in Nebraska with a team. Pat Dew came to Wyoming in 1908 and worked for different ranches along the Nebraska border. In 1913 when Pat...
Bill was born May 24, 1921, in Kemmerer to William and Emma Angeli Thoman. He graduated from Kemmerer High School in 1941, and married Mary “Mickey” Ferentchak (2018 WCHF Inductee) on April 3, 1948. They raised seven children. In 1957, they established the Thoman Ranch...
Wallace and his twin sister Wanda (Materi) were born on May 1, 1929, on the family ranch. Wallace and Wanda were the youngest children of Willard and Ada Canfield. He had two older sisters Leona and Rachel and a brother Kenneth. Wallace only went to the 8th grade. After...
Tom Breen grew up on the Triangle X Ranch and lived there until he graduated from Jackson Hole High School. At that time, Triangle X was primarily a dude ranch having about 150 horses and mules as well as a herd of cattle until around 1970. Tom went to work, mounted on a...
Stan and Mary Flitner were born to Wyoming pioneer ranching families. Mary’s family came to Wyoming in 1878 and established the Budd Ranch, now the site of Big Piney. In 1906, Stan’s family moved from Iowa and bought a ranch in the Shell Valley. Stan was the youngest of...
Simeon “Sim” Leon Thayer was born April 10, 1889, in Indian Territory Oklahoma to Aurilla Soper Thayer and Richard Leon Thayer. In 1890 the Thayer family moved by covered wagon from Oklahoma Territory to Wyoming. From 1890 to 1903, Richard moved his family around Wyoming...
Shirley Dawn Wright Lilley was born August 29, 1932, in Cheyenne, to Alan and Nina Wright. Her father was a bricklayer by trade, but also a very skilled horseman who trained horses for his family and others. In high school, Shirley helped with the training. She said, “He...
Ross Russell Rhodes was born March 3, 1945, on the rim between Meeteetse and Cody. He was so anxious to get his life started, his mother didn’t make it to the hospital in Cody. He was delivered by his father alongside the road. The family lived on Wood River until 1949...
Richard Henry Hamilton (RHH) (1828-1888) came west from Missouri to settle at Fort Bridger in 1857-58. He and his brother-in-law and 1st cousin William A. Carter, became partners in a cattle operation to provide beef for the military troops that then served at the fort. In...
Ray C. Fritz, born June 7, 1948, was raised by his grandparents on the Highlands Ranch in Colorado, where his grandpa was foreman. In 1966 he graduated from Bear Creek High School and that fall he joined the national intercollegiate rodeo association. He served in the US...
Marion Harold Scott was born on November 27, 1932, to Harold and Bertha Jane Scott. Marion was the oldest of five children and was raised on the family ranch in northern Campbell County homesteaded by his grandparents in 1917. He spent most of his life horseback working...
Lewis Clifton “Sonny” Bennion was born at Sunshine, Park County Wyoming. At the age of four he began riding horses and herding cattle. In his teens, Sonny continued to work on his father’s and other ranches, trailing cattle to stockyards and railheads. Sonny established a...
Larry Cundall, born in Platte County July 31, 1949, was the fourth-generation manager of the Cundall ranch east of Glendo. Larry grew up on horseback, helping his grandfather, Don Sommers, trail cattle from his ranch south of Glendo to cow camp on the Laramie Plains, a...
Julius Frederick “Jule” Bock was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on June 5, 1867. In 1872, at the age of 5, he came to America and settled in Nebraska with his parents, two brothers and seven sisters. Julius attended country schools until he was 13, and then worked on...
James Michael Taylor, better known as “Mike,” was born August 2, 1939, in Driggs, Idaho to Ernest Glen and Mary Isabel Taylor. He went to school in Teton Valley Idaho and graduated from Teton Valley High in 1957. Mike left his parents’ ranch in Driggs, Idaho and came to...
George K. Fraker, GK, was born in Buffalo, but moved to northern Idaho with his parents when he was young. As a kid, GK worked on his parent’s place as well as neighboring ranches learning how to work with and care for horses and cattle. After GK and Kate married in 1972,...
Gary Zakotnik was born in Kemmerer in 1945. He liked to tell people that he was born with coal dust in his veins and slack in his pants. From the summer of 1957 when as a 6th grader he lived in a sheep camp herding sheep for his uncle until the present, he has been...
Gary was born to Vernon and Doris Rice on December 3, 1939, the second of three children. He was reared on the family ranch just east of Ten Sleep. Gary spent his days involved in the day-to-day operations of the ranch since he could walk and continued with his involvement...
Dru Myron Roberts was born in Jackson Hole, on June 15, 1949, to Dick and Leona Roberts. He was the oldest of six children. Tawny Jo was born on November 5, 1951, in Shelley, ID to Merlin Fransden and Mary Jean Issacs. She was the youngest of three children. She was raised...
Donald Gene Scheer was born February 8, 1936 on a farm near Center, Nebraska the oldest of six children. His parents moved to a ranch in Lingle when Don was just a toddler. He learned to sit a horse before he could walk, rode a horse several miles to and from school at the...
Charles L. Vyvey worked on his family’s farm near Eernegem, Belgium, from the time he was a boy until he was 24 years old. This work involved raising and training horses. He left Belgium in 1907 at age 24 to immigrate to the United. To help pay for his fare, he cared for...
Carl Knudson was born in 1904 in Portland, North Dakota. The oldest of four siblings, he quit school in 8th grade. His widowed mom struggled to make ends meet so he hopped on a horse and rode to Broadus, Montana. He went to work for his Uncle Bert as a ranch hand for $5 a...
Carl T. L. Jorgensen was born in Pinedale at the Jorgensen home place on October 12, 1902. He was the third son of Nels Jorgensen and Karen Lauritsen Jorgensen. The Upper Green River Cattle Association was formed in 1916 and his dad was one of the charter members and...