Lua Kelly was born in Riverton on June 23, 1942, to Earl and Louise Kelly. In 1953 his family moved to Lander where Earl was employed by Grieve Land and Cattle Co. Lua rode the Spring roundups until he graduated high school, then got in on the Fall and Winter roundups. During the roundups they would pull a cook wagon for their meals and sleep in bedrolls in canvas teepees. He was drafted into the Army in 1964 and served his country in Viet Nam. After being discharged from the Army he returned to Lander to cowboy for Grieve, where he remained for the next 14 years. In 1968 he married Rosalyn Beck, and together they raised two girls and four boys. After the Grieve ranch sold in 1977, Lua worked on various ranches over the next 11 years, including Van Irvine’s Diamond Ring near Midwest, Frank Moore’s Spearhead Ranch North of Douglas, and eventually on the Double Eight Ranch in Elk Mountain where he remained for the next eighteen years until he “retired” in 2008. The following spring, he and two of his sons leased a ranch near Medicine Bow where they are currently raising cattle and grandkids.
Lua B. Kelly
