Wendy Corr:
Well, hey there folks, welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on and spotlight the most interesting people in Wyoming.
I want to really quickly give a shout out to another very interesting podcast before we get started, the Wyoming Business Alliance’s ‘Business from the Basement’ podcast is a fantastic resource for anybody who has a business in Wyoming. If you're a business person, if you own a business, if you're a manager, this is something that is important and that has a resource for everyone who's even considering going into business in Wyoming, so check out the ‘Business from the Basement’ podcast.
But we don't want you to go away here. We want you to stick around here on The Roundup first, because our guest today for The Roundup is a woman who has a passion for history. She has spent years preserving the history of ranch life in Wyoming, and we're talking about cultural heritage right here in Wyoming.
And today we get to put a big old spotlight on that. Dicksie May is here with us today. Hello, Dicksie. Live from Albany County. We're so glad you're here.
Dicksie May:
Thank you. I'm pleased to be here.
Wendy Corr:
Dicksie, I just think that what you have done the past couple of decades really in preserving the history of Wyoming ranches and making sure that people don't forget where we came from, here in Wyoming, our civilization, our culture here in Wyoming is so based on that ranching history. And you know all about that because you grew up living on ranches here in Wyoming.
Dicksie, tell us a little bit about growing up in Wyoming. Do we tell them how old you are?
Dicksie May:
I don't mind, I don't mind a bit. I'm 86 years old. I was born in Laramie, and my grandparents became my legal guardians, and they owned a ranch south of Laramie, 23 miles south of Laramie. It's referred to as the Antelope Johnson ranch.
And the reason for that is because there was two Johnsons lived next door to each other. One of them was both of them's name was Andrew Johnson. My grandfather became Andrew Antelope Johnson, and the other one became Andrew Running Water Johnson. And I lived on that ranch, and I did go to school here in Laramie, but every minute I could. I was on the ranch.
Wendy Corr:
But you were, you were young, 86 years ago. This had been 80 years ago, you would have gone to school - 23 miles south of Laramie, and yet you went to school in Laramie. How did you manage that?
Dicksie May:
Because even though my grandparents were my guardians, my mother lived in Laramie, and so I lived in Laramie with my mother during the week, my grandfather would bring me in on Sunday night, I would spend the week, and on Friday night, he would pick me up and take me out the ranch.
And of course, I spent all my summers, vacations, Christmas, every other time that I was not going to school, I spent on the ranch.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic. What was the best part of ranch life for you when you were a child? What was the magic of it?
Dicksie May:
Well, to me, the magic was I spent a lot of time with my grandfather. He was in partnership with his son, Richard Johnson, who they called Dick Johnson, and I spent as much time out as I could. I wasn't much for staying in the house and cooking or cleaning or any of that.
Although I did that because of my grandmother, I had duties that I had to perform, but I spent as much time out in the fields and in the mountains or wherever my grandfather and my uncle went. I mean to me, that was a wonderful life. I can't even express my feelings because it was so magical.
Wendy Corr:
Magical is the right word. It really is. You know, just before we got on today, Dicksie and I were talking about the the importance and the the value of growing up on a ranch. You said you wish everybody could spend time growing up on a ranch. Why is that?
Dicksie May:
Well, because to me, everything was pleasant, everything was good, everything was fun. I don't remember anything at all that I ever thought of as unhappy on the ranch. It was always good. I remember looking at horses, looking at cattle.
My grandparents actually raised cattle, Hereford cattle, but they had horses because my grandfather, he believed in using horses. One time, he said to me, or not, maybe other people too. I don't remember, but he specifically said to me that once people started using all that big machinery, the profit would go down. He was still raking with horses up until he passed away in 1961.
Wendy Corr:
Wow. So he thought that was the way to go.
Dicksie May:
Although they did own tractors, they did own other equipment, ranching, equipment for haying and so forth, but he thought horses was the way to go.
Wendy Corr:
What were your thoughts on that because obviously you have seen the evolution of ranching. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think that your grandfather was right, that horses were the way to go?
Dicksie May:
Up to that point, he was, but I think things have changed a lot. Things are different now. I mean, people are raising, people are doing more specific kinds of ranching. By that, I mean, they're either raising calves or they're raising steers, or they're not just raising cattle, they're raising different parts of the cattle industry. They're doing other things besides just raising cattle.
And I think that's important, because I know one family here in Albany county that has a ranch, and all the kids, or children, are still a part of that ranch, but they're all doing other things besides ranching. For instance, they're working in Laramie.
Wendy Corr:
Ah, okay, so both - so it's not just the family business anymore. You have to have an outside job in order to make it work.
Dicksie May:
I think that's part of it. You know, I won't swear to that, but as through the research that I've done, that appears to be what happening now, there are still some ranchers that, for instance, they've turned their ranch into like a wedding, a place where you can get married, or a place where you can go hunting,
but there are some ranchers that are just ranching. They're not doing anything other than that. Their children may be, but not the actual owners of the ranch.
Wendy Corr:
Dicksie, I want to go back to something you just said, because you mentioned the research that you're doing, and I want to switch gears here and talk about this research. This was probably 20, more than 20 years ago. There's a project out at the Wyoming territorial prison out there, there in Laramie.
If you've been to Laramie and you've been a tourist in Laramie, you've gone to the territorial prison, but there is a project there called the Ranchland exhibit at the Wyoming territorial prison. And one of the really interesting things about that, and kind of the centerpiece of that ranch land exhibit, are buildings from the Chimney Rock Ranch, which is someplace that you actually lived for a little while.
Dicksie May:
I actually lived in the house that's on display out at the territorial prison. My mother and my stepfather worked for the owner of the ranch at that time, and I really only spent one summer there. But because that ranch was right next door to the ranch I was raised on, I knew the ranch well.
Because one thing about ranchers in a community - it's called the Sand Creek community, by the way - everybody's friends. You're friends with everybody. So I knew that ranch, and it was really fun to live on it for one summer, and then to find out that that house had been moved to the territory prison and became part of ranch land, it's been thrilling to me.
Because, for one thing, I was volunteering at the territory prison for quite a while, five or six years or so, and I worked for a man named Ollie Hill. He was the director, and he is the one that actually established ranch land. And because he knew that I love ranching, and we had three other people that were volunteers, Rita Parker, Shirley Lilley and Bertha Ward, and all of them were connected to ranching.
And so we loved ranch land. We liked the territorial prison too, but I have to say ranch land was sort of our favorite.
Wendy Corr:
Well, that makes sense, absolutely. What about it? What do you think is important? I want to get to your research here in a little bit. But why is it important? The territorial prison is, is one aspect, kind of the dramatic, you know, cowboys and Indians and the marshals and the robbers and things like that. That's kind of what the territorial prison focuses on.
But here they bring in this ranch land exhibit. How do you think the two of those compliment each other?
Dicksie May:
Well, for one thing, from, I may not have the dates exactly right, from about in 1903 to 1984 or 1985 or something like that, the ranch land was a stock farm. It was used by the University of Wyoming as a stock farm all those years.
Then in the 1980s it was decided by a group of people here in Laramie to restore the prison because the stock farm was no longer in use, it was being transferred to other parts of the UW farms. And so they decided to restore the prison itself.
But because the prison had been a stock farm, and many, many people in that agriculture industry, especially those attached to the university, worked on that stock farm.
Wendy Corr:
So it was part of a part of that agriculture before it actually was restored. Isn't that great?
Dicksie May:
I think it is.
Wendy Corr:
It is. And so you get to see this building, you find out that this building that you actually lived in for a summer, that was neighboring to your home ranch gets moved and is preserved. What was your part in making sure that people know about this, and that this is an important exhibit, just as important as the Wyoming territorial prison?
Dicksie May:
Well, I helped write the history of the ranch where it came from and the buildings. I helped do that. As I mentioned before, Ollie Hill was the director in those days, and he actually asked me, because besides being a ranch history historian, I'm also a professional genealogist, and he knew that I loved family history and that I loved ranching.
So I ended up writing for the territorial prison. They have a copy of it, of the history of that house and the other buildings that surround the house because they were built out of the lumber that came from that ranch.
Wendy Corr:
That is so awesome. Now, the last time we talked, Dicksie, you had mentioned that there have been so many people that have owned and families and businesses that have owned the Chimney Rock ranch. Tell us a little bit about that history?
Dicksie May:
Well, it started out with one man homesteading, and his name was Collins, and after so many years, what's happened with a lot of ranchers is either because they become older or because they decide to to sell the ranch. There's various things that happens to ranches.
Eventually that ranch became 95 square miles. And in that 95 square miles, there was approximately 135 owners or homesteaders. And so that's how that ranch evolved. The last three or four owners prior to now, were corporation. But the idea that corporations have purchased the land, rather than family, businesses or individuals, is something that farms and ranches both are very much going to.
Wendy Corr:
What are your thoughts on that, as far as how that takes away from the cultural heritage?
Dicksie May:
Well, I'd rather see it owned by a family. That ranch now is owned by the Lewis family. It's owned by a family, and it's being run by a family that's some of the owners were companies like the one was called the Chimney Rock grazing Association.
That was 35 people, 35 farmers owned it. But usually when in that case, there was only one that worked with the manager for 35 years, Frank and Shirley Lilly managed that ranch. And during that time, chimney rock grazing Association, Western Union, federated Mutual Insurance Company and so on were owners, and they were made up of, you know, a lot of members.
Now, Shirley Lilley, who are her and her husband manage that ranch, helped me write the Chimney Rock ranch history. I couldn't have done it without her. And she knew all these people, and eventually, when it was sold to the Lewis family, we were all really happy that it was going back to our family.
Wendy Corr:
And does the Lewis family run it now too?
Dicksie May:
They they managed as well as own it. It was, it was originally Rex and Marie Lewis. She was called Mickey and her son Bruce, but both Rex and Maria have died, so Bruce, the son, runs that ranch. And what makes it even more interesting for me is they also own the Antelope Johnson Ranch, which was my family ranch.
Wendy, one of the things that I've enjoyed so much about the Lewis's is they treated me like I was part of the both ranches every time I've been out there, and that has meant a lot to me.
Wendy Corr:
Well, you've got a lot of your own personal history invested out there, and the fact that they recognize that is is so impressive. You know, though, so much more than just the Chimney Rock ranch history, you have made it your personal project to really preserve the history of so many of the ranches in Albany County there.
And part of that is related to going back to the Wyoming territorial prison, the wall of bricks at the territorial prison. Tell us about that project, how you got started with that project, and what it means for preserving that ranch land history.
Dicksie May:
Well, that was started by Ollie Hill, and it was started to help finance the ranch land project. And he the bricks were sold, and ranches could buy him. Now, there was other kinds of bricks, but I mainly focused on the ranch bricks, and because they were to finance the ranch land project.
And so people purchased the bricks as part of the the fundraising there's, I'm going to sponsor a brick here, and my name, or my ranch name, is going to be put on a brick. Yeah, the ranch name or and the brand was usually put on the bricks. They're still out there. Anybody could go out and look at them.
It was the money that was raised on that project was put in the endowment. So that money is still helping to support the territorial prison. And you know, because in out in an endowment, you receive the interest every year, and that is part of the project that helps support even today.
And one of the things I did when I was there, since I was a volunteer, was I did the I did a lot of the accounting.
So it was really with the endowment. Actually, we had a an account, and I would put the money in the account, and it was part of the endowment to help finance ranch land and anything else not be needed. I think it's used for everything now.
Wendy Corr:
Okay, all right, so you helped to do the accounting for this, which I think is fantastic. That says a lot about your personal background as well. But what did you learn? What did you learn about the ranches in Albany County? Did they all have very similar histories? Did you find some some of the stories were more colorful than others, and some of the ranches were more colorful than others?
Dicksie May:
Oh, yes, you know Albany County has had a really, because I've just done Albany County. Now, a lot of people have asked me, Why haven't you done the whole state? Well, in Albany County alone, I've got over 33,000 names, and I have 500,000 documents on ranches. It's a good thing genealogy, what we're, what I'm doing, or what I'm trying to do.
And I don't want to leave out Shirley, Rita and Bertha. They're all gone. All I used to call us the four amigos. I'm the only amigo left. So I'm carrying on what we started. But there's a big variety of people. There was a bunch of civil war veterans came to Albany County, and most of them were union. But I did find three rebels. They called them.
Southern confederates, yes. And most of them homesteaded. And one of the things that I did see in that group of people was they definitely had some problems. And back in those days, they called it shell shock, but some of them had some real emotional problems, you know, and so their ranches didn't do as well as as others.
Wendy Corr:
What we would call today, PTSD.
Dicksie May:
Yes, and I definitely felt like it was PTSD. And so I have written the truth about their families, their ranches, some of it is not real pretty looking, but I totally blame the problems they had on PTSD, Yep, absolutely, which was very interesting.
Wendy Corr:
In what way?
Dicksie May:
Well, I think in a way, I was surprised, because I thought all ranching was wonderful. I didn't realize there could be a few problems in ranching and I did on quite a few of the ranches that I've worked on. I've come on, I've come up on Tom Horn, really, yes, he was real active in Albany County, and he was, of course, active in Laramie County and Platte County, but quite a few of the ranchers had something to do with Tom Horn, so I have put that in each story.
Wendy Corr:
Where can we find your stories that you're putting together for these ranches Dicksie? Because I think that's really important that you're doing this to share.
Dicksie May:
I'm trying to write a manuscript, and I'm getting to a little desperate because of my age, but I have put together several hundred stories, and I've donated all of my ranch histories to the American Heritage Center.
Wendy Corr:
Oh, that's awesome.
Dicksie May:
So they will go through everything that I have donated, and they will do an index. And anybody, after they get it put together, the way they do things, because they put everything in an index, anybody can go up to the American Heritage Center and look at my work.
Wendy Corr:
That just has to mean so much to you that this is a legacy you're creating for future generations.
Dicksie May:
That's what I'm planning on. I heard one time that what they preserve could last - I don't know if I'm exaggerating or not - but 1000 years or so.
Wendy Corr:
Why not?
Dicksie May:
Why not? Yes.
Wendy Corr:
So this is something obviously that that sparks you, that keeps you going. But who's who's going to take over from you? Who are you going to pass this project down to, Dicksie?
Dicksie May:
Well, there we do have other historians here in Laramie, although the sad part of it is they're all my age.
But I really can't answer that. You know, I hope that once it gets into the American Heritage Center, that there will be enough interest, that there will be someone that will do that. Nobody in my family is that interested.
There are, like I said, a lot of people, most of them ranchers. I think I sent you a list about all the ranches that are on the hundred year. Yeah, they've been in business for over 100 years. In that group of people, they're interested because their families have been in the business a long time, and they want to see the heritage passed on.
And most of them have children and other people that I think will will pass along their particular history and hopefully cause interest enough for somebody else, but I hope and pray I'll be real honest with you that I can Get a manuscript out sometime in the near future.
Once I get all my stuff at the American Heritage Center. Right now, I'm going through it, I'm looking at it, I'm trying to take out some of the duplicates, and before it goes to the - but within the next month, everything should be at the American Heritage Center.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic. Oh, my goodness, Dicksie, where did this love for history come from for you? Because, I mean, I know that you grew up on a ranch, but I also know that you left Wyoming when you were young. You got married, you lived in Texas. Tell us about your life journey that brought you back to Wyoming and brought you to this passion for genealogy, for family history, for ranch history.
Dicksie May:
I think, well, I credit my grandparents, my maternal grandparents, to my love of history, although I have to tell you, my father, my parents divorced when I was born, and that's why I ended up living with my grandparents. That was rare at that time.
My father lived in Salt Lake City. He was the Salt Lake City historian for 40 years, and I truly everybody thinks, even though I never really lived with my father, that I must have inherited some of his love for history, because he definitely he saved a bunch of buildings in Salt Lake and did other things that were were really great.
But my grandfather told me lots of stories about my great grandfather, who came to Wyoming in 1874. He left Denmark when he was 14, he became a cabin boy on a sailing ship. He sailed all over the world, and he was in South America on his last tour, I'll call it.
And he and a buddy decided they wanted to make some money, so they captured a bunch of monkeys, put them in cages and put them in the bottom of the ship, and tried to hide them from their captain. But eventually the monkeys got loose, and they were all over the ship, and he got into big trouble.
And when they got to New York, he jumped ship. He got to Wyoming in 1874 and he homesteaded immediately after he got here. And he homesteaded first up at Centennial. And the people that bought his place was named Hecht, and there still is a Hecht ranch up at Centennial.
And for some reason, he decided to move down to South Albany County, near Sand Creek and Chimney Rock. There's a rock down there called Chimney Rock, and that's where he ended up ranching, and that's the ranch I was raised on.
And my grandfather told me all kinds of stories about my great grandfather, and I think that was partly what made me interested. Well, then when I was 12, I went to live with an aunt and uncle who was a pilot in the Air Force, and we were at an Air Force Base for four and a half years, although we came back to Wyoming often, real often, to see the family, to go to the ranch, mainly. And anytime we'd come home, everybody in the family would come to the ranch. By this time, I had two half brothers. And so we we all gathered at the ranch.
So anyhow, we were in Columbus for four and a half years. This was during the Korean War, and the base was moved from Columbus Air Force Base to mission Texas, which is right next door to McAllen. And so we ended up in Texas, and my cousin and I, who live, I lived with her. I mean, she her and I became very, very close. We didn't like to move. We didn't like that move to Texas, but, you know, we had to accept it.
We both graduated from school a year early, just so we could move on, and my grandparents financed me to go to college in San Antonio. I was in San Antonio about a year when a friend of mine from Laramie, her husband, was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, she kept telling me they had a friend that they wanted me to date.
So eventually I did, and that's who I married. That's wonderful. We went back to McAllen for a couple years and worked at that Air Force Base, and then that base closed, and we moved to San Antonio, and we both worked at Kelly Air Force Base, and my title was financial management technician, and I worked in accounting, is what I did.
And I truly think my accounting career, I ended up coming to Wyoming. When my husband retired, we always wanted to come back to Wyoming all those years in Mississippi and Texas. We came to Wyoming often. And my folks, my parents, my dad and my stepmother managed to ranch up at Arlington, between McFadden and Arlington, actually.
So every time we came home, we went there and, I think my entire life, my my love for ranching, was just, it was just within my, my heart. And so when we moved back to Wyoming, I was still working. I had to work here in Laramie for a while, I worked over at F. E. Warren and I worked down at DFAS defense, Accounting and Finance Center in Denver, and I retired in 2000. And it was right after that that I became a volunteer at the territorial prison.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic. Oh my goodness. I love your journey. I love your journey, and yet it brought you back home to where your roots are, to where your generational roots are, and to where your true love for the land lay. And I just think that that's absolutely awesome. So have any of your children? You've got four children. Have any of your children expressed an interest at all in in the history that you seem to have inherited this love for history from your dad, from your father?
Dicksie May:
Not really. I have two grandchildren, one lives in Texas, and one lives in Nevada, and they both are interested, and they both have done research. And so what I've done with a lot of my work is I've shared a lot of it with them, because on my computer alone, I have 500,000 documents that I have sent them.
You know, I gave you a little brief history when I sent you that email, but that's just a small part of everything that I've done. I've been interested in a lot of aspects. I've been interested in the 100 year. I've been interested in the ranches that have become part of the National Historic list.
I'm interested in the women. There's been a lot of women that have homesteaded, and what surprised me is a lot of women have homesteaded and their husbands didn't homestead. The husband got credit for the ranch, and that kind of made it well, we need to get that word out that there was a lot of women at home.
Well, for instance, I'll just give you an example. My grandmother was one of the homesteaders on the Antelope Johnson ranch. One other thing that I need to mention, I think, is most ranches have a lot more than one homesteader. Anyhow, my grandmother homesteaded on that ranch but she never got credit for that.
Now there's a Praeger family in northern Albany County. Actually, they're in Converse County. Now, 28 members of that family have homestead patents. There's no there's hardly any ranch here in Albany County that doesn't have at least four or five original homesteaders.
Wendy Corr:
Just because the land is so huge, that ranch land is so huge, that each homesteader would only have a section of that, is that right?
Dicksie May:
Well, what they did is there was various kind. The first homesteads were 160 acres. The next one was 320 and eventually they could homestead 640 acres. There was all kinds of different kinds of homesteads. So what a rancher would do, we'll use my grandparents, for example. They first would have what they call a homestead original. That would be the original patent, and then the next one might be a sale, cash entry.
They decided to get some land by paying for it, which was $1.25 an acre, usually. And then there was the desert land Act, which was there for these prairies that we have, where people could homestead in the prairies. And then there was one called stock raising, and that was for 640 acres.
Now, those started out early, and they and those particular laws were made up until, say, around 1920 or so, the first one, first homestead record, actually was in 1810. That one carried on throughout the homesteading in throughout the west where people homesteaded. And I think the last state where you could homestead was Alaska.
There is no homesteading, those laws are are long gone. Now you purchase a ranch, you don't homestead it, of course, all, almost all the ranch land has been taken now, and so, yeah, everything except for the public lands.
Wendy Corr:
Dicksie, my goodness, there's so much knowledge that you have compiled and that you know so much we're so glad that you are putting this down in a situation where we're going to be able to access and really take in this work that you have curated for so long.
You've told me that you're a professional genealogist as well, and so this all kind of goes hand in hand, does it not?
Dicksie May:
It does. And what I've done with each one that I've written about is I've done a genealogy because on that family, because I wanted to know where they came from. We've had a lot of people come from England. We've had a lot of people come from Maine. We've had a lot of people come from Georgia, Missouri, people coming from just about any place you can think of to Wyoming, to homestead.
Now, the first ones were mainly English. The English came first. And then in 1866 or so, the Confederates and the Union soldiers started coming. And course, they came from all over, from the south and the north. And so we've had, I was able to tell of every story I've written, where they came from.
Wendy Corr:
That is so impressive. If nothing else I could do that you most certainly have done, that the work you have done Dicksie, has just it's been nothing short of monumental, and the preservation that you have worked so hard for is it's such a gift that you're able to give that to the American Heritage Center there.
Dicksie May:
I'm happy. I'm real happy. At first, I was approached by Jen Thurston. She's the president of the America of the Albany County Historical Society. She approached me about giving my stuff to the American Heritage Center. I had always planned on that, always, but when she first approached me about doing it.
Now, I had a hard time letting go. You know, I've been in control, you might say, of this for a long time. Anyhow, I finally, after talking to her for a while, realized that was really the smart thing to do, to give us, to let them have it and let them digitize some. They're going to also take my digital records, by the way, but they will digitize a lot of it. People can get online. Are you familiar with the American Heritage Center?
Wendy Corr:
I am, yes.
Dicksie May:
Well, you probably know them. They've got a lot of digital records. I have an uncle, the one that I went to live with. His name is Ray Johnson. He was my mother's brother. He's on the Wyoming aviation Hall of Fame, and he, he actually, I have found pictures of him and his career at the American Heritage Center. I actually had some of those pictures myself, but to find him at the American Heritage Center was really, I really felt good about that.
They have a wonderful collection. I can't say Good Enough about that organization.
Wendy Corr:
We are so blessed to have that here in Wyoming, to be able to to save this and to share it with future generations, which is the ultimate goal here, is to share it with future generations, right?
Dicksie May:
They have collections from all over the world. I don't know if you know that or not.
Wendy Corr:
I did know that, yeah, because, again, it's the American heritage center, right? It's not just curating Wyoming history. It's curating the history of us as human beings.
Dicksie May:
It's at the university. So a lot of people think that, you know, they just have Wyoming stuff or university stuff, but they have stuff from everywhere. One of their collections is Jack Benny.
Wendy Corr:
No kidding? I didn't know they had a Jack Benny collection there!
Dicksie May:
But another collection they have is the Robert Burns collection. Yes, he wrote Wyoming pioneer ranches. He was one of the authors. And I've been up there. I've looked at that collection. I have a cousin that's writing about the deadwood trail. We went up and look at the deadwood Cheyenne Deadwood trail collection. It's just amazing what they have up there.
Wendy Corr:
I just love it. I think it's fantastic. And I've done now I'm going to actually be in Laramie here in a couple of weeks, and I'm very excited because I'm going to have a day to spend, and I think I might have to just spend some time at the American Heritage Center and just kind of take in all of those things again. What a treasure for the state of Wyoming to have.
Dicksie May:
Oh, it's wonderful. And you know, if you want to do anything in particular, you need to call and they'll pull out files for you to look at. So that's what you'd like to do, almost like a reference library in that way, right? But it's the people up there too are fantastic. The people that I met with the American Heritage Center to ask them if they were interested in my collection, I was pleasantly surprised at how much they really wanted my collection.
And it just, it's like a passion with me. I tell people, that's kept me sane.
Wendy Corr:
You are one of the sanest people I have met. I'm telling you, Dicksie May, this has just been, this has been a delight, and I am so pleased to be able to feature you on the Roundup.
Dicksie, thank you for your time, and thank you for all of the work that you've put in all these years to preserve the heritage and the memories and the history that has shaped our state and that has shaped our heritage here in Wyoming. Dicksie, what a treasure you are. We're grateful to have.
Dicksie May:
I want to mention one thing I don't want to forget. Ollie Hill, Shirley Lilly, Bertha Ward and Rita Parker, because we worked together for a long time. And Shirley, she was a county commissioner. So was her husband, and they managed the Chimney Rock ranch for 35 years. And she was, well, I just don't know what I've done without Shirley. She was a wonderful person. All of them are good people, and I don't want to forget them, because they are part of this project.
Wendy Corr:
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, thank you for presenting it then and saving their work and presenting it to us. Dicksie, thank you so much for today, and we're just glad to have met you and continue to do wonderful things. We're so grateful for that.
Folks, thank you for tuning in to the Roundup today. If you want to know more about the work that Dicksie has done, you'll be able to check it all out at The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, here in the not so distant future.
So thank you for tuning into the roundup. Dicksie, thank you for your time today. Folks, have a great week.
