Episode Details

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 ca