Annual Sommers Ranch Homestead Open House and Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame Celebration Sept. 3
August 30, 2023
Everyone is invited to the Sommers Ranch Homestead Living History Museum Annual Open House and Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame Celebration on Sunday, September 3rd on Labor Day weekend. This is a free event.
The open house will be from 10AM-3PM. There will be a free lunch at 11:30AM (Food will be roast beef, potatoes, beans, homemade bread and rolls, salads, and homemade pies and desserts (don't be late, food disappears fast!). The Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame recognition will begin after lunch at 1PM. There will be live music by Jared Rogerson.
Cowboys being honored this year are:
Sublette County: Pat Dew, Carl & Bud Jorgensen, Dru & Tawny
Roberts
Lincoln County: Ray Fritz
Sweetwater County: Gary Zakotnik, Bill Thoman
This is the final event of the season for the Sommers Homestead. During September, they will be doing private school tours and can be open by appointment. The Sommers Homestead Living History Museum is operated by the Sublette County Historical Society. For more information, please call the Museum of the Mountain Man at 307-367-4101.
2023 WYOMING COWBOY HALL OF FAME
SUBLETTE COUNTY:
Pat Dew: (1892-1966) William Patrick "Pat" Dew came to Wyoming with his family in 1908, moving to Pinedale in 1913 when he was 21. He worked on the old Hennick Place and cowboyed for Alex Price. He rode on roundups, on the range, and on the Green River Drift. He worked in the Upper Green and Gros Ventre areas, and later on the Black Butte Ranch. W.P. Dew became a lifetime member of the Green River Valley Cattlemen's Association in 1961.
Carl Jorgensen: (1902-1988) Carl T.L. was born in Pinedale, Wyoming in 1902. He was employed in ranching all of his life near Pinedale and Big Piney. He loved to drive the work horses and was a good teamster. He had a ranch on Boulder Creek and later near the New Fork River. Carl cowboyed for 70 some years in the Green River Valley. Carl loved to string cattle out when trailing them.
Bud Jorgensen (1931-2019) Carl Ray, "Bud," son of Carl T.L, was born in 1931 in Rock Springs. Despite getting polio when he was two, he learned to ride a horse and cowboyed in Wyoming for nearly 55 years, helping raise cattle on his family ranch and on his own. He was a rider for the Upper Green River Cattle Association, was a horse wrangler, and broke horses. Every summer he would brand, earmark, and rope at the brandings. Bud never let polio slow him down because he always stayed busy riding a horse and keeping active. Bud helped his kids break horses.
Dru Roberts: (1949-2022) Dru Myron Roberts was born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1949. Dru was an excellent roper from an early age and got involved in rodeo in his youth, a passion that continued through his adult life. He broke colts, trained horses, and rodeod. He raised cattle and did outfitting for over 25 years. Dru put in day riding for other ranchers.
Tawny Jo Fransden Roberts was born in Shelly, Idaho in 1951 to a ranching family. She married Dru in 1971 and they lived on the family ranch near Merna, Wyoming. They trained horses and raised cattle together. They sold their cows in 1998 and went to strictly cowboying ever since then. They primarily worked for the Barney ranch in Big Piney, but day rode for other ranchers throughout Sublette County. They moved cattle from south of Big Piney to north of the Hoback Rim.Tawny became a Wyoming Brand Inspector in 2008, mainly serving Sublette County, and continues to this day.
SWEETWATER COUNTY
Gary Zakotnik: Gary was born in Kemmerer, Wyoming in 1945. He was involved with sheep and cattle ranching from an early age. He started and broke colts, all coming from his own breeding operation. He has spent years tending cattle, trailing herds, and cowboying. Gary learned to shoe horses and for a few years he shod outside horses for a little extra spending money. He has been a brand inspector for 47 years.
Bill Thoman: (1921-1998) Bill was born in 1921 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Horses and riding were a big part of his life. He was an active working cowboy, horseman, and sheepherder in the ranching and livestock business all his 77 years of life. He rode, broke, and wrangled wild horses for money from a young age. The family had extensive grazing rights in Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Sublette counties. Many summers were spent on forest allotments tending sheep on the Greys River and Bridger-Teton National Forest with a pack string of horses and tent. Bill was killed in an automobile accident in 1998.
LINCOLN COUNTY
Ray Fritz: Ray C. Fritz was born in 1948 in Colorado. After serving in the military, he moved his family to Wyoming in 1976 and began work on the Harrower Ranches, Cokeville, Kemmerer, Opal, Fontenelle Creek and Big Piney wherever the cattle and horses were fed with teams. Along with the operations, many days were spent driving teams pulling stagecoaches at parades or rodeos including giving Dick Cheney a ride. Many days were also spent using the teams or oxen making films for the Oregon Trail. At the present time at the age of 74, Ray rides for the Riverside Livestock at LaBarge. Living with the cows out in the desert, fixing fences, irrigating, chasing pivots and cutting hay is what he does now. This making 47 years of ranch work and cowboying in Wyoming.
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