County ranchers join cowboy hall of fame

The Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame (WCHF) announced 51 outstanding Wyoming cowboys and cowgirls chosen to become 2015 Honorees.

Carbon County is in Region 7 with Sweetwater County. The 2015 Honorees from Carbon County include Ivan “Ike” Herold, Bill McKee, and Leonard “Len” Albert Walker. They will be inducted on Sunday, Sept. 27 with the other honorees at the Casper Events Center. Everyone is welcome to attend the event.

Formed for exclusively historical, cultural, literary and educational purposes, WCHF’s chief goal is “To preserve, promote, perpetuate, publish and document Wyoming’s rich working cowboy and ranching history through researching, profiling and honoring individuals who broke the first trails and introduced that culture to this state. WCHF plans to collect, display and preserve the stories, photos and artifacts of such individuals and anything else that will honor and highlight their contributions to our history.”

Their first class of Honorees was inducted last November. Nominations opened again Jan. 1 to March 31 this year, during which time 134 cowboys and cowgirl’s names were put forward.

WCHF originally created ten geographic regions within the state. Once the nomination period closed the end of March, committees within those regions met to select their top nominees.

The current WCHF Board is Scotty Ratliff, of Riverton, Wyo., Russell “Pinky” Walter, of Lingle, Wyo., Paulette Moss, of Riverton, Wyo., Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns, of Newcastle, Wyo., Cindy Garretson-Weibel, of Cheyenne, Wyo., Perry Askin, of Douglas, Wyo., Wendy Auzqui, of Clearmont, Wyo., Jen Fernandez, of Powell, Wyo., Valerie Remick, of Encampment, Wyo., Shelly Martinez from the Lincoln County area and Windy Noble, of Pinedale, Wyo. They met in Casper on May 26 to select this year’s Honorees from that pool.