Nominate favorite cowboys for the Wyo. Hall of Fame

The Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame (WCHF) now has 88 Honorees, and if your favorite cowboys, cowgirls and ancestors are not among that number it’s time for you to go to http://www.wyomingcowboyhalloffame.com and nominate them for consideration in the Class of 2016.

Nominations will close again on March 31, and soon thereafter committees from the 10 geographic regions of Wyoming will meet to select those most worthy. Those names will then be forwarded to the current WCHF Board – Scotty Ratliff of Riverton, Russell “Pinky” Walter of Lingle, Paulette Moss of Riverton, Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns of Newcastle, Pete Kuhn of Cheyenne, Perry Askin of Douglas, Wendy Auzqui of Clearmont, Jen Fernandez of Powell, Valerie Remick of Encampment, Shelly Martinez from the Lincoln County area and Windy Noble of Pinedale. That group will meet and review the regional recommendations, then vote to select the Class of 2016.

More than 150 Wyoming legends were nominated between January 1 and the end of March last year. The Cowboy State has a rich and varied history and legacy of all things cowboy, and the chief goal of WCHF 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.”

You can play an important role in perpetuating the exclusively historical, cultural, literary and educational purposes of WCHF by nominating worthy individuals to be honored there. History is a vanishing commodity, and if the Wyomingites of 2016 do not bring forth the history of their forbears, it could be lost forever.

Any nominees from the past two years not yet selected for induction are still in the nominations pool, but nominators are encouraged to provide additional information and documentation to enhance their chances of being chosen this year. The website provides guidelines and forms for submitting both new nominations and supporting data.

Time flies – don’t let the March 31st cutoff date sneak up on you. Send your nominations as soon as possible and perhaps your candidate will proudly be honored during the 2016 Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies.

–Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame