WCHF announces Class of 2026
On May 1, the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame (WCHF) announced 25 individuals will be inducted into the WCHF Class of 2026.
The 13th Annual WCHF Induction Ceremony will be held Sept. 25-26 at Little America Hotel and Resort in Cheyenne and is open to the public.
Class of 2026
According to a May 1 press release issued by the organization, the WCHF State Board of Directors voted on nominees from across the state during its annual meeting on April 26.
Regional committees from 10 different areas of Wyoming researched and scored over 50 nominations and sent the top picks to the WCHF State Board of Directors, and the state board also selected several nominees.
Four nominees were selected from Region One including Campbell County’s Bob Tarver and R.V. “Dick” Talley of Gillette, Crook County’s Dick Graham of Moorcroft and Weston County’s Susan Martens Vore of Newcastle.
Region Two inductees include Goshen County’s Afton D. Green Sr. of LaGrange and Platte County’s Dennis Brooks of Glendo.
From Region Three, Albany County’s Thomas F. George of Laramie and Laramie County’s K. Norman “Buck” Holmes of Cheyenne will be inducted.
From Region Four, Converse County’s Donald Bruce Murray of Lost Springs has been selected. Region Five had no nominees, but Big Horn County’s John Luman of Hyattville was selected from Region Six.
Eight inductees from Region Seven will join the WCHF this year including Carbon County’s Alice Platt Nation of Encampment and Rene Vyvey of Saratoga and Sweetwater County’s Alonzo “Lunk” Raymond Jarvie, Mark Edwin Anderson, Robert Lloyd Anderson and Larry Anderson, all of McKinnon, along with Doyle and Fon Slagowski of Burntfork.
From Region Eight, Doug Wallingford of Thermopolis will join the WCHF, and from Region Nine, Eudjere Hickey of Lonetree and Maurice H. Henry of Robertson were selected.
Rounding out the WCHF Class of 2026 are 11 inductees from Region 10 including Sublette County’s Dianne Boroff, Louis Roberts, Shad “Zac” Roberts and Mac McCormick of Daniel; Clarence “Tuffy” Davis Jr. and James Mickelson of Big Piney and Alexander Marsha Gilchrist Jr., Otto F. Jensen and Gladwon Jensen of Boulder, as well as Teton County’s Warren M. Robertson and Helen Hardeman Robertson of Wilson.
About WCHF
The WCHF began in 2012 as an idea among friends Scott Ratliff, Jim and Paulette Moss and Pinky Walter, according to the organization’s website.
The official 501(c)(3) and board was formed in 2013, and the first official induction ceremony was held in 2014.
According to the organization’s mission statement, WCHF’s chief goal is “to preserve, promote, perpetuate, publish and document Wyoming’s working cowboy and ranching history through researching, profiling and honoring individuals who broke the first trails and introduced the culture to this state.”
To do so, 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.”
In addition to inducting new members each year, WCHF recently opened a new permanent Hall of Fame exhibit at the Campbell County Rockpile Museum in Gillette, marking a major milestone in preserving and celebrating Wyoming’s rich cowboy heritage.
The exhibit, which opened on April 25, honors the more than 450 inductees recognized since the WCHF’s founding in 2013 through artifacts, photographs, videos and interactive displays offering visitors an immersive look into the lives, skills and legacy of Wyoming’s working cowboys and cowgirls.
The exhibit serves as a permanent platform for visitors from across the state and around the world to connect with Wyoming’s rich Western heritage and is part of a broader statewide effort to commemorate the Cowboy State’s culture and history leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
