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Tim McCoy (1891-1978) lived a good,
long life and he is remembered in various ways. Some
folks think of him as the hero of nearly a hundred
Hollywood Western films, silent and talkie adventures
made during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
Others remember him as a Wyoming cowboy,
perhaps as the state’s adjutant general.
I knew him as a father, and we talked often about
the pathways he followed in pursuing his dreams. During
the course of his eighty-six years Tim believed in
several large dreams, and it was his good fortune
to actually realize them all. Yet, when, during the
mid-1970s, as we worked together on his autobiography,
it was clear that his fondest memories focused on
the years he spent in Wyoming, and especially his
experiences in the Wind River country. As an early-20th
century cowboy poet he once wrote of that place:
These are the Mountains of
the West
Where the Sun God seeks his slumber
Where the West Wind goes a-whooing
And Evil Spirits lurk. . .
Even the “Evil Spirits” reference was
a positive for Tim, who felt that the Wind River country
was the universe in miniature–leastwise, the
universe in which he was most comfortable–and
that while heartache might be found there, all that
was good also dwelt within its boundaries. Whenever
he pronounced it’s name, “Wind River,”
he seemed able to conjure spirits from the depths
of canyons and down from the sides of mountains.
Above all else, Tim valued beyond measure
his experiences among the Arapaho and Shoshone peoples
of Wind River. MORE>>
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