Davis: Still in the saddle

KateLynn Slaamot
NLJ Reporter
 
Lorraine Davis first began riding horses as a young child, when she often rode bareback because her family couldn’t afford a saddle. Davis even has memories of riding horseback to go visit her neighbors, Earl Christiansen and his family. 
“Mom would put four of us on one horse, and she (would) walk over the hill, which, oh, I bet it was 3 miles,” Davis said. 
Now 89, Davis still gets in the saddle — whether to pleasure ride or to help move cattle, which she has done many times, including last summer with her granddaughter Kyla Popma and her family. 
Davis was born west of Newcastle in Pedro, Wyoming, which was near the Osage oil field, on Sept. 10, 1932, to Carl and Ella Hansen. Her father managed a small refinery that operated there. Davis and her family lived in Pedro in the fall and winter months and spent summers on a ranch north of Newcastle that her grandparents, Hans and Frederikke Hansen, owned. Then, early in her school career, her family moved to Newcastle, where her father worked at the flour mill, still living on the ranch in the summer months. 
Davis had seven other siblings — all attending school in Newcastle. Davis recalls playing with neighborhood children, enjoying games such as Annie-Annie Over, Fox and Geese, and softball. 
All of Davis’ siblings graduated from Newcastle High School, and Davis graduated in 1950. She then married her husband, Russell, in 1953. In 1962, the couple and their children, Dana and Grant, moved to a ranch on Beaver Creek, which they operated for many years. About 11 years ago, Popma and her husband, Micah, moved to the ranch to take over day-to-day operations, before Russell died a few years later in 2015. 
Now, Davis still rides regularly and has her own horse. 
“It’s something I like to do. I guess I’m helping a little. Anyway, I want to think that,” Davis said, with a laugh. 
“She gets on by herself and straps her oxygen bottle around the saddle horn,” Popma said. 
Because she has lived on the ranch for many years, Davis said, the land is all very familiar to her, which makes it easier to ride. About three years ago, Popma said, Davis rode 10 miles, but she didn’t know why her hip hurt afterwards.
Popma laughed. 
“Like I can barely walk, I just rode the 10 miles too,” Popma added. 
And just this past summer, Davis helped move cattle with Popma and her family, including her son Josiah. 
“So, the one day, there were three generations of us riding. Josiah, he’s 5, and Kyla and myself,” Davis said. 
Davis has some interesting stories of her times on horseback, including one time last spring when she got stuck riding by herself in a downpour. Popma had ridden back to the house to get a side-by-side to go back and get Davis, but the horse wouldn’t let them get near it. So, Davis had to ride all the way back to the house and get off by herself. 
Another time, about 10 years ago, Davis was moving cattle with Barb Crow, a friend, but she got brushed off her horse by a tree branch. Crow rode back to find help, but Davis got back on and rode home a different way while the others were trying to find her. 
Davis even fractured her hip just last July but was back in the saddle by September. 
It means a lot to Davis’ family, including her daughter Dana Tysdal that she is still able to remain active and do what she loves. 
“You just can’t put a price on that. There are so many people who are half her age, and they don’t have the mind or health to do it,” Tysdal said, noting that her mom has so much determination to keep doing it. “It’s just amazing.”
Popma also said she enjoys riding with her grandma; it’s astonishing to her that Davis is still eager to get in the saddle. 
 But Davis says she couldn’t think of living life any other way. With the ranching and riding way of life slowly fading, it’s important for her to pass down that baton, she says. 
“It’s just something I’ve had instilled in me and … still do it,”  she said. 
Davis, in turn, passed on her work ethic and determination to her children and grandchildren. Tysdal said Davis was an example to her in the way she lived and taught her children what was truly important. 
Even though Davis has traveled to many places, Tysdal said, her heart still belongs at her ranch home. 
“She was always a stay-at-home mother, and so she always impressed that upon me – that there was no job or no amount of money that would mean that much,” Tysdal said. “She still is a simple ranch woman at heart. That’s where she’s happiest.” 
With four generations of cattle ranching in the family, being raised on the Beaver Creek ranch herself, and now seeing her daughter carry on the same family business, Tysdal said that it is worth far more than anything money could buy. 
“The way of life should be valued more than the money you could make. If you have your health and your way of life, what else is there?… It’s still a lifestyle and still a choice,” Tysdal said. 
Davis said she is thankful for the legacy that is being carried on and the times she gets to share with Popma and Josiah and their family. 
Popma said that these memories she’s making of riding with her grandma will be cherished for years to come. 
“It’ll definitely be memories I will never forget. … When I’m her age, I’m sure it’ll have way more meaning even than it does now because I’ll be in such awe that she did it at such an old age,” Popma said.