Mary Budd Flitner

Western Wyoming Community College will host Mary Budd Flitner, who will give a reading on campus in room 1302 at 7PM and a memoir workshop at 1PM at the Young at Heart Senior Center on November 5th.

Mary Budd Flitner, author and native of Big Piney, will be in Rock Springs to give a reading from her acclaimed memoir My Ranch, Too.  In this book, Flitner recounts a lifetime of Wyoming ranching, from her childhood on the Budd ranch in western Wyoming to her life on the Diamond Tail Ranch in the Big Horn Basin.

For many outsiders, the word “ranching” conjures romantic images of riding on horseback through rolling grasslands while living and working against a backdrop of breathtaking mountain vistas.  In this absorbing memoir of life in the Wyoming high country, Mary Budd Flitner offers a more authentic glimpse into the daily realities of ranch life—and what it takes to survive in the ranching world.

Some of Flitner’s recollections are humorous and lighthearted. Others take a darker turn. A modern day rancher with decades of experience, Mary has dealt with the hardships and challenges that come with this way of life.  She’s survived harsh conditions like the “winter of 50 below” and economic downturns that threatened her family’s livelihood.  She’s also wrestled with her role as a woman in a profession that doesn’t always treat her as equal.  But for all its challenges, Flitner has also savored ranching’s joys, including the ties that bind multiple generations of families to the land.

My Ranch, Too begins with the story of her great-grandfather, Daniel Budd, who in 1878 drove a herd of cattle into Wyoming Territory and settled his family in an area where conditions seemed favorable.  Four generations later, Mary grew up on this same portion of land, learning how to ride horseback and take care of livestock.  When she married her husband, Stan, 56 years ago, she simply moved from one ranch to another, joining the Flitner family’s Diamond Tail Ranch in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin.

These events are sponsored by the Western Wyoming Community College Cultural Affairs Committee, Sweetwater BOCES, and the Best Western Outlaw Inn.

The events are free and open to the public. The community is encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Barbara Smith at bsmith@westernwyoming.edu.