May your horse never stumble,
Your cinch never break,
Your belly never grumble,
Your heart never ache.
Dallas Dee “Butch” Wise
Born Feb 3, 1937 in Longview, WA to Guy and Neoma Wise who lived in Silver Lake WA.
Provided me with a buddy. (from Royal)
Moved to Kelso in 1944, just after Butch started elementary school. We lived a block from Schroeder Field, the Kelso football field/stadium. Butch used the stadium to create his very own games with whoever he could con into playing such as baseball, horseshoes, one wall tennis and pestering the city playground director during the summer.
1950 – the family moved to the farm on the river near Castle Rock. “Duke” played a large part in Butch’s life while finishing high school and he graduated in 1955.
He joined the Army for a two year stint as a tank driver in Frankfurt, West Germany during the Cold War.
When he came home, picked up Duke, and went to work for John Smith and Beemer in Athena, OR doing herd work and other cowboy chores for almost a decade.
Back to Castle Rock, working for Reynolds Metals, where he picked up a bride with two small children, THELMA, SCOTT, and TAMMY.
A short lived experience into electronics via an electronics school in Lynnwood, WA showed Butch another line of work he didn’t want to get into. He did discover he loved working with, mentoring and coaching kids through Little League.
Another skill he picked up was ironwork, while living briefly in Rochester, WA. A move to a Grainger, WA cattle ranch showed him he wanted to stay with ranching, but buying the Sunnyside asparagus farm proved asparagus wrangling is not ranching.
Asparagus did prove fruitful in that Thelma and Butch were graced with two children of their own, TJ and Kathy. Ironwork then became a means for him to support his family and to prove he needed to go back to ranching.
Blazing Tree Cattle Ranch on San Juan Island gave him the chance for full-time ranching and the security to raise the kids, three of whom graduated from Friday Harbor High School. Scott stayed behind in Sunnyside his last year to graduate.
It was at Friday Harbor he got involved with High School Rodeo for all the kids. He and TJ especially loved to travel from the island to attend roping events all over the mainland.
With the kids out of school, Butch and Thelma moved to Benton City in the early 90’s, finally anchoring their feet to a piece land in Rolling Hills Ranchettes. The present location.
Butch always adhered to the philosophy of –
I've been everywhere, man.
I've been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert's bare, man.
I've breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I've had my share, man.
I've been everywhere.
