The Wrangler Horse and Rodeo News

24 The WRANGLER, Horse and Rodeo News • December 5-19, 2021 Larry Collins from Wheatland, Wyoming passed on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 a er a long ba le with conges ve heart failure. Larry was born on Thursday, June 8, 1939 in Denver, Colorado to Ed and Arva (Metz) Collins. Larry's father was one of the thousands of young men that landed on the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. Larry's mother and stepfather moved from Colorado to Wyoming in 1946 where they bought a ranch near Wheatland, Wyoming. The first four years they were there, they did everything with the horses, they hayed and pulled ditches. In that me, Larry came to love horses. He broke his first horse to ride when he was nine years old. Larry's mother passed away in May of 1953 when he was 13 years old. A month later, when Larry turned 14, because he and his step father didn't get along, he le the ranch and got a job on a ranch in Big Horn, Wyoming. He worked there for two years. In that me, he took boxing lessons four nights a week. When he got home in 1955, he started climbing poles at the age of 16. In 1962, he Larry Collins 1939 – 2021 he built two 425-foot towers with helicopters, one on each side of the Mississippi River close to New Orleans and strung over 3,800 feet of wire across the Mississippi River. He was the General Foreman on a power line from Page, Arizona to Tucson. In 2001, he started his own construc on company building power lines but in 2008 he had enough and sold out. He bought a place in Alaska and sold it in December 2011 and came back to Wheatland, his home town. Larry first took flying lessons in the fall of 1963 and got his private license in 1964. He took twelve hours of aeroba c lessons and he studied for this instrument ra ng, passing his wri en test but he never took the flight test. He hunted coyotes for some sheep men one winter near Rawlins, Wyoming with a supper cub. He mounted two automa c 12-guage shot guns on the wing struts with an electrical device to pull the triggers, and a P51 sight out of a Work War II fighter plane mounted on the dash. He flew in the bush in Alaska with his supper club, ending with over 3,300 hours of flying me. Larry was a life- me member of the American Quarter Horse Associa on and a life- me member of the Na onal Rifle Associa on. Larry was preceded in death by his mother, father, and three sisters. The Gorman Funeral Homes – Pla e Chapel of Wheatland are in charge of the arrangements. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.gorman .com passed his Journeyman's test in the I.B.E.W. (Interna onal Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Union. Larry loved three things in life, being a cowboy, whether it was rodeoing, trading ca le, or training horses; being a lineman, building power lines, flying, and especially loved stringing tension wire on the powerlines; and watching football. His favorite players were Joe Namath and Ken Stabber. Larry said he thought they had all had the same mentality. They all dance to a different beat and sang a different song. Larry loved rodeoing. He joined the rodeo cowboys' associa on in January of 1960. His R.C.A number is 7434. During that me, he rode bareback, saddle bronc, bulls, and did steer wrestling. He was a true all- around cowboy. He rode some great bareback horses but he said two stuck out in his mind. He rode the great bucking horse, Come Apart, four out of five mes. He also drew the four- me bareback horse of the year, Necklace, two mes and won first place both mes. He said she was the rankest horse he had ever ridden. He won the bareback riding at many of the top rodeos including Denver, San Antonio, Phoenix, Baton Rouge, and many smaller rodeos. On the saddle broncos, in 1962, he rode Jesse James, bucking horse of the year in 1960 and Jake, the bucking horse of the year in 1961, and the bucking horse of the year in 1962, Big John. In the bulls, he rode Chris an's brother, Tommy; Harry Knight, N.F.R bull 241; N.F.R. bull 306; and Alsbough's bull, Charles. He won the steer wrestling at El Paso, Texas, Billings, Montana and places at some of the bigger rodeos like Denver, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. He won many all-around tles at prominent rodeos including Omaha twice, Puyallup, Washington three mes in a row, San Angelo, Texas in 1965, Grand Junc on, Colorado in 1974, Casper, Wyoming three mes, re ring the Ben Roberts Memorial Trophy. In 1978, he had the most money won for the all-around in the Rocky Mountain region but he didn't go to the regional finals so they gave his saddle to a med event man. He was Wyoming's all-around cowboy in 1973 and 1974. He never went to the Na onal Finals Rodeo. He said when he was going it didn't pay enough to go that hard. He said as a general foreman for a construc on company, building power lines, he could make more during the week and fly to the weekend rodeos. He built many big power lines across this country of ours. In New Mexico, he was General Foreman on two 345,000-volt lines from Farmington to Albuquerque. He was General Foreman on two 500,000- volt lines with three conductors on each phase near Chicago, Illinois. He was the superintendent when LARRY COLLINS

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