Best Western Hi-Country Inn
U.S. Hwy. 89, P.O. Box 897
Afton, Wyoming 83110
307/886-3856

WORLDWIDE
LODGING

THE LIFE OF THEO ELLINGFORD

Theo Barton Ellingford was born March 27 1907 on his mothers birthday
Sarah Lovina Phillips and his father George William Ellingford were the Proud Parents
of a second son number 4 dn the family of children which finaly was to be eleven
children.. Theo was born on the family ranch 12 miles east of Lyman Wyoming. The
family lived in a two room cabin on the home steaded land which over the years
became a large ranch.

Theo had long curly hair which came to his waist and he wore long dresses
until the age of two. At that time he got a hair cut and long pants. One of his
early memories was at the age of eight he tied his wagon to a calf and as the
calf ran the wagon proceeded to fly apart one wheel then another until the whole
wagon was completely apart. He drove the school wagon 12 miles to school and
back each day loaded with children from all the ranches on the way. In the winter
the wagon had runners,a stove in the back and a canvas top.The Ellingford ranch
was the fartherest from school so the family always drove the bus.
Theo loved cooking and eating of good food. He begged his mother to teach
him how to cook early in life and he would cook the supper while the other children
Practiced their musical instruments. he tells us that he drove a team of work
horses during the 1st world war because all the older boys were gone to war in-
cluding his brother Jim the oldest child in the family. He was very good at
driving a team because he started at a very young age with the team in all workings
of the ranch. He would amaze us at all the things that can be done for horses and
thier ills. He liked all the animals and cows except for the milking of them..
Theo had a cousin born around the time he was,Sylvester Phillips was his nane,
and they were always together... They trapped coyotes and fur bearing animals
for spending money they also chased wild horees in to a natural corral formed
by the clay bad lands east of Lyman,which they broke to ride and then sell them.
After the two of them finish ed school they got a job sheep herding and Theo
did the cooking and Sylvest watched the sheep..One time during the winter Sylvester
had gone to town for supplies and in the mean time a blizzard had come up.
The wind blows so bad that one cannot tell just were one might be ... Sylvester
thought that he knew where he was but he then realized that he was lost. Theo
had blocked the tongue of the sheep camp up in the air and put a lantern on it
for a light in the night. Also at 15 minute intervals he would wake up and
ring a horse bell. Sylvester hearing the horse bell followed the sound until