Renowned cowgirl Bobby Brooks Kramer dies at 91

BILLINGS — Bobby Brooks Kramer, a nationally renowned cowgirl who was one of the early women to ride rodeo broncs for prize money, has died at 91.

Kramer died of natural causes Wednesday at her home here, Dahl Funeral and Cremation Service said.

In 2000 she was inducted into The National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame at Fort Worth, Texas.

She was a rancher who had a ranch upbringing as the daughter of the Prairie County sheriff.

Kramer spent her life in the wide open, said her son Gary Crowder, who raises and trains horses at the Kramer/Crowder ranch near Billings. Early in her life “they were just starting to fence the country, but you could ride from the Missouri (River) to the Yellowstone (River) and not hardly open a gate,” Crowder said.

In the 1950s, Kramer completed a one-day endurance race on one horse, riding from Billings to Miles City. In 1989, she rode from Roundup to Billings in the Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive.

Last summer, the Western Heritage Center in Billings featured a photo exhibit titled “Bobby Brooks Kramer: A Montana Legend.” She also was featured in a pair of documentaries, “I’ll Ride That Horse” and “The Last Stronghold.”

As an elderly woman, Kramer showed her American Quarter Horse Association gelding, Red. At 90 she won one of four high-point awards for riders 17 and older at the Billings Saddle Club, where she was a lifetime member.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Corwin Kramer, in 1979.

Arrangements are pending at Dahl Funeral and Cremation Service.