Rodeo keeps retiree part of cowboy life

Vern Hopkins watched the men on horseback with their jingling spurs, herding cattle past his house near the Canadian border when he was a young boy in the 1930s, convinced he would be a cowboy.

As a 15-year member of the Cheney Rodeo Association, the retired Hopkins, 74, prepared for the Cheney Rodeo by repairing arena structures. On July 10, 11, and 12, he manned the gate where the cattle leave the arena, continuing his unending bond to the cowboy life.

Back when the Spokane Valley consisted of farmland and ranches, Hopkins helped on the family farm near Opportunity and pitched in for the neighbors.

Sometimes Hopkins and his friend, Neil Dunagan, went camping in the Dishman Hills, looking for adventures. A radio show with Clyde and Slim cowboy stories and songs provided grist for their dreams. Together they joined Future Farmers of America, participating in everything from swine-raising to crop and livestock judging.

When Hopkins was 14, he and Dunagan drove to Ellensburg to spend three days viewing a major rodeo. They watched, in awe of the famous cowboys.

“It was that experience, I believe, that solidified my desire to be a rodeo cowboy,” said Hopkins.

Later that year, Hopkins acquired his first job away from home, haying on a dairy farm by Liberty Lake and living in the bunkhouse.

After he graduated from Central Valley High School, Hopkins won a scholarship for Washington State College. He worked at the college farm caring for hogs and horses while attending classes for agriculture. When a school rodeo team was organized, he joined and rode saddle broncs and bareback horses.

Hopkins left school to work on the Sunny M Guest Ranch in the Methow Valley shoeing horses, wrangling the horse herd, performing in the rodeo, leading backcountry pack trips for fishing and hunting guests and filling other cowboy duties.

“That was a perfect job for me, and I loved every minute of it,” Hopkins said.

When the forest service needed a replacement packer for their trail crew, Hopkins agreed to take the 10-day trip into the mountains. He was dropped off at the trailhead where the horses and mules were waiting. Just before the driver left, he told Hopkins he would also be the cook. By necessity, Hopkins learned to become proficient at his new culinary craft while keeping the job for more than a year.

After a disappointing adventure to Mexico, and a few months working on a big ranch in the Anza Borrego desert, homesickness led Hopkins back to Washington, where he met his future wife, Kaye Holcomb. They settled into a little cottage on the Bar 14 Ranch in Ellensburg.

Hopkins looks back on those years as invaluable. He learned horse-training and cattle ranching knowledge he would apply in future careers.

“I felt truly blessed to be doing the work that I loved best and starting a family. Life doesn’t get much better than that,” Hopkins said.

After visiting his parents in Spokane one Christmas with his wife and two babies, Hopkins found a job breaking and training 13 Thoroughbreds on a little ranch near Hillyard. This new career would take him to the Playfair Racetrack and Longacres Racetrack in Renton to train and care for racehorses.

An opportunity to operate a cattle ranch in Arlee, Mont., prompted Hopkins to move his pregnant wife and two toddlers in 1960. The community camaraderie and idyllic countryside of Arlee made a perfect child-raising environment. They stayed on the ranch for seven years, until Hopkins decided it was time to start his own business, training and running racehorses at fairs.

“It was exciting and the kids loved it because there was always either a circus or a carnival and a rodeo everywhere we went,” said Hopkins .

In 1979 Hopkins began working for the Washington State Department of Transportation and worked his way up to become an engineer. Twenty years later he retired.

Today Hopkins and his wife live on a small farm near Four Lakes. A new career as a writer has spawned two nonfiction books of his life stories and poems.

Otherwise, Hopkins enjoys visiting and camping with his family: two sons, a daughter, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

“It’s a grand and glorious feeling to know that your family, children and grandchildren share your love of nature and the cowboy life,” Hopkins said.