Local News

OCHS Hosting Presentations on Seagoing Cowboys


Aug 15, 2014

The Okanogan County Historical Society is sponsoring three presentations on a group called the Seagoing Cowboys who volunteered to take cattle and horses to war-torn countries after WWII from 1945 to 1947. 7,000 United States men and boys took part; 29 from Washington State and 14 from Okanogan County.

Peggy Reiff Miller, Indiana, has been researching this group since 2002. She will be coming to Okanogan County to speak on August 24th at the Whitestone Church of the Brethren at 9:30 am and at the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren at 11:30 am. The topic for the church presentations is: Swords into Plowshares: The Seagoing Cowboy Story.

She will be speaking at the Tonasket Senior Center on Monday August 25th at 7:00 pm. with the topic titled: Okanogan County Seagoing Cowboys: Delivering Hope to a War Torn World. The presentations are free and open to the public. Miller has created a DVD documentary photo story: A Tribute to the Seagoing Cowboys, which will be available for purchase at the presentations.

The men from Okanogan County were: Mark Bontrager (Tonasket); William Wix Dugan (Loomis); John Fancher (Tonasket); Earnest Finley (Oroville); Ivan Hawkins, Jr. (Tonasket); Victor Lewis Hawkins (Tonasket); Clayton E. Henneman (Oroville); Kenneth A. Lorz (Tonasket); Chas. A. Merrill (Tonasket); Bruce Picken (Tonasket); Bill Pyper (Tonasket); Gerald L. Vandiver (Tonasket or Oroville); Emmett Williams (Omak); and John Woodward (Loomis).

Four of these Okanogan County men are still in the area and OCHS is inviting them to the evening event. They are: Clayton (Dave) Henneman, John (Jick) Fancher, Bill Pyper and Bill Dugan. Miller hopes to interview them and get their stories while she is in the County.

“They were students and farmers, bankers and preachers, laborers and teachers. They were Brethren, Mennonite, Catholic, Protestant, Amish, unchurched. Some sought adventure, some sought to serve people whose lives had been torn apart by war, some wanted to see firsthand what they had only read about or seen on film.

They were the seagoing cowboys: Men and boys who volunteered to tend the livestock shipped to war-devastated countries after World War II by the United Nation Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Heifer Project.” --An excerpt from Peggy Reiff Miller’s website: http://www.seagoingcowboys.com

If you have some information, photos, or questions please contact society offices at 509-422-4272 or ochs@ncidata.com or society president Sandy Brightbill @509-486-1903 or jsbright@nvinet.com.

 


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