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Share Your Story

Share Your Story is about Your White Grass Story(s) whether you are a former dude or wrangler, volunteer, rehabilitation specialist, special friend to the ranch, preservation workshop instructor, trainee, historian, student or interested person.

Share Your Story documents how the dude ranch experience changed the lives of many individuals and families and it seeks to document White Grass evolving into a National Park Service Training Center teaching historical preservation skills to professionals and students from across the country.

But don’t take our word, read an invitation to Share Your Story from Cynthia Galey Peck who grew up on the ranch with her parents, Frank and Inga Galey, starting in the 1940’s.

“I invite all to share your White Grass stories whether it involves life changes, working, a dude experience, fund raising campaign or rehabilitation and training stories. (It is) a way to share and contribute to the history of White Grass Ranch (and) fulfills a desire of former Dudes and Wranglers who wanted their ranch stories and history collected, preserved and available for the future.

Your story(s) will be added to the many White Grass stories collected between 2010-2014 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation who granted permission for 75+ stories to be posted below. (Your) pictures are welcome on the site also.

I am delighted that White Grass’s story and history is ongoing, humans are using this special spot, animals still roam the area and natural processes continue. May all who come to White Grass enjoy this special place.” -Cynthia Galey Peck

Please click on the names below to read their stories, or use the search bar above to look for an individual or topic of interest, e.g., person’s name, pack trips, cabin girls.

The stories are made available here for educational and research purposes only. Commercial use is prohibited. Requests for reproduction of these materials must be submitted at: [email protected]

Father Dan Matthews 3.20.2020

Bio: Lead Episcopal Teen-age Retreat to White Grass 1964-68 Descriptor: Westward Ho for Senior High, the experience. Father Dan Matthews’ Story: I was a young Episcopal priest in Memphis serving as a youth minister in the 1960’s.  I became aware that my teenage kids needed a more exciting summer camp experience.  The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee provided […]

Matthew K. Heiss 12.1.2019

Bio: Volunteer 2013-14,  Descriptor: Being an oral historian at the Reunion in 2014 Matthew’s Story: White Grass in My Life – Unfortunately, I was never a dude or a wrangler at White Grass. I was never there when it was an operating dude ranch. I never got to meet Frank Galey. But because of the documentation […]

Herb & Sally Ford 9.14.2019

Bio: Volunteer seasonal caretakers at White Grass Ranch, 2019 Descriptor: Being summer caretakers at the White Grass Ranch, a great learning experience Herb & Sally’s Story: Sally and I had the pleasure and honor of taking over as Caretakers of White Grass Ranch May, 2019 after Roger Butterbaugh had filled the position for the past eight […]

Jon Ferry 8.27.2019

Bio: Wrangler 1968-69. Descriptor: 2005 White Grass article submitted to London’s Telegraph newspaper. Jon’s Story: Those of us who can’t get the White Grass out of our system might be interested in this news feature (see below) I wrote for Britain’s Telegraph newspaper in 2005. That was in the George W. Bush era, so the story […]

Jon Ferry 8.22.2019

Bio: Wrangler 1968-69. Descriptor: A poem about wrangling the horses off the mountain in “surveying the waking earth steaming and the sunlight below.” Jon’s Story: This is a poem I wrote about being a wrangler at White Grass Ranch in the late 1960s. Hope you can include it as part of your Heritage Project . . . […]

Wendy Mansson Olsen 8.1.2019

Bio: Dude with her mother in 1983-84. Descriptor: Girl’s week at the ranch with mother, giggling as we feel asleep exhausted and riding the wide open spaces. Wendy’s Story: Wendy Olsen’s Memories of White Grass- daughter of Louisa Sandvig White Grass 1983-1984. I grew up in a family of five- my two brothers, two parents and me. We did […]

Julie Bonds Green 7.27.2019

Bio: Member of a Episcopalian retreat for teenagers from Memphis, TN who stayed at White Grass in 1965-66. Descriptor: Discovering God in the Tetons, Father Dan Matthews as her childhood facilitator and ashes at the Chapel of Transfiguration. Julie’s Story: White Grass and Dan Matthews made me the person I am today. My name is Julie Bonds (Greene) and […]

Nancy Bureson 7.8.2019

Bio: Decendent of Harold Hammond & family historian, volunteer at White Grass with her grandson in 2018. Descriptor: Childhood education at White Grass and in a two room school in Kelly. Nancy’s Story: SNIPPETS OF LIFE AT THE WHITE GRASS DURING THE EARLY 1900s. The following are quotes and short vignettes compiled from the memories of […]

Nancy Bureson 7.8.2019

Bio: Decendent of Harold Hammond & family historian, volunteer at White Grass with her grandson in 2018. Descriptor: Childhood experiences living at White Grass when owner Harold Hammond was serving in WW 1 and other Valley ranch stories. Nancy’s Story: I’m submitting memories of Harold Rezin Hammonds nephews and nieces who lived at the White Grass during […]

Blaise Davi 7.5.2019

Bio: 42 years working experience in historic preservation as a mason, woodcrafter, manager and trainer for the National Park Service. Descriptor: Preserving historic integrity – log structures, former dudes and wrangler, and current trainees. Blaise’s Story: What would Ann, Karin, Fran and Bernie think? Mention the word “Integrity,” and many would agree it conveys values […]