Marvin Myers
Marvin Myers (1913-1994)
Marvin was born on June 28, 1913 in Napa, California to Albert (Rink)
and Myrtle (Cranmer) Myers, and was an only child.
The Myers family moved to Drewsy, Oregon that same year near Myrtle’s
family. Rink Myers made a living working on ranches and leased a small
place called Middleworth Place 12 miles north of Drewsy, Oregon. Marvin
spent most of his younger years just outside of Drewsey and attended both
middle and high school at Mildale School. Marvin went to work at age 18
for Pacific Land & Livestock of Oregon working with cattle and breaking
horses. During those years he was always interested and involved in rodeos.
Marvin attended every rodeo he could in places such as Burns, Caldwell,
Vale and the Pendleton Roundup. Marvin met and married Fannie McMullen
a close family friend. Her family the McMullens had lived on the Frahan
Ranch near by. Marvin and Fannie were married on May 10, 1933 in Ontario,
Oregon. In the first years of their marriage Marvin worked for the forest
service around Drewsey taking care of cattle on the reserve and other
odd jobs he picked up to support the family.
After two summers they leased a small ranch, Johnson Ranch and Marvin
worked on his own. Their first child Ivan was born in 1938 in Burns, Oregon.
In 1939 Marvin and his Dad Rink loaded up the family car a 1937 black
Chevrolet Coupe and moved to Nevada in hopes of finding work.
In Nevada Marvin first found work in the Elko Area for Allied Land & Livestock.
He worked for March Scott the superintendent of Ranches. Allied Land &
Livestock owned the main ranches in Nevada, at the time the IL, Upper
and Lower Clover. Marvin and Fannie both worked on the Upper Clover Ranches.
Fannie cooked for Buckaroos and Marvin was the Ranch Boss. At the time
Marvin was paid $50.00 a month and Fannie $35.00 a month including room
and board. They stayed there and worked for two years until Allied and
the Ranch ownership changed hands, so Marvin and Fannie moved to Paradise
Valley and went to work for a haying contractor. In the fall of that year
they went to work for the CS Ranch. They lived and worked at the Bullhead
Ranch, in Paradise Valley. As the Buckaroo Boss Marvin was away from home
a great deal of time as they wintered their cattle at the CS Ranch out
of Winnemucca. Consequently, the CS Ranch changed ownership so Marvin
and Fannie moved to Winnemucca where they bought their first small home
for about $1800.00. While living in Winnemucca Marvin worked for different
Ranches around the valley. One of his first jobs in Nevada was for Les
Stewart of Paradise Valley breaking horses all the while he attended rodeos
where he did a lot of roping. At this time about 1947 Marvin heard that
the Pettit Ranch was for sale in Golconda. He got acquainted with George
Hoskins a local banker at the First National Bank. George loaned Marvin
the money to buy the land and livestock and Marvin purchased the Pettit
Ranch from Hughie Bain.
While at the Pettit Ranch Marvin began gathering horses for the BLM. For
a long time ranch hands helped gather horses until he met Ted Barber a
pilot whom he hired to help him out. They used Ted’s plane for a little
while and were very successful. Shortly thereafter Marvin purchased his
own plane a J-3 Cub and two of them flew together because there were so
many horses. Ted Barber had some very close calls but could land a plane
most anywhere. In fact he did have to land his plane on a mountainside
a few times and had to be hauled out by truck. Ted was a wonderful pilot
and close family friend. Some of the other fellows who helped gather horses
at that time were Vern Ryan of Winnemucca and Bill Garaventa of Fernley.
Marvin gathered horses for a good seven years and must have gathered close
to 20,000 head. He saved very few of them for his own use. At this time
Marvin was more active and involved in rodeos. He accumulated his own
rodeo stock for several years and sponsored several rodeos in Nevada,
Oregon and Idaho.
Following this time in 1954 Fannie and Marvin had another son, Marvin
Jr. who was born while the family was still at the Pettit Ranch. While
at the Pettit Ranch Marvin Jr. was attending grammar school in Imlay,
Nevada and was there up until about the fifth grade. He was eventually
boarded out for school in Lovelock with Bill and Emma Singer to finish
grade school. In 1956 they sold the Pettit Ranch and purchased a large
property that was the George Brown Ranch, in Unionville, Nevada. The ranch
was to be used primarily for cattle grazing where as many as 300 head
of cattle grazed. In 1960, Marvin’s son Ivan married Anna (Baldini) Myers.
During their marriage they had three children Dolores, Bret and Lana.
They spent a lot of happy times together at the ranch in Unionville riding
horses and playing with all the animals.
During Marvin Jr’s grammar school years in Imlay his mother drove the
school bus for about 5 children every morning and night. It was hard for
all of the families to get their children to school from the ranches.
The family left Unionville in 1969 and Marvin moved to Smoke Creek Ranch,
in California. Following this move Marvin settled in Denio, Oregon still
ranching and remained there until he sold his cattle. After this he went
to work for the Whitehorse Ranch in Oregon and stayed there until his
death February of 1985. He was 71 years old. Fannie and Marvin Jr. had
settled in Winnemucca to finish Marvin’s education. Marvin Jr. married
Arlene Bodily in 1979. They had two children, Sadie Beth and Annie Rae.
Both Marvin Jr and Arlene worked for CB Brown, until Marvin Jr’s death
in 1994. Fannie, Arlene, Ivan and their families currently reside in Winnemucca,
Nevada.
Marvin Myers was inducted into the Buckaroo Hall of Fame in 1998.
