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Bud Decker

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 10 months ago

Bud Decker was born Guy Calvin Decker on September 28, 1918, on the Muleshoe Ranch southeast of Big Piney, WY. At that time it was in Unita County. His father’s name was Guy, so they gave Bud his nickname to avoid confusion. When Bud was two, his dad bought the Henry Binning place on Willow Creek above Cora. Bud, his older sister Dorothy (Ecord), and his parents moved there. Bud said, “When I was five, my mom died. Dad would be gone all day. Dorothy and I would stand on the window sill crying and looking for dad to come home. Finally, Dad gave the ranch back to Binning and farmed us out to the Loziers. Dad went off to the West Coast with his race horses.”

 

Bud started school when he was four. Sometimes he’d have to ride his horse or, in winter, a toboggan, to school. In 1925 his dad returned and bought the Tulsa Station in what is now LaBarge. The family moved there. Bud remembers, “Prostitutes roamed the streets and were always good to us kids. When I was 8 or 10, Dad sent me to Calpet to get a load of fuel. They wouldn’t fill it because I was awfully young to be driving a truck. So I went back home. Dad called Texaco and raised the roof. I drove back and they filled the truck.”

 

Bud and his friends used to swim in the Green River. “One time,” said Bud, “we stole the slide from the school and took it to the river. It fit just right on the steep bank and we could slide into the water. One kid was a little too big for the slide and got blisters.” Bud’s childhood was full of adventures to be had in a small town. Bud chuckled when he said, “When we were kids our biggest entertainment was aggravating people! One time there was this merchant who had a flat roof. We’d get up there and stomp around and then off we’d run!”

 

The Deckers had part-time electricity. Power was on from dusk until midnight. Bud said, “The lights would blink to give us a warning – to get our clothes off and jump in bed, I guess – and then the power went off.

 

Bud had to board in Big Piney to go to high school. “’Til they kicked me out,” he said. “Dad was so mad, so I packed my clothes in a pillowcase and left home. I worked for Barlows and Loziers. Dad came up to the ranch one day to see if I wanted to finish school. I had my bags packed before the words were out of his mouth!” Bud finished high school at the Wasatch Academy in Utah.

 

After the Navy, in 1946, Bud took over his dad’s business and renamed it “LaBarge Service”. Bud has been in the oil and gas, ranching, construction and you-name-it industries. One time he was Mayor of LaBarge. He’d been asked a few times to run and he always said, “NO”. But one time he answered, “Oh, if they write me in, I’ll do it.” It was a landslide.

 

Bud has been married three times and has three children: Guy in LaBarge, Tammie in Rock Springs, and Ren in Green River. He and his wife Lois have been married since 1982. When they met, Bud wasn’t sure what to do, so he kissed her! He said, “She struggled, but not too much!” Lois and Bud have enjoyed traveling and snowbirding, but now live year around in Pinedale and can often be seen at Rendezvous Pointe for lunch.

 

By Judi Myers

Printed in Rendezvous Pointe (Pinedale WY Senior Center) Newsletter, August, 2006

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