George Kakalus Ditton was born March 15, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was Margaret Koepnick and his biological father was George Kakalus. He was raised by his step-father, Paul Morland Ditton (Paul’s real name was Morland but he was raised by his grandmother Ditton and always went by Ditton). George is of Greek ancestry and has a half-sister, Treva.

In 1933 the family moved to Boulder, WY. “We came from Lander on the old Lander Road,” said George. “We got as far as Buckskin Crossing and slept for the night. We were living off the land.” The Ditton family lived 3 miles NE of Boulder. George rode horseback to school. He said, “I’d ride across the meadows. The snow would blow in waves. It was pretty. And cold. We’d come in and think we’d never get warm.” On his way to school he passed the Don Sparks ranch. Mr. Sparks had made a ‘school bus’ from a sheep wagon and invited George to leave his horse and ride inside where a stove heater kept everyone warm. One of the Sparks children was Ella Mae whom George married in 1947. Years later "Ella Mae was ‘bossing me around’,” said George with a twinkle. “I told her, ‘Now I know why your dad invited me along in that old school bus. He wanted a husband for his daughter!’” George & Ella Mae had 2 children: Theo Lucky and Dawn Ella. They have one grandchild: Andreana. Ella Mae died in 2002.

George’s family ran a ranch and his dad was also a ‘ditch rider’ for the ditch that came out just below Stokes Crossing. When George was 12 or 13 he was riding in the rocky buttes about 1 mile north of Boulder Lake Road, up the hill and off to the east. George said, “There were these big boulders leaning against each other and I crawled under this one. Little animals had been in there and I was scratching around and found small pieces of canvas with metal eyelets. There was enough of it that I could tell it had been two mail sacks. I reported it and a while later some official came to talk to me. But I never heard anymore. I went back a few years ago, but I couldn’t find the spot.”

George loves to reminisce. He told of his father-in-law finding a rifle with a stock rotted off leaning against a tree near the Soda Lake south of Boulder Lake. He said that Arthur McIntosh found a human skeleton leaning up against a tree in the timber near Meadow Lake but when he went back to find it, he couldn’t. You know George is telling the truth as he heard it because when he starts a yarn, he just says, “This isn’t true but…when my step-dad was a kid in Boulder everyone was so healthy they had to kill a guy to start the cemetery…”

George said, “Call me up. I love to talk. Maybe we can go out and I’ll show you some interesting places around Boulder. Then he added, “I know where a whiskey still is…”

By Judi Myers

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