Harry Roy Cleveland

June 13, 1930 - January 2, 2016

HARRY ROY CLEVELAND, 85 of Wittman, AZ, former long-time Keith County resident, passed away Saturday, January 2, 2016 in Sun City, AZ. Roy was born June 13, 1930 in a cabin in Banner County, Nebraska to Lee and Catherine (Bulck) Cleveland. Roy was the oldest of 8 children. He attended school at Horseshoe Bend, were he rode a horse to school. He was raised on his grandmother, Ida Franklin's homestead near McGrew, Nebraska, were he learned to plow with a team of 6 horses by the age of 5. Roy graduated from Banner County High School as part of the class of 1950. Following his schooling Roy began what would become a storied career in the sandhills. In the late 1950's he bought his first stud and as his family says, a legacy was born. Roy had grown up as a cowboy, and roping and riding continued as his way of life. His horse Buttermilk, that he'd ridden to school in the 40's, would eventually become THE Buttermilk that became the trusty companion of Dale Evans. On October 6, 1960, Roy married Shirley Logdson and they were blessed with 3 children, Rick, Cheryl and Mona. Following a divorce, Roy married Nadean Chandler in August of 1967 and it was through this union that Scott, Vic and Melody were welcomed into his family. A few years later, Roy purchased the Notquitea Ranch west of Ogallala. His Bar C brand that was used on the ranch became known by countless people in the horse industry from Coast to Coast, Canada to Mexico. On August 11, 1986, Roy married Marilyn Wade and their union was blessed with a daughter, Ty. Roy was blessed with a large family, and would proudly tell anyone that asked about his 7 kids, their kids and their kid's kids. By the end of the 1950's, Roy had his own rodeo variety act that went on into the 1960's, and intermittently after that. Roy shod horses and competed in rodeos where he excelled at bull dogging. He was quite proficient with a rope and followed in his fathers footstep in doing what many cowboys have tried but few accomplished by roping a coyote on a ranch north of Lemoyne in the mid 60's. Roy worked on ranches, was a pick-up man and rough stock contractor for Bill O'Connor; worked at Ogallala Livestock Sale Barn; later worked as a wrangler on several Hallmark and Disney movies over the years. Roy traded, trained and raised horses for over 70 years. In that time he always loved meeting new people, and taking them to look at the mares and colts. He was known to drive his old ranch pickup through the pastures and into areas where no truck should rightly go. Roy loved to talk horse pedigrees and tell stories, and could do so for hours on end. He always had a fresh pot of coffee ready for anyone who showed up wanting to trade stories. Roy was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Jack (Lee) Cleveland, sisters Ida Lou Shaul and Barbra Sterkel. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn of Wittmann, AZ; his children, Rick Cleveland of Hershey, NE, Ramona (Dan) Vinton of Whitman, NE, Cheryl Lenox of Gillette, WY, Scott McClain of Lyman, NE, Vic McClain of Paxton, NE, Melodi Bishop (Paul Simon) of Aurora, CO and Ty Cleveland (Libor Molak) of Elizabeth, CO; brothers, Don Cleveland of Fairfield, MT and Larry (Linda) Cleveland Hyannis, NE; sisters, Catherine Teppert of Gering, NE and Jean VanCura of Paxton, NE; 8 grandchildren, Heidi (Lee) Jensen of Belle Fourche, SD, Niki (Jeff) Dowling of Gillette, WY, Kari (Jamaal) Greene of Waco, TX, Ashli (Brian) Bowman of Gillette, WY, Justin (Amanda) Vinton of Whitman, NE, Jammie Vinton of Omaha, NE, Brenda Jo Boggs (Ryan) Fisher of Hershey, NE and Will (Sharley) Cleveland of Hershey, NE; numerous great grandchildren; along with many nieces, nephews, other relatives and good friends. A memorial has been established in Roy's memory for later designation by the family. Condolences may be shared at prairiehillsfuneralhome.com, where the service will be streamed live for those unable to attend. Memorial services will be held on January 15, 2016 at 3:00 PM at the New Hope Church in Ogallala with Marty Palermo officiating. A private family interment of cremains will be in the Brule Cemetery. Prairie Hills Funeral Home of Ogallala is in charge of arrangements. Here is information from Marilyn on where Memorials are suggested: 2nd Chance 2 Ride A non-profit foundation to help provide saddles to paralyzed riders Make donations payable to: The Family of Roy Cleveland I first heard about Chancey Miller when her Step-Mom, Felicia Miller posted about her on barrelhorseworld.com in November 2010. I followed her story there and eventually touched base with her on face book and then we would talk from time to time. Roy and I talked about her often over the past few years. I had fallen off a horse (I think that was 2008) and broken my neck at C5-C6 and the doctors had told Roy and I that it was a miracle I wasn't paralyzed, so we both felt a connection to her. Chancey called me in February 2015 and asked if we would be interested in helping her set up a non-profit foundation to help pay for saddles for people that rode and had been paralyzed. Since I had recently decided to retire from teaching, Roy and I talked about it and decided it would be a good activity for us in retirement. We started research on how to go about it, Chancey got a group together that will work with us (including Rob Smets), and we have slowly been working through the process of getting the paperwork for the 501c3 completed. Since Roy has been ill, I haven't actively been working on it the past few months, but he and I continued to talk about it and he offered brainstorming ideas on activities to help fund it. At this time, we have the name "2nd Chance 2 Ride" and the lawyer (Amber Teal) is completing the IRS paperwork. It is not an easy task!!!!!! I feel that Roy would be honored to have any donations you care to make go to this foundation. There will be no money taken out that is not legally required for anything other than to provide funding for saddles as we are able to. There were at least 3 horses at the NFR this year that Chancey's Dad, Marty Miller, trained and one that he raised. She has a lot of connections in the rodeo world that she believes will help us with fundraisers in the future. http://www.westernwishes.org/2012/03/04/2012-chancey-m-oklahoma-chapter/ (Part of the story on Chancey Miller from the above website) On February 10, 2010 Chancey was in a single-vehicle rollover near Stillwater, OK suffering a C3-C4 injury. Originally, her family was told that she would be completely paralyzed and would never get off the ventilator. After an 18 day stay in the Trauma ICU at the OKC OU Medical Center, she was taken off the ventilator and transported to Craig Hospital in Englewood, CO where she endured therapy and rehabilitation. During the 2011 Thanksgiving holidays she was back horseback with the help of her Dad and Stepmom Marty and Felicia Miller. She said that she felt alive again. The Chisholm Trail Ram Rodeo Prairie Circuit Finals Committee raised funds, which were presented to her by World All-Around Champion Trevor Brazile, for a special saddle. The saddle was built by Randy Byrd, who is himself a paraplegic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R68 HGLfbhw is a link to watch the video of Chancey at the Prairie Circuit Finals on 10/20/12