Cowboys Move On
Frenchy Montero, Leonard Creek Ranch photo Montero family files
We lost two of our own recently, and as it happened, the funerals were just two days apart.
Frenchy Montero was an old friend, a lifelong rancher who grew up with the country. He leaves behind a big family, a lot of cattle, and some great memories. The school district even rescheduled the kids' rural basketball tournament for later in the afternoon today, because they knew that everybody'd be in town for his funeral anyway.
Hundreds of people went, including a retired San Francisco 49ers coach. People said you couldn't get anywhere near the actual service, so lots of 'em stood outside in the cold sunshine and told stories about Frenchy instead. The Kretschmer girls sang cowboy songs like angels in the Catholic church, and somebody played 'Taps' at the end. The family had to hold the reception at the convention center. We'll miss him, but the halls of heaven will be a louder and more raucous place with Frenchy up there.
It's one thing when an old friend dies, but when it's a kid who meets death on a gravel road at night, it makes you wonder who's in charge of things up there. Sammye Jo Edwards was 20, a shining freckled cowgirl star in the southern Oregon desert. Gone too soon, and too suddenly. It was a different kind of funeral, in the community hall in Denio where she played basketball just a few years ago. Friends flew in from as far away as Florida, and none of them were really talking much after. Our prayers go with her folks, Sis and Nolan; that ought to be about enough pain for them by now.
Rest easy, friends.
May the loved ones
who have gone before
meet you there,
just on the other side
of the road.
Frenchy Montero, Leonard Creek Ranch, age 74.
Sammye Jo Edwards, Colony Ranch, Fields Oregon, age 20.