Lonetree Ranch

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BUFORD AND DEER DRAW

Nearly every time we drive by this spot above Deer Draw near Castello Point... I think of two neighbor boys. They were probably high school age at the time. Steve Scott and Jerry Jorenson were up in the breaks deer hunting when we came up behind them from the east. Jerry's pickup, whom he had affectionately named Buford started sliding down the steep hill toward the deep draw. I will never forget how much fun Jerry and Steve were having as they "worried" about Buford. They joked and laughed and we laughed with them as we hooked onto Buford with our pickup and pulled it out of the precarious spot.

Steve and Jerry always ranked high in my books. They were good guys... they were fun and even though they were a little older than me... they were friendly "big brother " type. I remember playing baseball with Steve and his family in their big corral one day. I was learning how to hit a ball. Steve was playing catcher and once I accidentally threw my bat. It hit Steve... and he just picked up the bat and gave me good instruction and a pat on the back.

I was saddened twice when both these great young men met death at an early age. Steve died in a plane crash and Jerry died as he attempted to save a calf that had gone through the ice as it was attempting to drink at a stock dam.

May each one of us leave a smile on others and warm spot in the heart of friends and neighbors long after we are gone. Just as Steve and Jerry.