Sadie Payne

Just like a backbone is a central support structure, Sadie Payne was a central part of keeping the Cokeville Stock and Saddle Club (CSSC) up and running. It was in about 2006 that Sadie became involved with the club when Sheri Kemp asked Sadie to take her place as the treasurer. There was no secretary when Sadie became a part of the organization, so she took on those responsibilities as well. Sheri helped her through the first year. Along with Darrell Hunting as the president, Darrell and Sadie worked for five years with just the two of them working as officers. 

Because of her life experience, Sadie was well trained to help with the rodeo. She describes herself by saying, “I am a farmer’s daughter.” Sadie grew up helping her family raise cattle. She feels fairly comfortable on a horse, but has never participated in a rodeo. As Sadie helped her husband, Wade, on their ranch by doing the financial bookkeeping, she became well qualified to be in charge of the financial side of running the rodeo. 

Sadie squeezed in her time helping with the rodeo between her busy life as a mother and wife of a rancher and hay farmer. Right up to the day of the rodeo, Sadie could get a phone call at any time of the day, with contestants calling to get information and to register to be in the rodeo. There were also CSSC meetings to attend and many details to take care of. 

If her life was busy before the rodeo, the day of the rodeo became even more busy. The youth rodeo was usually on Friday. On Saturday morning she would work with the SLACK part of the rodeo and Saturday afternoon brought the adult contestants to the rodeo arena. Saturday was a long, whirlwind of a day, including Sadie being a timer during all of the timed events. While everyone else was having fun watching, she would have to be focused on the timing. She would get very sunburned from being outdoors all day and by Saturday night she was exhausted.  

Although there was a lot of work as the secretary/treasurer, Sadie enjoyed the camaraderie of working together with the community. She liked watching the youth work hard, enjoy what they were doing and see them win their buckles. The sheep riding was always fun to watch. Sadie remembers Tamra Dayton and how she always rode her horse in the arena with the American flag. She remembers having some fun, unusual events in the rodeo. She remembers when Steve White was the rodeo clown and also having a really good announcer.

When we are sitting back and enjoying the show of the rodeo, we can take a few moments to appreciate Sadie Payne and others who have made the rodeo happen in Cokeville. 

SUBMITTED BY CHRISTINE TEICHERT

*If you have any stories or experiences with Sadie, we would love for you to share them with us in the comment section below…