Jon Child

Jon Child is no stranger to the sport of rodeo. An avid competitive bull rider and calf roper, he brought much to the table when the Cokeville Stock & Saddle Club was in its early years.

Jon and Vicki Child purchased Thompson Land & Livestock’s sheep herd in 1989. At the time, they had a home in Utah, but brought their young children with them to Hay Hollow to live in the sheep camp as they herded their sheep for the summer. As Fall was nearing and they were trying to figure out where to enroll their children in school, they met a man named Orson Nate. Orson quickly convinced them to NOT move to Kemmerer, and instead, move their young family to Cokeville, Wyoming. After explaining to Orson that they had no home in Cokeville, he came back a few days later and found them a home to move into — the log cabin home across the street from the LDS church.

Slowly over the years, the Child’s purchased land to the north of Cokeville…first a piece of ground from Keith Cornia, and finally from Sharon Dayton where they reside to this day.

As mentioned in the beginning, Jon was a fierce competitor in rodeo and travelled the country riding bulls and roping calves and steers. Jon said, “When I wasn’t herding sheep, I was doing rodeo.”

When the CSSC was formed in the early 90’s, Jon, his son Clint, and Justin McKinnon built the exterior fence around the rodeo grounds. Jon’s background in rodeo, made him an excellent source of advice when it came to laying out the newly purchased and donated arena.

Jon was involved in the actual rodeo in a variety of ways… He would generously donate his stock for use by the club. He was a competitor and competed in the Team Roping, Calf Roping, Ribbon Roping, Cow Riding, and Wild Cow Milking. Jon remembered winning the very first Wild Cow Milking competition with Stan Thompson as his partner. He said they had a great time giving the cattle ranchers a hard time for the sheepherders having bested them! Jon has won several buckles for Wild Cow Milking as well as Team Roping with his good friend, Hal Cornia.

As is the case with most rodeo families, it quickly became a family affair for the Child children, and Jon would bring in wild mustangs and range bulls for his kids to practice riding, so they too could continue the amazing tradition of rodeo.

Jon has always been a hard worker, and his sweet wife Vicki was always by his side throughout his time with the Cokeville Rodeo. Justin remembers Vicki always bringing them some kind of treat when they were working on the arena and getting it prepared for the rodeos.

Over the years Jon and Vicki have donated several buckles and always gave generously to any of the raffles the club sponsored to raise money for their events.

Jon and Vicki, we are honored to count you among our Rodeo Honorees. We Remember the years of generous service, competition, and entertainment you brought to the community.

Thank you for sharing your talents with the Cokeville Rodeo.