What Were You Doing in 1976???

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Today I went through my huge stash of photos to try to find one particular photo for my book that I never found, but what I did find was this photo of me. I was living and teaching in Cheyenne, Wyoming and my friends and I had gone for a drive in the country  and decided to do a photo shoot. My friend Julie took this photo of me which I had totally forgotten and in the same file was this program from Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, “The Daddy of Them All.”

It looks like it has seen some hard times, including having a bit of rodeo barbecue smeared on it, but if you look a bit closer at the third photo, you’ll see an interesting fact that I had also forgotten.  The name of the bull ridden by Smokey Merritt in the World’s Championship Brahma Bull Riding  Contest was none other than Ju Dykstra!  Was it a coincidence? Nope. Because the honor of having a bull named after one was limited to prominent men, two members of the committee had submitted my name as “Ju Dykstra.”  First I knew of it was when it was announced during rodeo event # 4 as, “Next out of the chute is Smokey Merritt on Ju Dykstra!!!”

To my knowledge, I am the only woman ever to have a Brahma bull named after her in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, but it may be that they’ve changed their policy and there have been many. Suffice it to say that I was the first!  Try as I might, however, I cannot discover which  won out in that match—Smokey or my namesake.

What were you doing in 1976? If you have a funny story, please share it and link it to this post.

21 thoughts on “What Were You Doing in 1976???”

  4. Unknown's avatarAnonymous

    In 1976 I was married with two kids, a neophyte at my first high-powered corporate job: nothing funny there.

    But in 1963, this born and bred East Coast city girl lived in Riverton, Wyoming as a community organizer. I was gobsmacked with culture shock. Plopped down in the midst of the Wind River Indian reservation, Riverton had no paper money: only silver dollars. The men only took off their guns, holsters and cowboy hats only to enter church or a bank. There were more horses than cars.

    I learned of JFK’s assassination while standing in line at a post office to get a money order. I had to scramble and plead to find folks with a tv to watch his funeral. Earlier that year, during Martin Luther King’s historic march in Washington, DC, the local paper headlined “Sugar beet crops up.” The march did not appear anywhere, anytime in the paper.

    A local hairdresser offered to lighten my auburn hair for me: she poured Clorox directly on my head. Luckily I didn’t lose my hair, but I looked like a tomato for months with glowing white hair on my naturally high-colored skin.

    I shared the house provided to me with an incompatible Icabod Crane of a woman who refused to eat any vegetable in any form, even catsup or tomato sauce (no pizza or spaghetti allowed). She only ate meat and potatoes: not even fish or most fruit. She couldn’t understand why she was always constipated.

    I could not wait for that year to be over. I compared it with military boot camp: total immersion, total discomfort, total misery. I learned a lot about myself, and a lot about what I did not want in my life. It was a valuable year … but surely there must be an easier way.

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  5. Ludwig's avatarLudwig

    Congratulations on that honor! To be first is truly special. I can’t add anything funny, but it may amuse just a bit. Back then I lived just “down the street” from you in Boulder, Colorado. We used to travel up and around Wyoming quite a bit.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      I went to college in Laramie and we used to take trips down to Ft. Collins for the 3.2 beer as well! Wyoming was a 21 state but Colorado would sell 3.2 beer to 18 year olds. It was quite a draw…

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  10. lbeth1950's avatarlbeth1950

    In 1976 I was the mother of a three year old boy and a newborn. I had no idea what I was doing. We lived in a small mobile home. I drove a mustard-colored 1972 Toyota Corolla. It had a permanent shimmy. Passengers-by seemed to think I didn’t know and would call out to me. It was humiliating. I was so glad when that piece of crap died.

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  16. Kendall's avatarKendall

    Very cool! I was born in ’98, so I love seeing photos and other pieces from before my time. My parents were about four at the time. I always want to hold onto little pieces of my life for others to look at one day.

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