Sixty Years at Ranching, a Lifetime of Living

 

Roger and Sherrie Mack

In life we count milestones. Births, Deaths, Weddings, Funerals, and Anniversaries of important points of our life. For lifelong ranchers Roger and Sherrie Mack, this year marks a milestone of sixty years on their ranch together. The ranch is the second oldest ranch in Musselshell County according to the Mack's. The ranch was homesteaded by Sherrie's great grandfather, Brockway, in 1885. The chain has never been broken and is currently being managed by their daughter Tamaira and son-in-law Jodi Wacker, which will be the fifth generation for the family ranch.

Roger and Sherrie moved to the ranch on April 5th of 1962, shortly after they were married. Sixty years, four daughters, and lifetime of stories, it is a good year to remember a family that has had a significant impact on the Musselshell County community. This year is also extraordinary for the Macks, as Roger was nominated in April for the Cowboy Hall of Fame for being a brand inspector for fifty-three years this August.

Roger and Sherrie first saw each other at a dance in Melstone when Sherrie was just sixteen and Roger was twenty. She saw him that night and told her mom "Right there is the kind of guy I'd like to marry someday". The next weekend, Roger was at the Fourth of July rodeo which he had never gone to before, and Sherrie who spotted him said to her girlfriend "OH MY GOD, there's that guy, LET ME OUT"(of the car). He never dated anyone else afterwards and neither did she. He was living in Hysham, and Sherrie was living in Billings. Roger drove to Billings on the weekends to court Sherrie. They went to drive in movies and that is where they got the name Sabra. Roger told Sherrie the first night they went to the movies together that when they got married and had a baby girl they would name her Sabra. First date. They

Sixty Years at Ranching, a Lifetime of Living

Story by Lura Pitman and Photos submitted by Tamaira Wacker

tied the knot a year later in August after Sherrie finished high school, and moved to the Melstone Ranch the following April. They proceeded to have four daughters, the first of which they did indeed name Sabra who was featured in our newspaper on April 13th, followed by Chevelle, Tamaira, and Monie.

Times were pretty tight through the years for Roger and Sherrie. Roger custom farmed for many of his neighbors, while doing his own farm and ranching. Sherrie sold Avon to make money for new clothes for her daughters. Off and on for thirty years she worked at Charlies café in Melstone. She also worked at the Sportsman's which has since been demolished along with almost every original building on Main Street in Melstone. Sherrie sewed professionally making custom jackets for twenty years. She sewed "sassy pants" for girls.

In 1968 Roger was approached at his ranch by a man named Howard Parker from the state of Montana who told Roger that his name had come up to be a brand inspector. Roger took the job at 10 cents a head to inspect brands. Ranchers would inform him of the brand, then Roger would count the cattle and check each brand before they would be loaded to be shipped to market. After 53 years, he has been nominated into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. The income was meager but helpful, and like all ranchers, grit and endless amounts of work kept the ranch going.

What many people in Musselshell County know the Macks from is their music. Another source of income for Roger and Sherrie, they started a band and played at events. They both love music, and they raised all of their children playing music and singing. This life long love of music inspired their daughters Sabra, who will be singing at the Alberta Bair Theatre on May 26th, and their daughter Tamaira Wacker who has taught music at the Melstone Public School for many years.

In 1968 Roger and Sherrie were nominated "Farm Family of the Year for the State of Montana", they proudly received a plaque at a big event in Bozeman from a man named Wash Washington, from Washington D.C.. To this day, they do not know who nominated them.

The same year Cenex came out with the first colored diesel fuel, red dyed diesel. They had a contest that you could send in names to name the new diesel. Roger sent in thirteen names on the thirteenth of March to name the diesel. This was during his first year as a brand inspector. He was inspecting yearlings when someone came to see him in the middle of an inspection. The man gave him a summons and it said "Congratulations you are the grand winner of "Name the diesel fuel contest" you just won a brand-new diesel tractor." There were 34,936 entrees in fifteen states. Rogers winning name for the fuel was Fuel Master, which it is still called to this day. Roger was featured on television in Billings, and in the paper where he was pictured on the new tractor. Roger still has this tractor and used it for custom farming for many years. Roger now has an Oliver tractor collection with twelve Oliver tractors that he has restored.

Recently Roger just got his patent certificate for an invention for a fender to keep the water off of irrigation pivot wheels. He is hoping he will be able to see this product be marketed to the public soon.

Roger and Sherrie both lost their fathers at a young age. They both came from families with siblings of two boys and two girls. Sherrie's father had died at 47 from a blood clot from a cattle accident. Her mother took all the money from the sale of their cattle to pay for his funeral, leased the ranch, and moved to Big Timber with twenty-one dollars when Sherrie was sixteen.

Roger was born in Havelock, North Dakota in 1939. Then his father moved his family to Big Horn, Montana, and in 1949 they moved to Sanders, Montana. Roger's father died when he was in eight grade, and he began working to help provide for the family. In 1956 Roger was 17, and he joined the Marines that he served three years. He was a heavy equipment operator in Pearl Harbor in the 7th Engineers. He was also in the movie "South Pacific" making a landing for Mitzi Gaynor.

When I asked the Macks what their plans for retirement were, they responded that they plan to stay right there on the ranch till the end. Roger is still working as a brand inspector, and plans to keep doing it as long as he can. They have enjoyed watching their grandchildren become adults. The legacy from Roger and Sherrie will live on through the next generation as they build their own lives.

Congratulations to the Mack family as they celebrate this milestone of their lives, and many more to come.

 

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