Obituaries

Betty Catherine Welch

Betty Catherine Welch, 72, of Boulder died on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003 at the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. A resident of Boulder for the past 12 years, and former long-time resident of Rock Springs and Green River, Mrs. Welch has been in ill health for the past two months.

She was born on June 30, 1931, in Baxter Springs, Kan., the daughter of the late Walter and Marybell Sikes Bryant.

On March 17, 1949, she married Billie Welch in Manila, Utah.

She was a member of the Baptist church.

Her family was most important to her along with her dog and her horse.

She was an avid outdoorswoman who spent much time fishing and hunting. Mrs. Welch was also an artist who loved to paint.

Survivors include her husband, Billie, of Boulder; one son, David Welch and wife, Joann, of Green River; three daughters, Lyndia Stewart and husband, Dean, of Rock Springs; Sheila Kellogg and husband, Gary, and Mary Kraft all of Pinedale; 13 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and one brother, Jerry.

Funeral services will be held Friday, Oct. 24, at Vase Funeral Chapel, 154 Elk Street, Rock Springs. Interment will be in the Paul J. Wataha Memorial Park Cemetery. Friends may gather at the Vase Funeral Chapel, Thursday afternoon from 4 to 8 p.m.

Yvonne York

Funeral services for Saratoga resident Yvonne York, 70, will be conducted Thursday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Saratoga. Burial will follow in Saratoga Cemetery.

Yvonne died Oct. 17, 2003, of complications following cancer surgery.

Born Aug. 16, 1933, in Rock Springs, she was the daughter of Zeda and Milbrey Roop of Boulder. She spent her childhood on the family ranch near Boulder and attended school at Boulder through the 10th grade; then transferred to Pinedale High School. After graduation she moved to Saratoga and worked in Donelan's Drug Store.

In 1952, she married Jock Shaw. They were the parents of four children; two of them, Terrie Lea and Jock Charles Jr., died in separate car accidents. Her husband also preceded her in death in 1985, after 33 years of marriage.

On April 25, 1986, she married Ole Jim York.

They made their home on the Bar M Plattoga Ranch, where she enjoyed spending time working in the yard, cultivating flowers and being with her dog, Lady. She also worked for 22 years as a dental assistant to Dr. John Johnson.

The couple traveled in support of the University of Wyoming Cowboys and she attended football and basketball games; was a member of the Cowboy Joe Club; and, in 1998, co-founded the Jim and Yvonne York Scholarship at UW, which benefits football or basketball players from Wyoming, Montana or South Dakota.

An active member of St. Ann's Catholic Church, she especially enjoyed taking a religious pilgrimage to Medjugorje with her son, Steve.

Survivors include her husband; sister, Alice Holt of Ennis, Mont.; daughter Karen Johnson of Bellevue, Colo.; son Steve Shaw of Billings, Mont.; three stepsons, five grandchildren; a great-grandchild; 13 step great grandchildren; and other relatives.

In addition to her first husband and two children, she was preceded in death by her parents, a brothers and a stepson.

Shirley Henry "Chuck" McWilliams

Shirley Henry "Chuck" McWilliams passed on Oct. 15, 2003, in the Sublette Center. He was born April 14, 1917, in the Walker house in Marbleton. He was the third child of Jasper Howard McWilliams and Maude Belle Baldwin. He lived his life in Sublette County. He attended school in Big Piney through the eighth grade then began his lifetime love of working cattle, riding horses and irrigating hay meadows. He could make water go anywhere he wanted the grass to grow. He could raise a hay crop.

On Sept. 16, 1935, he married Ida Jane Wardell. They had one child, Shirley Joan, and he also helped raise two stepsons, Lance Hill and Tom Hill. In his youth he rode the rough string for the Big Piney Roundup Association on the Piney Wagon. He was on the payroll of the Upper Green River Valley Cattle Association, also known as the Drift, in 1928, 1944, 1945 and 1952. He was one of the cowboys to sort the cattle at the Cora Y, where they sort them yet today to take them to the home ranches and during the early years of the association, the cowboys then trailed the shippers down the river to the railroad in Opal. Chuck and his wife, Ida, were lifetime members of the Green River Valley Cattlemen's Association.

The last years of his life he was a resident in the Sublette Center, where he received the best of care and was loved everyday by his caregivers. The family is grateful for the care he received.

His parents, three brothers, wife Ida, daughter Joan, and stepson Tom preceded him in death.

Four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, one great-grandson; three sisters: Larinda (Dot) Whitman, Elizabeth (May) Wright and Francis (Fern) Moulton; one brother, Burley; his stepson Lance and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews survive him.

Memorial services will be held on Oct. 23 at 11 a.m. at the LDS Church in Big Piney.