Lary Lozier

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Lary Lozier

April 28, 1941 – July 30, 2022

Lary Lozier was born to Rob and Alice (AKA Bennie/Mum) Lozier on April 28, 1941. He joined four older siblings: Jack, Bobby, Corky and Betty.

Lary attended elementary school in Cora and graduated from Pinedale High School in 1959.

He met the love of his life, Sharon Steele, while attending PHS, and they were married October 8, 1961. They set up housekeeping at the Alexander Place north of Cora. They welcomed their first daughter, Shelby Lynn, on September 23, 1962, and Alice Arlene followed on December 13, 1963. Taylene joined the bunch on January 6, 1970, and added Jeremy and Jordan to the family in the 1990s.

Lary was a good horseman, competing in saddle bronc riding at rodeos in Pinedale and Jackson for many years. He always liked a horse with a lot of action, sometimes wild, bucking action. He took his family on regular packtrips into the Wind River Mountains. Once up New Fork Canyon to Clark and Summit lakes, but mostly out of the Green River Lakes trailhead, up to the Slide and Faler lakes area. Allie remembers leading two packhorses, Prince and Hammerhead, one time. Hammerhead managed to get the lead rope under Prince’s tail and a wreck ensued. Lary caught up with Prince waiting at the horse trailer back at Green River Lake, and Sharon, Shel, Allie and Tay spent the rest of the day searching for salvageable items that Prince blew out of the panniers. They gathered up enough eggs to make sourdough pancakes, but nobody got any fried or scrambled eggs for their stay.

In the mid 1970s, Lary and Sharon moved to Boulder and settled in on Rob and Alice’s ranch, where they both spent the rest of their lives, other than trips south during winter in their later years. He continued his trips after Sharon’s death, as they made many long-lasting friendships in their travels south.

After getting out of the livestock business, Lary, like most ranchers, found it hard to retire. He continued to put up his hay each summer, even last summer, at the age of 80. And he put it up by himself – maybe he figured if he wanted to have it done his way that was the way to do it.

His other passion was restoring tractors. He rebuilt some of the tractors his dad had purchased years ago. He would  also travel long distances to pick up a decrepit tractor to restore, and spent many hours getting it back, as close as possible, to its original condition. Sharon often wondered how he could make it look good again, but he did. Anyone who has been in his shops can attest to his tractor restoration capabilities, and his passion for it.

He loved his family and his four-legged friends, and went to great lengths to care for them. As Sharon’s health declined, he did most of the cooking and cleaning, a little known fact. And he was particularly fond of their dogs, most recently Mikey and Nikki.

Lary’s short-term, but terminal, health issues were met with his usual stoic “It is what it is. We gave it a run, that’s all I can say!” attitude.

Lary is preceded in death by his parents, wife Sharon, siblings Jack, Corky and Betty. He is survived by his children Shel, Al and Tay, grandchildren Jeremy and Jordan, and brother Bobby, as well as many nieces and nephews.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his name to Fishing for the Fight, c/o Chauncey Goodrich, PO Box 1038, Pinedale WY 82941 (307-367-2642 or 367-4883), or fishingforthefight.org.

A dinner celebrating Lary’s exciting life is planned for Saturday, September 3, at the Boulder Community Center at 2 p.m.