MARIE C. MONROE

HER LIFE

 

Born August 4, 1921

(Chalice Bel Pimlott)

Hobson, Montana

 

Marie was born to Winford Pimlott and Maude Sherard on August 4, 1921 in Hobson, Montana.  The family made their living through ranching and horse trading. Winford abandon the family when Marie was 10 years old and Maude went back to teaching to support her three children. When Winford left he took a string of horses they had been building so Marie continued her pursuit of horsemanship at the age of 8 by breaking a steer to ride because they  no longer had a horse.  An early start to herald the cowgirl she was to become. Later, when she got a horse, as a young girl Marie rode at fairs and for fun. She went on to win her first race riding a thoroughbred in Lewistown, Montana.

 Marie graduated high school in 1939 in Lewistown, Montana.  She went to business school and graduated in 1941 which allowed her to find work as a secretary. For the next several years she worked for several firms. These firms included Burge/Fanals and Nash Find/Gamble Robinson. It was at this time she changed her name from Chalice to Marie Chalice.

            Marie decided she wanted to broaden her horizons so she moved first to Casper, Wyoming and then to Denver, Colorado where she worked as waitress for a time.  She brought her devoted dog, named Skeeter, but she lived in a motel and didn’t think it fair to the dog. When the  opportunity presented itself she sent her home with her brother, Cal.  He had come down with friends from Browning for the Denver livestock show in January.  It was during this time that she met Floyd, the man she would eventually marry, in the lobby of the hotel where she was working and living.  Floyd was on leave from the military.

 

    Floyd Monroe was born December 23th, 1913 in Browning, Montana, on the Blackfoot reservation.  He entered the service in the army but later changed to the air division, becoming a tail gunner in WWII.  He flew 26 missions out of a base in England and was shot down 3 times, twice in France and once over Germany.  This is where he became a prisoner of war.  He was eventually liberated by the Russians and spent some time traveling around Europe and into Egypt.  When he went back to England and was sent home on furlough. He returned to Montana and while bull dogging in Salt Lake City, he broke his leg.  The war was soon over and he was discharged. 

            During the time Floyd was serving our country, Marie had moved to San Francisco, just for the fun of it.  She found it a lot more exciting than Montana.  Floyd and Marie had kept in touch through letters during his time in the service, so when Floyd got out of the service he went to San Francisco and they were married in 1947 in Reno, Nevada

 

   Marie worked as a waitress in a French restaurant and then for Home Insurance Company on Montgomery Street, in San Francisco.  Floyd worked as an iron worker in the city, a skill he acquired in the army.  They bought a home in San Bruno, California where they lived for six years.  Then one day Floyd came home and announced he thought they could make an “accidental”  living in Montana easier than they could in San Francisco! They sold their house to some friends from Browning and their old Ford car. They bought an old farm truck to help them make the move to Montana.  At first they lived with Floyd’s parents, Angus and Lilly, in Cut Bank, until they could afford a place of their own. 

             Floyd had been deeded 400 acres from the state of Montana. The state deeded land to all native Indians of the Blackfeet tribe, when they became of age. They managed to get a loan from the FHA and while working for a man named Warren Swenson.  They used this money along with their savings to purchase an old house.  It was about half a mile from where the wanted it so they put it on skids to move it to their homestead.. . However, before they could accomplish this they had to remove the second story. The house was originally a two story so Floyd had some preparation work to do.  Marie says Floyd was a talented carpenter and did a great job of remodeling the house.  It is an “L” shaped house plan and still stands today.  Marie wanted running water for a real bath tub, which was quite a luxury in those days so Marie took a lot of razzing from their friends for it. After finishing the house they applied for and received a 5,000.00 loan which they used to purchase cattle.  They repeated this scenario and depending on the price of cattle they used any extra money to purchase more land and more cattle.  They always managed to pay their loans back.  They weren’t strangers to hard work. They worked as a team each doing whatever needed to be done.  Along with working the ranch Floyd worked a 12 to 8 shift at the ACW and Marie dug post holes, strung fence and rode the fence lines in those harsh Montana winters.  Eventually they were approached with and offer to purchase their oil rights to their land for $9,000, from an oil company.  They accepted the offer and used the money to purchase a tractor, a mower and other equipment to make life a little easier.

 

            Luck was with them and they built up a herd of Herefords and began breeding quarter horses.  The horses seemed like a good idea because Floyd liked the rodeo and they could use them to work the cattle.  One of the first brood mares purchased was named Tami Lee. They bought her in San Francisco. Later, they also purchased Cindi Win and Clara Win (not related) and Miss Lola Llee.  Marie and Floyd sold their yearlings in Denver and at San Francisco.

 

    Floyd and Marie eventually adopted a son and named him Troy. Troy was born in Leth Bridge, Canada.  They met him through Doris and Angus McDonald of Calgary, Canada.  Doris was taking care of Troy for his mother. She had more children than she could care for and put him up for adoption to Floyd and Marie.  Troy helped his mom with the ranch and horse racing. 

 

             In January of 1961 they decided to get into quarter horse racing and breeding. Marie got a sales book from Denver and they purchased Printers Devil with a $2500 dollar loan.  Marie picked out Printers Devil, from his breeding. He was thoroughbred on the top side.  Marie broke him and used him on the ranch as a working horse. Before Printers third year Marie and Floyd took him over to Great Falls during fair season so a fellow named Bob Strand could show and train him.. Upon arrival Mr. Strand wasn’t available so another trainer named Bob Pulse allowed them to use one of his stalls.  After Marie had a chance to spend time with Mr. Strand she decided his training plans didn’t suit her and she ended up leaving the horse in Bob Pulse’s care for show and training.  (see race record and get of sire summary)

 

After getting his 95 SI and his AAA Marie took him to shows all over the west coast, including shows in San Francisco and Denver. In Denver he got his halter and performance points. In one class in San Francisco there were about 60 stallions and Printer came in third, which pleased Marie to no end.  He was an AAA AQHA champion. After 11 seasons at stud, Marie was offered $100,000 for him but he died shortly after. To this day people in the North West say he was one of the best studs around as his get were extremely versatile horses. The offspring did it all, roping, racing, pleasure, cutting and well-rounded ranch horses.  His daughters were good producers.

 

             Tragedy struck Marie again when Floyd Monroe was killed in an automobile accident on March 17th in 1963 by a drunk driver.  Marie was with Floyd and was thrown from the car but was found in a stubble field, hours later.  She spent many months in the hospital recovering from her injuries. Marie recalled Floyd saying when the drunk driver was coming towards them “that guy is going to kill me”, which turned out to be true. 

              In the following years after Marie lost Floyd, she continued to run 250 head of cattle in Browning, Montana.  She sold the calves by the pound every year to people in Minnesota.   They said they were the best grass fed beef they ever bought.  Marie also continued to run horses in Montana, Idaho, and Canada for 13 more years. She took them all over the west coast to get their halter and performance points. She was well respected in the quarter horse field and sat on the Montana American Quarter Horse Association for years and continued her affiliation after moving to Yakima Washington.

 

            She bought Go Benny Go while he was running and took him to become an AQHA champion with his halter and performance points.  He became her second stud to stand at the ranch.  She also stood Great Victory and a thoroughbred named Royal Hawaiian at her ranch in Washington State.  Marie has a scrapbook of all of her ROM winners. There are at least 29 original papers. 

              Marie’s plans didn’t always work out the way she hoped.  At one point she added 25 Simmental cows to the herd but the Red bulls the calves were too large for the cows.  Daunted by not beaten she didn’t give up.  She hauled them into town to have caesareans and saved many of the calves by taking them into the kitchen and keeping them by the wood stove because it was so cold outside.  Montana is known to be 40 below zero at times.  She later changed to Black Angus bulls and got what you call baldies.  The calves were born smaller but weighed more when it came to sale time.

              By now she had 1,000 acres. Along with her husband they had bought land through the years from smaller tracts around them.  Some of the tracts were owned by many people and they had to pay and get each one to sign off on the land. 

   The 13th year after Floyd’s passing was 1976, Marie decided it was time to get away from the harsh Montana winters.  She knew from her travels that there were warmer place to live and she picked Yakima, (Harrah, WA.) Washington State.  The climate was better and the fact that they had quarter horse racing cinched the deal.  She started by buying a few thoroughbreds.  She bought Kidoka because she was a great runner and a good brood mare. She had two other homebred thoroughbreds, stakes winner Holme Run Kid and Tiz a Teaser. 

             In Yakima Marie branched out to raise llamas with her brother Cal Pimlott and his wife Hazel.  She still has one of the first llamas to be born on her place, her name is Poppy. 

At one time Marie boarded more than 30 horses along with her studs, broodmares and foals.

During her time in Yakima her son passed away due to diabetes.  As an adult he made his livelihood working within the quarter horse industry.

    While living at the Montana ranch Marie hired Tom Atkins as a ranch hand.  He has been with her 51 years.  He has helped her take care of the ranches in Browning, Montana as well as Harrah, Washington.  Tom is in his late 70’s now and is retiring. He intends to move back to Montana to be with his family.  

              On August 4, 2014 Marie celebrated her 93rd birthday.  In the last few years while handling her horses and at different times she suffered a broken knee and a broken hip.  She made a full recovery from both but decided it is a good time to wrap up breeding as her two broodmares did not get in foal in 2011. She sold her ranch to a neighbor although she intends to stay at her home on the ranch until the time comes for her to move to California to live with her niece, Gail on her horse property.  She intends to run her 3 year old filly that broke her maiden last year and is stakes placed in Canada.  She is keeping the last Ihitiman filly born.  She is now a 2 year old.  (January 2012)

  Her lifetime of horsemanship achievements are in a huge trophy case in her home along with many scrapbooks of ROM, registration papers, and articles about her achievements in the horse industry. She received many awards for her work in Quarter Horses and ­­­­­­­­­­­­­in 2006 the WHBPA honored Marie in a winner’s circle ceremony at Emerald Downs for her many years and many contributions to Washington’s racing and breeding industry

             So the ending of an era approaches, but what a time it has been.  Marie has met many challenges in a tough business.  She has a rich and fulfilling life as an independent Quarter horse and Thoroughbred horse breeder.  Her life has shaped her but she has shaped her life. She loves horses and has used that love to build her life around them.  She is one of the most independent women I have ever met.  She conducts herself and her affairs with a sense of morality and ethics are above reproach.  She is kind, thoughtful but a tough business woman when needs be.  Her life’s accomplishments’ in the horse industry are worthy of recognition and to be applauded.  She is a cowgirl that has done it all; birthing, nurturing, and riding, training and breeding.  She is the epitome of a woman and a cowgirl!

 Compiled by Dianne Lukenbill and Gail Pimlott Cruit

 Written by Dianne Lukenbill

Recollections from Marie Monroe