This document summarizes events from 1950 to 1959 using a family biography format. It describes the family moving from Wyoming to Idaho and Arizona during this period. Key events included the births of Melanie in 1953 and Colleen in 1955, Phyllis going to college, selling the ranch and buying a new property, trips hunting and to see family in Idaho, and Phyllis getting married in 1958. It also provides context about the family's horses and lifestyle during this time period.

1. 90th Birthday
1950 -1959
• Hunting
• Melanie Born
• Christm as in Idaho
• Colleen Born
• Phyllis Goes to College
• Sell Ranch and Buy Jakes Place
• Horse History
• Phyllis Marriage
•Arizona Trip and Move to Idaho
• Steve Born

2. 90th Birthday 1950 - 1959 World Events
President: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower (1953)
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley, Richard M Nixon (1953)
Population: 152,271,417 (1950)
Postage Stamp: $.03
Unemployment: 5.9%
Average US Annual Salary: $2,992 Bread cost $0.14
•Charles Schultz introduces the Peanuts comic strip (1950)
•First Xerox machine is produced (1950)
•First self-service elevator is installed by Otis Elevator in Dallas (1950)
•First successful kidney transplant at Loyla University (1950)
•Korean War starts (1950 and ends in 1953
•Color television introduced in the US (1951)
•First numeric and alphabetic data computer is introduced (1951)
•First jetliner service inaugurated by BOAC between London & Johannesburg, South Africa (1952)
•First transatlantic helicopter flight (1952)
•CinemaScope first seen in The Robe (1953)
•First successful open-heart surgery in Philadelphia (1953)
•World Series first broadcast in color (1954)
•70mm film introduced with Oklahoma! (1955)
•DNA molecule first photographed (1956)
•Russia launches Sputnik I first earth-orbiting satellite (1957)
•Temporary artificial heart invented 1957)
•First transatlantic jet passenger service started by BOAC London to New York (1958)
•Army fires first US satellite, Explorer I, into orbit (1958)
•Fidel Castro assumes power of Cuba (1959)
•Alaska and Hawaii become 49th and 50th states (1959)
2

3. 90th Birthday 1950 - 1959 Hunting
If It were not for wild gam e the diet
would have been lacking. So hunting
becam e an annual event and
som etim es even m ore often. A long
with deer, there were elk hunts,
which included packing into the
m ountains for several days, or an
occasional m oose or bear.
Jim Cavina, Wallace McClaflin, Felix Hoff
gearing up to butcher the take. Jim &
Wallace were hom esteaders near Powell.
Wallace and his fam ily had becom e the
Hoff’s closest friends.
A prize deer cooling
in the Black Willow
tree that was
behind the ranch
house.
A Hunters Dream !
3

4. 90th Birthday 1950 - 1959 Snake Killer
During the years that Felix was raising sheep, they took them
up in the m ountains during the sum m er to greener pastures.
That m eant there had to be a sheep herder and sheep wagon
etc. Charllie Alverez sent word down to the ranch that he
needed help killing a nest of rattlesnakes. So on the weekend
Felix, Bessie and Phyllis took supplies to him and the
recreation was to do in the snakes. A but the adults were
ll
dug out.
Felix, Charley
Alvereze, Bessie,
Phyllis.
4

5. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Melanie at Home
Melanie Lenore Hoff was born March 19, 1953 in
the Cody hospital. Bessie was president of the
Business & Professional Women’s Club and was
heading up a style show in Powell when Melanie
decided to arrive a month early. So Wallace and
Edna Mae McClaflin, close friends, rushed Bessie
and Felix to Cody for the event. Wallace was
disappointed he didn’t get stopped for his speed
and then could have had a police escort! Melanie
weighed in at 5 ½ lbs. She stayed in the hospital
about a m onth. She is pictured here on a bear
rug. One of Felix’s trophies. Bessie went to the
ranch leaving Melanie in the hospital. There was
a snow storm that snowed her in for a good
length of tim e at the ranch with a house full of
m en to cook for. Phyllis was going to high
school in Cody and couldn’t get to the ranch but
was able to visit Melanie over the lunch hour.
Bessie took the next few m onths off and stayed
at the ranch with her fam ily. Grandm a Hoff
cam e to stay a few weeks to help out.
Melanie’s first horse back ride
with Daddy while Grandm a
Hoff looks on.
Bessie checking.
A (Grandm a) holding
nna
Melanie at the ranch.
5

6. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Christmas Idaho
Christm as of ’53 was spent with Grandm a
Hoff in Firth, Idaho. It was always a special
tim e to share the traditional Swedish
celebration in Grandm a Hoff and A unt
Gladys’s hom e which always included Lute
Fisk.
A by her warm , wonderful,
nna
Christm as dinner table.
Rudolph, Elaine,
(Rudolph’s youngest)
Rula, Phyllis, Melanie,
Felix, Grandm a Hoff,
A Gladys, Ethel and
unt
Bessie was taking the
picture
Felix, Bessie,
Melanie, and
Phyllis, and
Melanie, around
Grandm a’s Tree
6

7. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Colleen Born
On A ugust 1 4,1 955 A Colleen Hoff was
nna
born in the Powell hospital. There was a
record hale storm that left drifts against the
buildings eight inches deep. Phyllis brought
Melanie into town from the ranch to see
Colleen through the window of the hospital
room . No children allowed! Melanie was 2
½ years old, Phyllis was 1 7 and Bessie
was 42.
Colleen was baptized by the
Lutheran pastor, Rev. Moore, in
his hom e in Powell, Wyom ing.
Edna Mae and Wallace McClaflin
were sponsors.
Weighing in at over nine pounds,
Colleen was a healthy little girl and
very sm iley..
7

8. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Phyllis Goes To College
In 1 955 Felix and Bessie took Phyllis to
Portland to start her freshm an year at
Multnom ah School of The Bible. Phyllis was
hom esick before their car door closed. Colleen
was two weeks old.
Melanie and Phyllis.
On the way to
Portland they visited
Glenn and Doris
(Sundquist) Loom is
and daughters Glenda
and Gloria in
Donnelly, Idaho.
Glenn and Doris put
Phyllis through her
first year of college.
Now that is som e
snow drift!
Felix and Bessie and
girls cam e to Portland for
Easter in 1 956 and
Melanie sees the
visited Snow Bunny
Ocean for the first
Lodge on Mount Hood
tim e
where Phyllis and Ray
Sam m ons taught Sunday
School each Sunday – 75
m iles from Portland.
8

9. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Life On The River
After the Paint Creek ranch was sold, in 1955, Felix
bought 162 acres on the Clark’s Fork river, about five
miles east, known as ‘Jakes Place’. Jake Bevelhymer
lived alone and housed his goats and chickens in his
dwelling. Jake passed away in ’55. His cabin and
machinery were all in disrepair but they stood as
sentinels of a passing era. The cabin was torn down by
a tenant in the late 70’s.
The inside of Jake’s cabin
was ‘rustic’, note wood
cook stove, chinked logs,
and dirt floor.
Ray, Stacy, and Phyllis
Sam m ons and Muffy (the
dog) – all pictures taken in
1 974 by Steve Sam m ons.
9

10. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Life On The River
After Felix sold the Paint Creek ranch he bought
a farm outside of Powell and was farming it and
Jakes place. He put a small trailer down by the
river at Jakes to stay in. It didn’t have water or a
bathroom but he stayed there and farmed the
land. Bessie and the girls stayed in Powell where
Bessie ran her salon. On weekends they would
come to the “ranch”.
Colleen and Melanie playing with the dogs;
Duchess, Chocolate and new puppies, in front
of the trailer.
When Phyllis & Ray got m arried, Felix & Bessie gave them the “Jake’s Place” trailer
as a wedding present. Felix and Ray then m oved a shed from a lot in Cody that Felix
had taken in on trade for the “sold ranch”.
10

11. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Pet
When Felix bought the Paint Creek ranch in ’43, it
came with some horses. But the white one, Pet
belonged to Bessie’s sister Mazie. Phyllis had a
tricycle that Mazie wanted for her son Louie so a
trade was made and Pet became officially
Phyllis’s. Pet was 21 when Eisenhower was
elected and Melanie was born. Much to the
disappointment of all she never had a colt. When
the ranch was sold she was moved to Idaho with
the other favorites. She lived into the 70’s.
Colleen on Orchid-Melanie on Pet.
In Idaho in the ’60’s.
Phyllis on Pet with Tuffy running
behind at the ranch in Wyom ing in
the ’50’s.
Phyllis with Pet on an outing
entertaining som e visitors.
Pet acted the part. If kids rode her
she was gentle and careful. But if
Felix got on she was all business. 11

12. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Horses
Som e favorite horses.
Bourbon was the father of all the
colts. He was Chestnut in color, a
registered Morgan and had a
wonderful tem peram ent. He had
ring bone in his feet so couldn’t be
ridden m uch.
Lady, new
colt, and
Felix.
Orchid and
Felix.
Felix & Phyllis with Lady
and her first colt Nosey
(at the ranch house).
12

13. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Lady
Felix raised and broke Lady. She was a horse
anyone could ride. She lived through the 50s,
made the move to Idaho and lived until 1978.
A lot of “hands on” m ade for gentle
horses. Phyllis is helping Melanie ride
one of Lady’s colts.
Lady was great for kids to ride on
weekends, but com e Monday m orning Felix
would have to straighten her out and let her
know she could not get away with what she
did with the kids.
(Felix by the house he built in Blackfoot,
Idaho)
13

14. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Orchid
Orchid was Tulip’s first colt out of Bourbon.
He was a Blaze faced chestnut and Felix’s
pride and joy. He had his fathers
temperament and his mothers stamina and
gentle as a kitten.
Orchid, the blaze face on the left.
Phyllis
with
Melanie
on
Orchid.
Melanie and Colleen on Orchid.
14

15. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Phyllis Married
A graduating from the sam e college,
fter
Phyllis and Ray Sam m ons were m arried
Sept. 1 4, 1 958 (Ray’s 26th birthday) at the
hom e of Edna Mae and Wallace McClaflin in
Powell, WY.
Patty McClaflin, bridesm aid, Phyllis & Ray
and JB Sam m ons Ray’s brother and best
m an
Flower girls,
Melanie and
Colleen Hoff
Bessie, Phyllis’ m other, Phyllis,
Ray, and Felix.
Bud and Carrie Sam m ons, Ray’s
folks, Phyllis and Ray
15

16. 90th Birthday 1950 - 1959 AZ Trip
During the winter of 1 959 Felix and fam ily
loaded into their ’57 Chevy station wagon
pulling a 1 9 ft. travel trailer and went to Arizona
for the three m onths.
They stopped over in Bozem an,
MT. where Ray and Phyllis were
living (Ray was in Graduate
School) and they left Duchess the
Cocker for the duration of their
trip.
Melanie & Colleen
entertaining
them selves on the
top bunk.
Bessie and the girls while seeing
som e of the Arizona Ruins.
16

17. 90th Birthday 1950 -1959 Four Generations
The beginning of a new generation. On September
4, 1959 Steven Blair Sammons was born in
Bozeman, Montana to Ray & Phyllis Sammons. He
was the first Grandchild for Felix and Bessie.
Bessie, Gladys, Phyllis, Colleen, Anna, Ray
and Melanie at Christm as tim e in Felix &
Bessie’s trailer house in Idaho.
The girls with
Steve in his
Papoose Board
that Grandpa Hoff
had m ade for him
by a local Indian
fam ily.
4 Generations:
Phyllis, Anna,
Felix and Steven
17