Pfister, Martha Elizabeth Huey

MARTHA ELIZABETH HUEY PFISTER

by Mildred McGee

Martha Elizabeth Huey Pfister (1892- 1974) was a ranch owner and teacher in Niobrara County and had lived there since 1915.

Martha Huey was born March 17, 1892, at Ogden, Kan., the daughter of Robert James and Margaret Mae Musgrove Huey, farm­ers in Kansas. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, and her mother was born in Kansas.

May 26, 1915, she married Edwin Pfister at Junction City, Kan. and came with her husband to Wyoming in 1915, first living south of Lusk at Peazal. In 1916, they homesteaded on Old Woman Creek 35 miles north of Lusk and one mile south of the old Red Bird store in the Warren Community.

They gradually added land on Cottonwood and Oat Creeks and east of Lusk at Node, Wyo. and ran Hereford and Black Angus cattle and Rambouillet sheep, starting in the sheep business in 1930. After the death of her husband in 1967, she continued in the ranch­ing business, along with her son Jack, liv­ing at the home ranch at Hat Creek until her death in December 1974.

Mrs. Pfister received her schooling in Ogden and Junction City, Kan., and the University of Wyoming at Laramie. She taught school for approximately 30 years in Kansas, and in Wyoming at Olinger-Hansen­ Freeman-Anderson, Thomas-Jones, Booster, Fairview, Larson-Hale, Bonsell, and Chey­enne River schools. She taught the freshman and sophomore classes of high school at Cheyenne River. In her early days of teaching, she rode many miles horseback through all kinds of weather to get to her school.

She received the Susan J. Quealy Award in 1957 for outstanding service and long­ time leadership in extension club work.

Having been a member of the Pioneer Senior Extension Club, she served as president for many years. She served on many committees, being particularly noted for her outstanding work on fair booths. The 4-H program benefited greatly from her fine leadership. She gave her time in encouraging and train­ing many in county champion demonstrations.

Mr. and Mrs. Pfister were the parents of three children: Mildred Elaine Pfister McGee who lives in Cheyenne, John James of Lusk and Jack Edwin of the home ranch at Hat Creek. There are five grandchildren: Jack Edwin, Jr. and Patrick Ray Pfister of Hat Creek, James Edwin Pfister of Lincoln, Nebra., and Kathleen Louise and Michael Lee McGee of Cheyenne.

Mrs. Pfister passed away at DePaul Hospital in Cheyenne on Dec. 13, 1974, after an extended illness.   She had four brothers: Archie Huey of Lusk, Robert Huey of the original family farm at Ogden, Kan. and William Huey and Nathan Huey, both de­ceased, and three sisters: Louise (Mrs.William) Huey Pfister of Billings, Mont. and Christina Huey, deceased, and a baby who died in infancy.

She was a member of St. Leo's Catholic Church, Lady of Fatima Circle, American Legion Auxiliary, Farm Bureau, Wyoming Wool Growers Association, Niobrara Historical Society, Pioneer Senior Extension Club and the Hospital Auxiliary.

Mrs. Pfister was a person of many fine attributes.  She had the ability and per­sonality necessary to make her a guiding force and her influence strongly apparent in the community and county in which she lived.  She was an indispensable part of her community with her life and activities woven into every phase of community development. Her life was measured not alone by what she had done, but by the many young people she taught and helped on their road to maturity. She was an inspiration to all those she served and an outstanding mother, homemaker and community member and leader.

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