Passing of wife, friend, partner
By Dick Perue
Loyal readers, please indulge me again as I write concerning the passing of another of our Wyoming pioneers – my wife Marty – who died March 20, nearly a month after her 89th birthday of which I had written in February.
Marty was born Feb. 22, 1933 in Rawlins on George Washington’s birthday, thus the Martha, and lived in Wyoming most of her life.
She came into my life in 1973 when she moved to Saratoga with three teenagers, so she could be closer to her parents, ranch pioneers Fred and Celia Bomar on the Lake Creek Ranch north of town.
Both of us had recently experienced messy divorces. I had also just bought out my partner in the newspaper and printing business. I was editor and publisher – jobs I was good at – he was business manager and his wife was bookkeeper – jobs I was really bad at. After three months of messing up the books, I decided I needed a bookkeeper. That is where Marty comes into the picture.
Marty and I had met when she was looking for a job. I asked if she could keep books, to which she replied, “yes.” I asked when she could start and she answered, “immediately.” I said, how about tomorrow, to which she again replied, “That’s Thanksgiving, how about starting Monday?” and as the story goes, the rest is history played out over the past 47 years.
At first, she was a great bookkeeper, and then wife, and before you knew it, she was so good she became business manager and co-owner of The Saratoga Sun and later held the same positions of other businesses we started – Perue Printing, FrameWorks and now Historical Reproductions by Perue.
It has been a glorious ride for the past nearly half century.
I love and miss you, sweetie!
Complete details of Marty’s life appear in the obituary in this week’s Wyoming Livestock Roundup.
As Wyoming’s longest serving newspaper person, I want to compliment the Roundup on the great job Dennis and his staff are doing at one of Wyoming’s best weekly newspaper, especially with its obituary policy. Many newspapers are now charging for obituaries, a practice I despise. The Roundup still keeps the tradition of publishing obituaries at no cost. Keep up the good work.
Also, I thank everyone at the Roundup for continuing to publish the “Postcard,” and hope they will put up with me for as long as I can continue to tell the stories from the past of our great Cowboy State history and heritage.
Again, thank you, loyal readers for your patience and support!
