Becky Ann Strand

It is with devastating sadness that the family announces, longtime Rawlins resident, Becky Strand, passed away early on the morning of May 7th, 2025, at the age of 72. Becky was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 17th, 1952. She spent her early life in and around New Orleans, part of a large and close knit Scots Irish family, and graduated from Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie, Louisiana, in 1970. She studied history and education at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge before moving to the French Quarter on Magazine Street in New Orleans. She spent her time working at the famous Desire Oyster Bar, operating the switchboard at The Fairmont Hotel, and enjoying the vibrant music of the quarter. After leaving Louisiana in the early 1970s, she travelled extensively, eventually settling on the tropical beaches of Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, where she lived for almost four years. She then drifted north (on her way to San Francisco, she always said), first landing in Ft Collins, Colorado, before, on a lark, venturing to the Bar 11 dude ranch north of Ferris Mountain, where she found work with Gary and the wildlife painter Vivi Crandall. It was around this time when, as fate would have it, she met the love of her life near Sand Creek Canyon. Becky was leading a group of kids on a horse ride from the Bar 11 when John Strand, then foreman at the nearby Buzzard Ranch, rode up to her to ask why they were there (and if she had driven through a closed gate the week prior!). Becky and John would be married at the Buzzard on February 12th, 1977.

Becky spent many years of her adult life on a ranch, first on the Buzzard and then the Stone Ranch north of Rawlins, helping her husband and family in all aspects of ranch life, growing especially close to John’s parents, Clyde and Violet. With John, Becky had three children: Scott, Mike, and Katie. She managed to raise all three on the Stone Ranch, hours from anywhere, and never hesitated to drive them to Rawlins for sports practices, games, and 4H. She was a deft hand with the hot iron branding calves (and with the black tar branding sheep come shearing time), while also cooking enormous, delicious meals often with only her daughter Katie’s help for large crews. Becky gathered and trailed thousands of cattle and sheep over many years on horseback. Her favorite horse was Otto, a beloved one-eyed Sorrel. The family also had a number of ranch dogs who bonded with Becky as she cared for them: Oats, Patches, Hobo, Maggie, Nellie, and The Duke. Later in life, she would be the last water meter reader ever employed by the City of Rawlins. Becky spent several years criss-crossing the town each and every month on foot with a meter gun in hand and iPod in ear. The Stone Ranch and Red Desert were among her favorite places on Earth, with her native New Orleans high on the list as well.

Becky was a voracious reader all her life, with a particular taste for Larry McMurtry, James Lee Burke, and Barbara Kingsolver, in addition to music history. She was a true music aficionado and frequent concert goer, with JazzFest in New Orleans a yearly highlight. To engage her in conversation would soon reveal her encyclopedic knowledge of rock n’ roll and the blues. While Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, and Bonnie Raitt topped her list, she discovered and recommended new music daily. After she moved to Wyoming, Becky became fascinated with the prehistory of the Indigenous peoples of the region and was a dedicated and accomplished arrowhead hunter. She was also an incredible cook. She fed many a ranch hand over the years at the Buzzard and Stone, in addition to her husband and kids. Her gumbo was eagerly awaited by all when Christmas rolled around. She loved gardening and, after her three kids left the nest, Becky transformed the parched backyard of the family home on Inverness into a verdant and peaceful oasis, serving as a gathering spot for her extended family during the warm summer months. Over the last decade of her life, Becky was blessed with five grandchildren (one forthcoming) who became her pride and joy. She will be remembered as a loving and devoted grandma who always made time for Edwin, Jack, Rebecca, and Ellie. Her humor, her energy, her enthusiasm, her warmth, her openness, her intelligence, her wisdom, her love: Becky left a lasting impact on everyone she met and will be sorely (sorely) missed.

Becky is preceded in death by her parents, John and Sally Ann Newport of New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana, and sister Sally Fourcade of Slidell, Louisiana. Becky is survived by her husband, John Strand of Rawlins, children Scott Strand of Rawlins, Mike Strand of Boston, Massachusetts, and Katie Strand of Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, grandchildren Edwin and Rebecca Strand of Rawlins, and Jack and Ellie Glass of Fox Valley, Saskatchewan (with another on the way!), sister Nancy Ellington of Pearl River, Louisiana, and brothers Billy and George Newport of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Services for Becky will be held on July 26th, 2025, in Ralwins, Wyoming.