Members of Routt County’s tight-knit agricultural community remembered Bill Gay this week, a man whose passion for ranching, and desire to protect the rural lands, left an indelible mark in the Yampa Valley.

“He lived it, and he believed it,” rancher Marsha Daughenbaugh said of Gay. “Bill was somebody who always stood by what he believed. He believed that the land and the resources were precious, but people were precious too. He always stayed very true to those values.”

Gay, who was 80 and dealing with diabetes-related complications, passed away Aug. 25 at his home near the base of Rabbit Ears Pass.

He grew up in the picturesque Pleasant Valley enjoying a childhood filled with 4-H, wrestling and academics, according to his obituary, which was written by a family member.

His parents, Bob and Elaine Gay, purchased the Green Creek Ranch in 1946. That was where Gay’s love of agriculture, quarter horses and ranching became rooted.

He graduated from Steamboat Springs High School in 1965 and went to Colorado State University on an academic scholarship. There he became a top livestock judge while completing his degree in agricultural journalism. After college he represented Colorado as an International Farm Youth Exchange delegate to the Philippines, where he lived with families to learn their methods of agricultural production and ways of life.

Gay returned to Pleasant Valley following college, but after answering a classified advertisement for a job with Philip-Morris International, he left the Yampa Valley and became one of the “Marlboro Men” in Europe.

“One of the biggest surprises of Bill’s life came when he successfully answered a newspaper ad looking for charismatic, horse-savvy and unattached young men to work for Philip-Morris International as Marlboro Men in Europe. Because he could drive 4-and 6-horse teams, Bill ended up driving the Marlboro stagecoach across much of Europe for over a year,” his obituary reads.

His contract with Marlboro included a stop at the Frontier Village theme park in California, where he not only gave visitors an “Old West” experience in horse-drawn carts, wagons and stagecoaches, but also found he enjoyed what the West Coast offered.

Following the adventure he returned to Colorado briefly. He partnered with his father to buy a small ranch in Orchard expanding the family’s cattle operations, but was drawn back to San Fransico, to work for a land preservation company.

He returned permanently to the Yampa Valley in 1985, working with his parents and ranch employees to manage Green Creek Ranch operations. He helped shift from a Hereford-based cow herd to an Angus influence, and also played a key role in the ranch’s quarter horse breeding program.

He also worked alongside his mother to place a portion of the family ranch into a conservation easement. The ranch was named the Angus Journal’s Land Stewardship Award winner in 2000 thanks, in part, to the easement. Gay was also honored with the Leckenby Pioneer Award, an honor presented by the Steamboat Springs History Museum, in 2014.

Many members of the Routt County community were introduced to Gay through 4-H where he served as coach of the Routt County Livestock Judging Team.

“I had so much respect for that guy,” said Rod Wille, who was part of the team when he was in 4-H and is now the coach. “His leadership and knowledge just drove me. I loved the county fair and all that stuff, but when we got to go to judging contests, that was my favorite part of 4-H. I still love to go to judging contests and to try to teach these kids the value of that program. Bill is the one that started it for me, so I give him all the credit.”

Wille still remembers when Gay took the team to Adams County and they won.

“He took that team to Adams County for a competition,” said Wille, recalling one of the Routt County team’s biggest wins “You know, for a West Slope team to be an East Slope team in a competition at that time — that just didn’t happen.”

Kody May was a part of Gay’s livestock judging teams for more than a decade, and said his former coach left a lasting impression on him and poured the foundation for what has become one of Colorado’s top livestock judging teams.

“His livestock judging helped mold me to who I am today,” May said.  “I took a two-year hiatus after high school, but I went back to college and was involved in livestock judging in college as well. If it wasn’t for him, I would have never have done that.”

Today the team continues to enjoy success and continues to provide a path to college and scholarships for Routt County youth. May, who has his own ranch on Routt County Road 46, and Wille, who works his family’s sheep ranch south of Steamboat, both remain involved with ranching.

“He laid the foundation for a solid judging team from the from the Western Slope. I don’t know how many kids he sent through onto college, or how many Rod has sent since through college, but that all goes back to Bill,” May said.

The livestock judging team was just one of the ways Gay supported ranching in Northwest Colorado. In addition to his involvement with 4-H, he supported the Community Agriculture Alliance over the years in several different ways including as a commentator for the Northwest Colorado Bull Sale the organization hosted, and donating a heifer that was auctioned at The Steamboat Grand to benefit the CCA in 2005.

“The Community Agricultural Alliance was the beneficiary of the Snowball, and Bill donated a heifer to be live-auctioned at the Grand,” Daughenbaugh said. “He brought this heifer up the elevator and into the ballroom with all the people setting there around tables at the full dinner, and it was auctioned off.”

Gay also served on the Routt County Purchase of Development Rights advisory committee, the Yampa Valley Land Trust board of directors and the Routt County Multi-Modal Committee, as well as the Steamboat Springs Museum board.

Gay also followed in his father’s footsteps with roles in the Routt County Cattlemen’s Association and Routt County Fair Board, often encouraging those groups to think in new and different ways. He was not afraid to pursue ideas he believed in, including efforts to preserve agricultural land.

Gay had worked for Trust for Public Land, a growing land-conservation group, when he was living in San Francisco. He was able to use his degree, and his personal connection to and knowledge of agriculture, to promote conversation easements. His efforts to preserve ranchland continued when he returned to Routt County permanently in 1985.

“When we first set up the PDR program, Bill was on the board with me, and he was also instrumental in developing the criteria,” C.J. Mucklow recalls. “He was one of the influential people that helped develop the criteria for PDR.”

Gay helped write one of the first conservation easements in Colorado, preserving a ranch in Pitkin and in Routt counties, and today 15-20% of the private land in Routt County is under a conversation easement, according to Mucklow.

After his family ranch sold in 2015, Gay started raising shorthorn cattle on the Alpen Glow Ranch in the South Valley. He continued his conservation efforts with his new property, placing most of it into a conservation easement to help protect the views of the valley bottom.

“History is carried forward by people who understand that heritage is not simply something we inherit — it is something we steward,” said Candice Bannister, Steamboat Springs History Museum executive director. “Bill Gay has spent a lifetime doing just that. His contributions to ranching, agriculture, and the preservation of the Yampa Valley’s rural heritage and ways of life have helped sustain traditions that define this region and connect generations to this remarkable place. It was an honor to know him and witness all of this.”