Cowboy songster and host of the Cowboy Crossroads podcast, Andy Hedges, jumped at the opportunity to interview his hero and mentor, Wally McRae, back in 2018. Hedges asked McRae how he’d like to be remembered:
“I didn’t do it out of greed. I’ve always hoped that I’ve contributed more than I took out,” McRae said in a 2018 interview.
Born to a second-generation ranching family south of Colstrip, McRae would become a renaissance man of the American west.
After graduating from what was then Montana State College in Bozeman in 1958 with degrees in zoology and chemistry, he served in the Navy.
The working rancher later helped co-found the Northern Plains Resource Council, a grassroots conservation and family ag group.
But he’ll probably be best remembered as an author and cowboy poet. ‘Reincarnation’, his tongue in cheek existential exploration of death’s aftermath is widely considered one of the best of the genre.
McRae wrapped up his interview with Cowboy Crossroads’ Andy Hedges by reciting his poem ‘My Requiem’.
McRae:
“Some leave their mark on a branded hide.
Some on the furrowed earth.
Some aspire to reproduce themselves and those they birth.
Some leave their marks on canvas, bronze or stone.
It will survive, long after their creator no longer is alive.
Some would build an edifice, an architectural gem, to serve throughout the ages as a lasting requiem.
But grant to me this final wish
When I say that last amen:
May my mark be carried lightly
In the hearts and minds of men.”
Wally McRae’s funeral service will be held July 2 at the Rosebud County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall in Forsyth.
