Leroy Cline
1914 - 2003

A Celebration of Life will be held for lifelong Owens Valley resident Leroy Cline, 89, on Saturday, 
May 17, 11 a.m. at the Elks Park in Bishop.  Friends and family are welcome to share their joyous 
memories about Leroy's life.

Born Feb. 8, 1914 in Whittier, Calif., Leroy moved to the Owens Valley with his family when he was 
six months old.  Growing up in Owenyo with his three brothers and four sisters, he attended Lone 
Pine schools.  He moved to Bishop in the early 1940s.

Leroy is best known to those who loved him for his stories of the valley.  Not only did he love to 
hunt and fish, but he was a friend to everyone and always had time to share his history with 
friends and strangers alike.  He was also a wonderful cook, bowler and gardener, and was most 
famous for his chileno peppers, homemade jerky, and cakes and pies.

He held many jobs and retired from Western Gillette Truck Lines after 30-plus years.  He worked as 
a ditch rider for DWP during the war and hauled supplies to the Manzanar Internment Camp.  He was 
a member of the Screen Actors Guild and worked as an extra in many Western movies filmed in the 
valley.  He hauled logs for Inyo Lumber and worked for PMT.  He loved being a cowboy, 
participating in local rodeos and helping local ranchers with their yearly cattle branding.  He 
was also a member of the Laws Railroad Museum, Teamsters, the Bishop Elks, the Mule Deer 
Foundation, the National Rifle Association, and participated in the Lone Pine Film Festival.

Leroy was a wonderful father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; family was his life.

He is survived by daughters Janice Davis, and Nancy Prange and her husband, Ken; sisters, Della 
Cederburg, and Ethal Smallwood and her husband, Robert; grandchildren, Penni Brown and her 
husband, Jason, Brian Davis and his wife, Bonnie, Rob Roberts, Greg Roberts, Jamie Beck and her 
husband, John, Brigit McPherson and her husband, Scott, Jerry Cline, Tammie Cline, and Terri 
Cline; nine-plus great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Marjorie, his second wife, Luella, and his son, 
Leroy Jr.

Cowboy Heaven

There's a chance where you 
might be called away in your 
prime.

But a cowboy has to take moiré
of those chances and his life
ain't worth much from time to
time.

Whether he's ridin; mean buckin'
horses or after an ol' wild cow, 
when the good Lord says, c'mon
son, he's got to go right now.

A lot of time I wonder - why
good men are taken away, but
then I got ta' thinkin' ...maybe
they've gone to someplace 
better.

Wouldn't you say?

So, I don't grieve much when a 
cowboy has his last rites cause' I
know there won't be anymore
bad days or cold winter nights.

So, I know there's no hell for cowboys that are gone.

They were all ready, when their 
number was drawn, they all 
drew that lucky No. 7, and 
they've all gone
to a place called cowboy
son-of-a-buckin' - heaven.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Leroy's honor may be made to the Lone Pine Film History 
Museum (P. O. Box 111, Lone Pine, CA 935545; 760-876-4121), the Eastern California Museum 
(P.O. Box 206, Independence, CA 93526; 760-878-0364), or the Hospice of the Owens Valley 
(155 Pioneer Lane, Bishop, CA  93514; 760-873-3742.

The Inyo Register
Bishop, Inyo County, California
Thursday, May 15, 2003 - Page A2

Transcribed by Pat Houser for Inyo County GenWeb, September 28, 2004