WLM | Wyoming Woman
A LOVE OF THE LAND,
a Love of Culture
By Kati Hime & Diane Benefiel
Images by Diane Benefiel
J
ackson resident Phyllis C.
Osborne is what she calls an
“old timer, who saw Jackson
the way it was back then as a cow
town.” Born in 1926 in Ashton,
Idaho, Phyllis moved with her
family around 1930 when her father
was given a job at the National Elk
Refuge. The family lived in a small
house on the land, where her father
irrigated in the summer, hayed in
the fall and fed the elk in the winter,
adding fencing and whatever jobs
needed done throughout the year.
The home, which sat under the
shadow of “The Sleeping Indian” (a
mountain that resembles a Native
American chief lying on his back),
Western Visions:
South Pass: Wyoming Arts
Council Biennial 2015
William Gollings, Conrad
Schwiering, and Hans Kleiber
May 16 – August 1, 2015
April 6 – August 1, 2015
June Glasson, Untitled, 2015, ink, pencil, gouache on paper, 32 x 20 inches,
courtesy of the artist
Hans Kleiber (German/American, 1887-1967), Tongue River Canyon, Big Horns,
Wyoming, not dated, watercolor, 12-3/4 x 10-1/2 inches, gift of Dr. and
Mrs. William T. Ward, 1991.21.18
ART MUSEUM
2111 Willett Drive, Laramie, WY
www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum
24
Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine | Summer 2015
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had no indoor plumbing, and water
had to be hauled to the house. “That
was the way it was for all families
living out in the country back then,”
Phyllis explains. She attended
grade school in Jackson, where
the children rode in a horse drawn
sleigh to school in the winters.
The family returned to Idaho after
a few years, with Phyllis graduating
from high school in Ashton. They
continued to live in a rural home
– “It was a luxury to visit my
aunt, who had indoor plumbing,”
Phyllis recalls – and by the time
she graduated, Phyllis was excited
to return to Wyoming. Becoming a
school teacher, Phyllis specialized in
rural school education. She taught at
Zenith School near Jackson Hole,
as well as in Sublette, Fremont and
Sweetwater counties. When the
opportunity presented itself to teach
at a rural school on Wyoming’s
Wind River Reservation, Phyllis
jumped at the chance. Her mother,
fascinated by Native American
culture as her daughter was, joined
Phyllis, and the two lived on the
reservation together while Phyllis
taught.
Phyllis’ admiration for the Native
American people ran deep then as it
does today. She filled her time with
impacting the lives of children both
inside and outside the classroom.