JOY B. GAGE Joy Burton Gage, 78, a Yakima Valley horse breeder and cowboy, died Thursday in Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. His home was at 1121 S. 18th St.
Mr. Gage was born in Ellensburg, son of Kittitas Valley pioneers, Mr. and Mrs. Reese Gage. He married Miss Mary J. Bates in 1917, the daughter of Kittitas homesteaders, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bates.
He began horse training on his parents Kittitas ranch located at the foot of the Clockum Pass. Later he moved to town and worked a the old Palmer's Livery Satble, returning later to the homestead area where he was cowboy for Coffin Brothers before starting his own cattle ranch.
In 1947 he ranched in the Roza development area near Yakima where he continued to breed and train horses, from 1951 to 1957 for Sigman's Arabian. While with Sigman's he showed horses from Canada to the Cow Palace in San Francisco, a constant winner.
He captured the championship steer roping in the first Ellensburg rodeo and in 1924 won the saddle bronc championship and was first winner of the silver mounted trophy saddle. He continued to be a part of the Ellensburg rodeo.
Following serious injury in an automobile accident in 1956, he returned to the saddle working with young people teaching them horsemanship. In 1966 six of the seven winners in the Ellensburg Wranglerette Horse Show were his students.
He was on the board of the Central Washington Pony Club.
Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Mary J. Gage of Yakima; a daughter, Mrs. LaVerne (Josephine) Barkley of Ellensburg; two sisters, Mrs. Merle Frost of Port Orchard, and Mrs. Pearl Guidice of California; three brothers, James of Yakima, Calvin and Robert, both of Ellensburg; one granddaughter and three great grandchildren. ....per Michele Lowe 2/98
More About Joy Burton Gage and Mary J. Bates: Marriage: 1917261
Children of Joy Burton Gage and Mary J. Bates are:
Joy Burton Gage (b. 24 Feb 1893, d. 20 May 1971)
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