A former Powell resident is among Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021. The late Richard Skeen was among 43 hall of fame inductees selected by the hall’s State Board of Directors last month, along with five other cowboys from the Big Horn Basin.

An induction ceremony will be held at the Little America in Cheyenne, Sept. 11-12.  The public event will kick off Wyoming Cowboy & Cowgirl Legacy Week, established by the Wyoming Legislature in 2019.

Skeen died in 2006 at the age of 78, according to his obituary. He was a Basin native who worked as a rancher and brand inspector and he also competed on the PRCA rodeo circuit in bull and saddle bronc riding and calf and team roping.

After graduating from Worland High School, Skeen worked on his family’s Hyattville ranch. He then moved to Powell, where he became a brand inspector for the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. Later, Skeen spent many years working for the Stoddard Ranches in Douglas. When he retired from ranching, Skeen and his wife moved to Thermopolis, enjoying rodeos, cards and fishing.

Other Class of 2021 inductees from the region include James Caines, Andrew Gifford and Eugene Bischoff of Big Horn County and Clark Jackman and Leroy Schumway of Hot Springs County, according to a news release.

Nominations for the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame (WCHF) were accepted from December through February. Regional committees in 10 areas of Wyoming researched and scored over 70 nominations, sending the top 50 picks to the WCHF State Board of Directors. The organization’s chief goal is “To preserve, promote, perpetuate, publish and document Wyoming’s working cowboy and ranching history through researching, profiling and honoring individuals who broke the first trails and introduced that culture to this state.”

To learn more about the WCHF, visit www.wyomingcowboyhalloffame.org.