Centenarian looks back on memorable life
Yvonne Masters is turning 100 years old and it’s been quite the century.
Born in Lehi, Arizona, on July 11, 1921, she grew up with the desert as her backyard. As a child, she recalls moving to her grandfather’s place in Chandler, Arizona, when their family lost everything in the Great Depression. Although they didn’t have much to eat, she cannot recall a meal where her hard-working mother, Florence Nightingale Valentine, wasn’t feeding someone else at the table.
She is forever grateful for the kindness of their neighbors, “Uncle Ben and Aunt Myrtle Riggs,” who brought over fresh bread and broth made from squab (young pigeons) when it was needed the most. As a young cowgirl, barely a teenager, she and her siblings used to round up wild horses abandoned in the desert following World War I.
Sadly, Yvonne lost her brother, Barton, in a training accident while serving in the U.S. Air Force after World War II. Yvonne loved archery, advancing her skill with the bow and arrow at Arizona State College (now Arizona State University). She later graduated from Lamson Business College and went to work for Pecos Valley Alfalfa Milling Co., taking feed and grain requests over the teletype, then writing up the orders. That was where she met her future husband during a heated argument over the use of their grain scale for weighing his feed. Bob Masters won the debate which didn’t sit well with Yvonne. After the dust settled, they found each other “running around” with mutual friends. Eventually, they ended up getting married in 1946. She was blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law, “Mommy Masters,” a typical ranch mother who was loved by everyone.
Not long after they were married, Yvonne and Bob took a ranch job in Tulare Lake, California, where they worked with the best horses you could get: Hancock breeding out of Texas. “Cowboy,” the horse Yvonne rode, was of the bloodline of one of the greatest racehorses of all time, "Man o’War.”
A year later they moved back to Arizona but had to leave the valley due to their daughter Deniece’s terrible asthma attacks. Yvonne can recall her calm, kind husband wrapping their daughter in an Army blanket and rubbing her chest for hours until she could catch her breath. They took a ranch job in Wickenburg, Arizona, at Rancho De Los Caballeros, a big dude ranch that spanned thousands of acres. This turned out to be quite an adventure.
Yvonne recalls putting the legs of Deniece’s and Christie’s beds in gallon cans of water to keep the scorpions from climbing into her children’s beds, and she once found a venomous gila monster in Christie’s bedroom. Yvonne’s crack shot rifle skills came in handy with the many rattlesnakes, nearly losing a duel with an angry sidewinder. Eventually, Bob took a job with the Arizona State Livestock Sanitary Board as a brand inspector and they moved to the Phoenix area. They both worked at the Phoenix Livestock Auction with Yvonne in the office and Bob inspecting brands. While in Phoenix, Yvonne organized 21 chapters of the Girl Scouts, at the same time she was helping her daughters achieve their own badges.
In 1960, Bob was transferred to the Navajo Reservation and the town of Window Rock to organize a brand program. In their spare time, they ran a trading post for a while and were involved with the FFA program and the athletic booster club. Eventually, Yvonne became the first female bank manager of the First Navajo National Bank’s branch in Window Rock. Although the bank changed names through her 18-year career, she loved her time at the bank.
One of the activities they enjoyed most during those years was camping. They would load Bob's handmade camp kitchen (truck box) into the back of the truck and off they’d go. The girls recall their family raising a Brahman bull named Humpy, who grew up like a house pet. They also remember having hot Jell-O when they were sick and lots of scrambled egg sandwiches.
In 1982, following a bad mining accident and Bob’s recovery, they decided to move to North Idaho with their daughter, Bobbi, her family and two grandkids, Shea and Ty. They lived in Ponderay for a time then settled in Naples, where her beloved husband passed away far too early. Yvonne briefly worked at the old Colburn Store and delivered The Daily Bee with Bob for several years.
A couple of her most memorable travels were with her sister, Loree. She went to Washington D.C., where her sister worked for an Arizona senator, and on a two-week tour of Australia and New Zealand. Yvonne finally retired to Sagle where she taught primary children for years as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even at 100, she continues her life-long passion for sports, especially baseball (Mariners), college basketball (Zags), horse racing, rodeo, and tennis, to name a few. Her ability to recall names and statistics rivals the best of commentators. She spends time jigsaw puzzling with friends, reading good books and staying current on local news and world events.
But mostly, Yvonne is blessed with helpful visits, phone calls and letters from her family. Her progeny includes three wonderful daughters, Deniece Idoy (Danny) of New Mexico, Christie Masters of Coeur d’Alene, and Bobbi Hunting (Clint) of Sagle; five grandchildren, Ty, Shea, Teton, Tell, Ferrol; 17 great-grandchildren; and six great-great-grandchildren.
