January 7, 1938 — March 19, 2016
Richard "Dick" Eugene Daly was born January 7, 1938 to Ed and Hazel Daly in Flats, Nebraska. He was the youngest of four brothers and two sisters. He married Meredieth Conner in 1955 and had five children, Cameron, Cindy, Kelly, Peggy Jo (deceased as an infant) and Paul.
At the age of eighteen, just after getting married, Dick took his first full time ranch position for Hanna's near Brownlee, Nebraska. He then worked for Kramer's near Arthur, Nebraska. Ranching would be his life over the next sixty years. He took two short detours during those years working for Firestone Tire Company and later the Barnes Rodeo Company in Iowa. The family traveled throughout seven states and three providences in Canada helping put on rodeos. Dick was livestock caretaker, pick-up man and entertainment promoter. Always a ranch cowboy at heart he returned to the Sandhills north of Whitman, Nebraska in 1970 to work for the Monahan Cattle Company. He then worked for Farrars, Shadbolts, Abbotts and ended his career with The Morman Cattle Company south of Ashby, Nebraska. After retiring to Mullen in 2004, Dick worked on area ranches for thirteen more years until his death in March, 2016.
Dick represents the long legacy of the ranch cowboy. Dedication to the land and livestock in his care coupled with a hard work ethic made him a trusted manager to the ranchers he worked for. He spent his life following the seasons of ranch life. He was skilled in horsemanship, animal husbandry, range management and all manner of mechanics. He took great pride in learning new skills and teaching what he knew to others. The Rex Ranch offered him many learning and teaching opportunities and he took advantage of them all. He thoroughly enjoyed having the veterinary interns from Colorado come for work experience. He taught them what he had learned in his many years of ranching and they shared their newly acquired veterinary skills with him.
He said he would keep working until God decided he couldn't anymore or called him home. He worked cattle one day and left peacefully in his sleep the next, just the way he would have wanted.