The words “way of life” come up frequently on a visit to the Lilje ranch in Boscombe on a sunny Saturday afternoon, as the thudding of hoof beats and the calls of ropers fill the air.
For Lawrence Lilje’s family, this day is a way to remember and celebrate the memory of their father, who passed away on March 2014 at the age of 53.
“We just thought it would be a good way to honour him,” said his daughter, Lisa Dunlop, of holding the first Lawrence Lilje Memorial Roping event last year, followed by the second memorial roping event this past Saturday. “This is what he loved to do.”
Her sister Laura Sloan explains that when her father first tried roping in his mid-20s, it just fit. “He just developed a passion and love for it.”
He and his wife Dona built an arena at their ranch in 1994, and enjoyed years of hosting summer series, and major benefit roping events. For daughters Laura, Lisa and Ashley, they could see their father took great pride and joy in hosting roping events with “good pens, good steers, good prizes – and cold beer,” says Sloan, the last thought an afterthought but an essential addition to a good roping event. “That was a must.”
“We all grew up around it,” Sloan said, adding, “It was a way of life for us.”
Not only did Lilje share his love of horses and roping with his daughters, but it is a passion shared by their extended family and relatives, everyone from Lisa’s husband, Casey, to the girls’ 75-year-old grandfather, Jim Bailey, both of whom took part in Saturday’s event.
Major roping events encompass a wide community, and Dunlop notes that while people traveled from as far north as Valleyview and as far south as Olds to take part in the event, all but a few were familiar faces to the family that lives and breathes the culture of roping.
Dunlop echoes her sisters’ words, saying, “This is our way of life.”
Last year’s Lawrence Lilje Memorial Roping event drew 317 roping teams, but this year’s event grew to 539 teams, with increased prizes, and five saddles offered, up from two the year before, drawing more teams in to the Sept. 12 event hosted in Boscombe.
Results are as follows:
1. Bill Phipps & Vance Johner $4,304 each
2. Shawn Powell & Kyle Pushie $3,407 each
3. Dale Kozakevich & Cory Dunlop $2,869 each
4. Roger Fletcher & Dawson Graham $2,331 each
5. Dwaine Graham & Doug Irwin $1,435 each
6. Brent Foster & Dawson Graham $1,076 each
7. Lorne Bourassa & Atif Fayad $897 each
8. Wayne Tymofichuk & Blaine Szott $717 each
9. Nathan Newman & Kody Potts $538 each
10. Shawn Powell & Rocky Munteanu $359 each
Century Champions- Bill Phipps & Vance Johner
Lady Champion- Dakota Grad
