4 – ROBERT (BUD) BOYCE – 2015 LAST REVISED 01/05/16
MCHF & WHC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE:
ROBERT (BUD)BOYCE
YEAR OF INDUCTION: 2015
DISTRICT OF INDUCTION: 4
Robert “Bud” Boyce was born the third youngest in a family of nine children on
April 9, 1932, to Stephen “Steve” Boyce and Sadie Haymaker Boyce in Tampico,
Montana. It is here that his Father, Steve Boyce, was a government trapper. At the age
of five, Bud moved with his family to a ranch in the Bear Paw Mountains near Havre,
Montana. In his early elementary years, Bud attended Eagle Rock Country School and
then went on to high school in Columbia Falls, Montana, where he was boarded in a
dormitory.
Bud spent his youth helping on the family ranch. At the young age of seven, he
was part of the haying crew where he was given the job of driving the stacker team.
Bud enjoyed helping to break many work horses which, at the time, were the primary
tool used for farming, haying and feeding. He also possessed a talent for breaking
saddle horses from a very early age.
After he graduated from high school, Bud went to college at Cheney,
Washington, for a quarter but soon left to go serve his country as a Marine. Through
the Marines Bud was sent to fight in Korea where he was wounded from a land mine
and spent one and a half years at the United States Naval Hospital in Bremerton,
Washington.
After recovery, he then went home to help out on the family ranch. It is during
this time he met his wife, Carol Greytak, at a country dance, and they were married
November 19, 1955. They became the parents of six children; four of whom are
ranching, the oldest is a college economics professor, one a civil engineer and the
youngest a speech pathologist.
In 1963, Bud bought part of his father’s ranch and then in 1970 went on to buy
another ranch at Warrick, Montana. Part of this ranch his grandfather had previously
owned and had homesteaded many years before. Bud raised Hereford cattle at first,
then started buying Black Angus bulls, and eventually went to Charolais bulls. He is
still raising Angus cows and using Charolais and Angus bulls. Sprouted from one of his
many childhood passions, Bud continued breaking his own work horses used for
feeding until 2010. Unfortunately, due to health issues, Bud had to change to round
bales and now feeds with a tractor and hay buster.
Bud also had an appreciation for the rodeo life and rode saddle bronc and
bareback horses for a couple of years after the war, around Havre and into Canada. He
had some success in the sport, winning first in the saddle bronc at Havre and placing
in various other rodeos around the area. However, due to the injuries he sustained in
the Korean War, he quit on doctor’s orders.
The Warrick Rodeo and a barn dance started in 1927 with the help of the
community and, now owning the land, Bud continued the tradition. He used his work
horses to buck out. In 1977, the roping club, which included Bud, took over and the
rodeo ran until 1984. However, due to higher operating costs, the July 4th Rodeo and
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4 – ROBERT (BUD) BOYCE – 2015 LAST REVISED 01/05/16
dance came to a close.
Bud also helped out in his community by serving on the Bear Paw, Chinook,
Warrick and Big Sandy school boards. He was a director for the Federal Land Bank for
17 years and was a deputy brand inspector for around 30 years. Bud was a 4-H leader
and helped his children, as well as a few locals, start the White Pine Porcupines 4-H
Club. Today he is still a big supporter of the next generation and purchases 4-H
livestock at many of the local county fairs. Bud is still on the ranch in Warrick and
manages it with help from his many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“Don’t do anything unless you’re going to do it right.”
Boyce, Carol. Handwritten biography of Robert Boyce fall of 2014.
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— Bud Boyce