Funeral Service: Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Broadus
Interment: family lot in the Valley View Cemetery
Joe Landa, age 97, passed away on Monday, August 6, 2007 at the Powder River Manor in Broadus.
Joe was born on February 24, 1910 in UHART-CIZE, France of the Basque race in that area of the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. He was the fourth of five children born to Pierre and Jeanne (Gaillurru)Landa. Joe attended school in St. Jean Pied de Port for six or seven years and then went to work on different farms at the age of 12. When he was 19, he heard of a sponsorship program where an established sheep rancher in the U.S. would pay for transportation of young Basque herders wanting to come to the U. S. Joe got the paper work done and on March 15, 1930, just turned 20 years old, he left his homeland from LeHavre France on a ship, the Ille de France. After 6 days at sea, he arrived in New York. Joe was $300 in debt to his sponsor and didn't know a word of English. He soon learned the word coffee from the Black Porters walking up and down the aisle chanting coffee, coffee on the train taking him to Buffalo, Wyoming. Joe worked for John Camino on his first job and other sheep ranches after that. His brother Jean BaptisteLanda joined him in 1931. Joe and Jean traveled to Bakersfield, California where they had a cousin married to a Basque sheep man. They herded sheep for a while but found the climate to hot for their taste and headed north to the Big Horns of Wyoming which is very similar to the Pyrenees of their homeland. The two brothers worked until the debts were paid and then took their wages in ewe lambs. After a few years they had a band of ewes. In February 1941, they trailed the sheep for 12 days from the Big Horns to the JimCatti Ranch on Horse Creek Powder River County Montana. They leased the Catti Ranch. In the spring of 1942 Joe leased the Catti Ranch again and his brother moved to Arvada, Wyoming and bought a ranch. He later returned to France.
Joe met the love of his life about this about this time, a pretty Italian girl from the black hills of Wyoming named Rosalie Giachino. After a short courtship they were married in Miles City, Montana on a hot 100+ degree day on July 6, 1942. They were married for 65 years. The newlyweds purchased the Catti ranch in 1943 and Joe also became a naturalized U.S. citizen that year. Their first son, Jerry, was born in November of 1944. It was hard to find sheepherders and the coyotes were numerous so Joe trailed the sheep to Moorcroft, Wyoming in 1945 and sold them for $13 a pair with wool on. Joe then bought cattle from Abner Castleberry, a neighbor on Horse Creek. In September of 1948, a second son, Bernard Mike Landa, was born. Joe and Rosalie bought the adjoining Pete Pascoe Ranch in 1950 as the children were almost school age. They moved from Horse Creek to Duncan Creek on the Pascoe Place and built a new house and outbuildings. There they ranched raising cattle for the next 40 years.
Joe had no hobbies. The only life he knew was hard work, sacrifice and the satisfaction of owning his own ranch. He did enjoy country dances and social gatherings. Joe slowed down a little in his mid-seventies and ran yearling steers until his mid eighties. Joe liked to make chokecherry wine when the berries got ripe in August.
Joe is survived by his wife, Rosalie of Broadus, MT; one son, Jerry (Sylvia)Landa of Boyes, MT; three grandchildren: John Joseph (Cathy) Landa ofBoyes, MT; Robert William Landa of Seattle, WA; and Carisa (John) Powell of Missoula; two daughters-in-law, Vida Landa of Miles City, MT and Phyllis Landa of Broadus, MT; and step grandchildren: Kirk Askin and family; Kacey Askin and family; and Kassie Taylor and family, Nicole Wheeler and family, Steven Lindstrom; and numerous nieces and nephews here and in France. He was preceded in death by his son, Mike Landa.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 8, 2007 at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Broadus. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Broadus. Interment will follow in the Valley View Cemetery in Broadus. Condolences may be made to the family by visiting www.stevensonandsons.com
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