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Kiplinger remembered fondly
McCOOK, Neb. — Memories of Tom Kiplinger revolve around what he did with others … what he did for others. His life was filled with times spent with good friends, and with good horses. He loved his land and his cattle, and he loved to rope.
His friends will always remember his soft chuckle, his great sense of humor. His unbounded generosity.
And down the road, even for those who didn’t know the “good ol’ boy,” the rancher and roper that John Thomas Kiplinger was in life, his generosity will leave a mark on McCook and Red Willow County and Southwest Nebraska, into perpetuity — through the arenas and livestock handling facilities on the Red Willow County Fairgrounds in McCook, tangible proof of his love for his community, the sport of rodeo and the cowboy way of life.
Just a month ago, Tom spent the afternoon at the Museum of the High Plains in McCook, visiting with friend and museum board president John Hubert and sharing stories of his family as he donated a horse hair coat, a shotgun and a spinning wheel.
Then, about two weeks ago, Tom fell at his rural McCook home and was hospitalized in McCook, and in North Platte for a possible heart condition. He was recuperating, with a broken collar bone from the fall, at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook.
Tom died Saturday, July 29, at Community Hospital in McCook. He was 88 years old.
Deb Lafferty of McCook, the secretary of Red Willow County’s Fair Board, said she saw him on Friday, the day before he died. Deb said this morning, “Tom told me, ‘Deb, if I die, don’t be sad. I’ve had a fun life, and I hurt,’.”
Tom leaves behind him a lifetime of adventures and lots of laughter; arenas named after himself, his beloved mother, Alice, and his dear friend, Trudy Nelson; and a legacy of charitable giving.
Don Klein — a friend, McCook businessman and a member of the county’s fair board — knows, “There’s been no one before in this area who has ever been as charitable as Tom Kiplinger.”
Red Willow County commissioners, at their weekly meeting Monday morning, estimated that the value of the arenas and livestock handling facilities that Tom built on the county fairgrounds in McCook since 2003 is easily at least $3 million. But the true impact, said commissioner Steve Downer, is the people they draw to McCook. The facilities are a “tremendous tribute to the type of person Tom was,” said commission chairman Earl McNutt. “There’s no way to figure out the full economic benefit of his arenas to this community and county.”
Commissioner Jacque Riener said that not only was Tom incredibly generous in providing for the facilities, but his foresight to take care of them into perpetuity through his “Tom and Alice Kiplinger Endowment Fund,” is “a wonderful legacy.”
Every friend of Tom knows that he loved horses, roping and rodeo. That’s why he envisioned an indoor arena on the fairgrounds in McCook. His friend, Jan Logan of rural McCook, said he wanted a livestock facility that people, especially kids, could use year-round. “He was tenacious about it,” Jan said. “It was his vision, and he made it happen.”
From the very beginning, Tom was determined that the arena and whatever facility followed would be self-supporting, and not a responsibility of taxpayers. Since the first arena, the Kiplinger Arena, went up in 2003, there has been the Trudy Arena, the Alice Kiplinger Arena, arena expansions and enhancements, pens and corrals, and horse stalls.
As the popularity and reputation of the Kiplinger complex has grown, there’s never a week or weekend that isn’t booked with some event. Jan said that she enjoyed driving Tom around the fairgrounds, “as he counted the number of horse trailers.”
Boyd Atkinson of Benkelman said he worked with Tom at PCA (Production Credit Association) in the mid 1960s. “Tom really loved Southwest Nebraska,” Boyd said. He said that Tom’s contribution to the fairgrounds in McCook “is amazing. Look at the schedule. There’s not a weekend that’s not filled with events. And these are people who wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for events at the arenas.”
McCook cowboy Garrett Nokes has credited Tom’s arenas with giving him the opportunity to practice year-round as he rodeos, ultimately qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo in steer wrestling in 2005. After 10 days and 10 go-rounds, on Dec. 11, Garrett finished fourth at the finals.
Numerous times throughout his pro career, Garrett has publicly thanked Tom for the arenas that give him, his brother and fellow competitor, Justen, and their horses great experience, seasoning and training year-round.
Garrett says the Kiplinger complex has “boosted the competitiveness” of everyone in the area. “It used to be, winter came and everything just shut down,” Garrett said. “Now we have the arenas we can use year-round.”
While Garrett deeply appreciates Tom’s arenas, his fondest memories of Tom, he said, will be when Tom and Garrett’s dad, Ray, partnered on steers. “I was just a little kid, 8, 10 years old, and we’d gather the steers in the pastures, and ride all day long. That was the greatest thing.”
Garrett said that they’d often rope at Tom’s, and Tom’s mom, Alice “would fix rolls for us, and then run the chutes for us.”
Tom himself was a roper, and Larry Tierney of Broken Bow remembers the first time he saw Tom, in the late 1960s, chasing a 275-280-pound Brangus calf down the long arena at Burwell. “It was a big calf, and a long arena, and he didn’t quit. He got ‘im roped. It was a hell-of-a-run,” Larry remembers. Then in the early 1970s, Larry was riding horses for the Gibbons ranch and showing Tom a horse. “The horse bucked me off, but Tommy bought him anyway,” Larry chuckled.
Yep, “Tommy.” Larry explains, “He’ll always be ‘Tommy’ to me. Most of his rodeo friends call him ‘Tommy’.”
Larry remembers, too, that Tom’s mom, Alice, was “a wonderful lady.” Tom and his friends would be sitting in the basement of the house that Tom and Alice shared south of McCook, and someone would bring out a guitar and Alice would play the piano. “It was as if we were all the same age,” Larry said.
Paul Derra of Farnam rodeoed with Tom, roping and traveling to senior (over age 40) pro rodeos, throughout Nebraska and in Utah, South Dakota, Montana. “I was just 40, and Tom was in his 50s. We experienced a lot of rodeo miles together,” Paul remembers. “He loved roping, and he loved horses.”
Paul said it would have been tough to see Tom in the nursing home. “I figure he’d want me to get him out,” he chuckled softly.
Bob Logan, rural McCook, said he will always remember Tom as a good horseman, and a good stock man. Boyd Adkinson agrees, explaining that Tom became him mentor as they worked together at PCA. “Tom was extremely helpful, very intelligent when it came to buying and selling livestock. I’ll remember him for many reasons, but especially for the ‘handle’ he had on the economics of ranching.”
Boyd contemplated a bit. “I can’t remember a time when Tom carried a calculator. We’d be sitting at coffee, and Tom would take out a napkin and a ball-point pen and do the mathematics. That’s just the kind of businessman he was.”
Marty Sis, who worked with Tom partnering on cattle, also remembers Tom’s “minimalist” approach. “We didn’t have nothing too fancy,” Marty says, describing how they hand-fed 600 head of calves “with buckets and bales, slogging through knee-deep mud and snow.”
“We laughed about a lot of things,” Marty said, with a chuckle even now. “Something’d happen and we’d laugh about it for a couple weeks … until something else happened to laugh about even more. Sometimes, if we hadn’t laughed, we’d have gone insane.”
Bird City/Benkelman businessman, Darren Dale, announced on his Facebook page Sunday morning, “With a heavy heart, we have lost a dear friend to a lot of us...Tom Kiplinger. He has made a huge impact in my life and a lot of other people. He will truly be missed!” Darren called Tom a true example of “the idea of giving and passing it forward.”
Other comments on Darren’s Facebook page include:
Bev Talkington, McCook: “I know his mom, Alice, would be proud of how he left McCook a better place! I am sure she is letting calves out for him in that big arena in heaven.”
Cal Siegfried, McCook: “I remember in the late 70s, Tom and I were waiting in line at the West Sale Barn to unload some steers and he told me of his intention, not dream, but intention of building an indoor arena at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds. Tom was WAY ahead of his time. A life well lived....Tom Kiplinger.”
Paul remembers enjoying the miles traveling with Tom, “trading off horse stories.”
Tom’s friend, Charlie Collins of McCook, chuckled, “I could listen to his cowboy stories forever. He could sit and tell stories for hours, and I could sit and listen to his stories for hours.”
Deb Lafferty said, she too, will remember Tom’s gift for story-telling. “I enjoyed it when he came into the office and sat and told his stories. He’d chuckle to himself, and it would take a bit to get back to the story,” she said with a smile.
It seems everyone will remember Tom’s great sense of humor. Larry says, mischievously, “Listen to this. There are 30 cows in a pasture and 28 ducks. How many didn’t?” He pauses for drama and effect.
“Ten. Because 20 ate ducks! Get it?” Larry laughs.
Is that one of Tom’s jokes? “No,” Larry chuckled. “But that’s a joke Tom sure would have enjoyed!”