We had a local Rancher, who is pretty much a legend in Texas, pass away a few years back. The coffin was built by a local man...pretty much a pine box. He was carried to the grave site by horse and wagon, where the family members drove nails in the coffin to seal it. After the service the family and friends grabbed shovels to fill in the grave. It was a very modest funeral and likely wasn't expensive at all, for a great great man. He was worth millions, but lived in the bunkhouse with the other cowboys. One of the kindest men I've ever met.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/21/us/watkins-matthews-rancher-from-bygone-era-dies-at-98.html
@mrpotatohead Yep Same kind of deal, although certainly not so famous.
The guy I am talking about was a bit of a legend himself, among mountain folk, a game warden for a while, but really a dispensary of mountain knowledge and lore, like no other I know. He knew his way around every sort of wild forage, trapping and hunting... And was always willing to take the time to teach. A brilliant man, who lived outside of modernity, almost completely.
And it was right to put him away simply, as he had lived. The emphasis was on the memories, and the gathering, as he would have wanted it. Mores the pity that the nannies, even at the county level, had to butt in.
As an aside, you might enjoy 'The Drift'... a PBS documentary about cattle drives up here... I never rode this one (the Green River Drift) but I have rode similar, and been a range rider too for a few years... It's an ode to a dying breed... I hate to see it leaving. Another generation, and the cowboy will be gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DftjIAw5Pug
