Over 65 years in Thermopolis

On first meeting Katy Jane Vines, one might assume nothing special about this Pioneer Home resident. However, after sitting with her a while you'd find that under her sweet smile and personality there's quite a story to be told, about her and about the town.

Born in Thermopolis in 1931, Vine described herself as "a local, in more ways than one" and has called the town home nearly her whole life, except for a 20-year stint in Casper during her marriage to Van Irvine. She describes him as a very wealthy man who worked desperately hard to spend that money. As to the source of his income, she said he simply "cashed checks from the oil company," further explaining he leased his land out and brought in roughly $60,000 each month from those checks.

That money afforded them opportunities to travel all over, though it also brought them a bit of trouble. Vines recalled they were living in Arizona at one time, and she was driving a Rolls Royce along the highway when the traffic around her came to a stop. After stopping her own vehicle, she noticed people took bats, tools and whatever else they could from their vehicles and started pummeling the Rolls. She found out later that they hated what the car represented - that she had more money than them.

Another time, she was taking an exercise class - with Sandra Day O'Connor, no less - and the person running the class advised her not to drive the Rolls Royce any more, nor wear her wedding ring with the large diamond, as both could bring trouble for everyone in the class. She was further advised some people might cut her finger off just to get the ring.

The money could've also spelled marital trouble for the couple, as during a trip to Las Vegas Van bought the most expensive clothes he could find. "He looked like money walking," Vines said. Of course, his appearance attracted many of the ladies working the casinos, who practically threw themselves at him "just like bees to honey."

Vines said in one incident a woman had put her arms around Van, but probably was not expecting his wife, with her "rough, tough country girl" background, to pull her off by the neck. Of course, she noted, Van was wanting them to fight over him.

As to that background, Vines said her folks, Tom Sanford and Katherine Coughlin, were ranchers in the North Dakota. Though her father was from Chicago, he left the city with enough money to buy and stock a ranch. Vines noted her father was someone nobody messed with, as he stood a muscular 6'6", and always carried a switchblade with him.

Her mother was of Irish descent, and got a job teaching in the United States. When Sanford saw her walking the street one day with her students, and thought "That's for me," Vines said, and asked for her hand in marriage.

That first winter at their ranch was certainly a tough one, as all the cattle froze. Vines said that incident might have affected her mother's brain a bit. Pregnant with Vines at the time, Coughlin wanted to have an abortion. Vines said seeing all of the cattle die might have made her mom think she didn't want to bring a child into such a world.

Her father brought a Catholic priest to the house to change her mom's mind, and also assured her he would take care of the baby. "It never occurred to him that he would have a girl," Vines said.

After studying various places to live, Vines' dad brought them to Thermopolis to settle, and she was born in the Thermopolis hospital. After Vines was born, her mother left and it was just she and her dad. "He had me from then on," she said. Her father got a job at a service station, and often took her to work with him. She learned how to smile and wiggle early as a baby, she said, so everyone who came to the station would play with her.

Thermopolis was certainly a different place in those days, Vines noted, particularly in the fact that there were brothels, which were regularly busy. As for the changes the town has gone through over time, Vines said it really hasn't grown much. She'd also like to see a factory or other industrial business where students could go to work during school and after graduating.

Thermopolis has a beautiful setting, Vines said, "and there's many people that drive into Thermop and feel just like it's arriving in the promised land . . . they say 'When I came over that hill and there was Thermopolis, I knew I was home.' They just love it here."