Doy Reidhead Family
Doy Reidhead
Holbrook - Navajo County
Inducted in 2022
The Reidhead family has a long and rich history in the farming and ranching community of Navajo County. Doy and Leone’s great grandparents came to Arizona from Salt Lake City. Doy’s grandfather, Charlie Oscar, was born in Lonepine, a community started by the Reidheads. Several moves were made before the family settled in what is now called Show Low but was originally called Adair. Doy’s grandfather married and the couple had 10 children, the oldest, Charles Royal, was Doy’s father. Doy was born in Show Low in 1933 in the home his grandparents built in 1918. It is the only home still standing from that period. Leone Reidhead’s father, James Lowell Pearce, was the first family to settle in Taylor in 1876.
Doy meet his future bride, Leone, when he was five years old. They did not see each other again until they were 12 and it wouldn’t be until both Leone and Doy were in high school that they met again and would marry at the age of 17. Leone said that Doy worked seven jobs to pay the bills when they were first married. He began working as a cowboy for Senator Bill Bourdon, a job he enjoyed but with a child soon on the way, he needed a better paying job.
The senator bought his horse, bridle, the saddle blankets and the saddle and with $200 he borrowed from his father, he bought a Chevy truck and then borrowed his uncle’s trailer which allowed him to begin buying and selling lumber to farmers in Phoenix. A 25-year lumber business was born. Doy wanted to rope and the only way he could take off to rope at rodeos was to own his own company. While the lumber business paid the bills, he knew he always wanted to be a rancher and that opportunity presented itself with the purchase of the Milky Ranch which he bought from Bud Greer. Purchasing older cows from the San Carlos Apache Tribe he began his herd. He was fortunate that all the cows he purchased had nice calves growing his herd quickly. But he continued to log and haul lumber to Phoenix.
In 1975, on his way to pay his taxes in Holbrook, Doy happened to see a sign that the Rulon Goodman ranch was for sale. He was fortunate as he had been told by Howard Ramsey that if he ever wanted to sell his logging business, he would purchase. So, the Rulon Goodman ranch was bought, Doy sold his logging business to Ramsey and his Milky Ranch to Marlin Maxwell and he was now a rancher. The ranch came with 500 head of heifers and they also were about to calve. He made many improvements to the ranch – built a dam and irrigation system and leveled 150 to 200 acres to start a farm. Horses were bought over the years and many of these would be winners at the rodeos. It was said by Leone, that on their wedding day, Doy bought a horse! At one time Doy had at least 300 head of horses. He also captured wild horses and sold them. It was not always prosperous years. There were many years of hardship on the ranch/farm: hail destroyed their crop, bugs ate the crop, too much moisture or not enough, were all setbacks but never deterrents to giving up the ranch life Doy had always dreamed about.
Doy loved to rope and saying he was incredibly good at it is an understatement as he is credited with winning many belt buckles (50 plus), seven saddles, and many other prizes including cash over the years. In fact, he was banned from many roping events because of his abilities. With being banned, new ropers had a fair chance to win prizes and make names for themselves.
Through the years, Doy added land through leases to his property to run cattle on or farm. His oldest son, Mike, bought part of his land to begin his farming career where he grows sorghum, hay, sweet corn and alfalfa. The sweet corn is sold by the young children at roadside stands. The farm/ranch was run by Mike from 1975 to 1988. The land was sold to Bragg and Mike worked for him for about two years before he bought the land back. The land that the Reidhead’s farmed or ran their cattle on was an area from Holbrook to the Mogollon Rim, about 100 miles long. Some of this was leased land. Like all farmers and ranchers, the Reidheads have had their share of difficulties. Forest permits were cut in half, high interest rates for purchasing land, loco weed killing the cattle, water issues, etc. Other parcels of the land were sold off over the years as hardships increased. Doy’s grandson, Kiley, Mike’s son, leased land in 1997 where he grazed 50 cows that had been purchased with the sale of his truck. He then went on his two-year mission. While he was gone, his cattle got into the loco weed killing all of them. Upon returning from his missionary work, he bought 55 more and leased pasture form Frank DeSpain at Dry Lake. He bought part of his grandfather’s land along with 90 cows. In the next few years, he would add to his holdings and buy the family home which he made his own. Through lease land and private land, he grazes his cattle and raises various crops also.
The Reidhead’s grazed on leased land that had been cut by the government from allowing 1500 mother cows to 750. This was a result of the increase in the number of elk in the area due to the improvements that Doy made to the land: building water tanks and placing salt links. It was a double edge sword as with the increase in elk because of what Doy was doing with his land, the elk population also increased. This led to a decrease in Doy’s cattle. Doy had also other problems with the US government as there were talks of adding land to the Navajo Nation and he was afraid of losing his land. He went to Washington, D.C. and met with Arizona Senators who assured him his fears of losing his land was groundless. Ultimately, he lost his land! A trade was made and he was given the land that the family now is located on.
Today, the Reidhead’s survive because of drought insurance that they buy from the United States Department of Agriculture. While the insurance is not cheap, it can help keep the family afloat in drought years.
Another feature of Doy’s ranch was the feedlot where he fattened his own cattle before they were sold. The feedlots are still visible today on the land.
Up until his death in 2019, Doy went out to his farmland every day. He still loved his horses and seeing the many crops that were being raised. During the 59 years of marriage, Doy and Leone had eight children: Mike, Jim, Paula, Teele, Konnie, Molli, Buffi and Karalyn. His family had and has been involved with roping and daily activities on the farm/ranch from an early age.
Affiliations
Doy Reidhead
President , Northern Cattle Growers Association, 70s to mid 90s
Boy Scouts of Holbrook
Leona Reidhead
Northern Arizona Cowbelles, President several years and member
