A Joyous Handful

By Taylar Carter | PR Committee Volunteer 

“She is such a delight, and she’s fun to be around…”

This is how Bob Budd, Public Relations Chairman, describes Liz Escobedo. She has shaped the Public Relations committee in so many ways. “Liz would always show up to do her job, and she loved doing it no matter what it was. She was Johnny-on-the-spot. Everything she did, she did for the good of the committee. Liz always had such a great, direct common sense approach to everything,” Budd said.

Mike Martin, a lead on the Public Relations committee, raved about Liz stating that she’s “definitely a driving force for the PR committee.”

Needless to say, Liz Escobedo is a legend not only on the Public Relations Committee, but also as a volunteer for Cheyenne Frontier Days™ . As the 120th “Daddy of ‘Em All®” approaches, Liz has decided 2016 will be her last as a volunteer. On July 14 the long tenured volunteer will celebrate her 90th birthday. The Public Relations Committee celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2014, and Liz has been with the committee since day one. Don’t be fooled though, she’s been volunteering for much longer than 40 years.

Liz moved from New York to Wyoming, where she met her husband, Rich, whom she married in 1963. He had already been a volunteer for Cheyenne Frontier Days™, so she was out at Frontier Park often with him. A friend of Rich’s approached her one day and asked her if she had extra time. He explained to her that they were having trouble getting the hotels to take Cheyenne Frontier Days™ brochures. She agreed to help, and rounded up her nieces, who were young teens at the time, to assist her.

She said she piled her station wagon from the floor to the ceiling with brochures. She told her nieces, “Here’s what you do. You go in with the brochures and you smile at them and say ‘Here are the brochures for Frontier Days if you need anymore call Headquarters,’ then run like hell!” They delivered every single brochure she packed into that Station Wagon.

After that, she said they were offering her credentials to get her through the gate. Her response was, “I’ve been coming through the gate for years and no one has ever said anything. They just smile and wave and say ‘Hey, how are you Liz!?’” Liz took the credentials and became one of the first members of the Public Relations Committee.

In 2006 Liz was elected into the HEELS organization. Mike Martin stated, “Everybody knows that she’s the first female elected into the HEELS, so she paved the way for a lot of women in that regard.” However, not everyone liked the idea of having a woman Heel. She described a time when one gentleman walked up to her at her job and said, “What are you doing back there? You’re a new Heel. You get behind the bar!” Liz smiled and replied, “This is the job they assigned me,” and she stayed there.

Anyone who knows Liz knows she doesn’t take negativity from anyone. Bob Budd said, “She’s very bossy; very direct.” Those words couldn’t ring more true. Liz always did her job, and didn’t let anyone tell her differently. Her advice to all volunteers, young and old, is “Do the job you’re assigned.” She explained the older people are so set in their ways, which is why it is important to have more young volunteers.

Liz was a handful, but she was the most joyous person. She left an imprint on each and every person that she met, and touched hearts in ways that cannot be put into words. Her legacy will live on with the Public Relations Committee. One of her favorite written lines is from Jaycee Creed and it states that, “Service to humanity is the best work of life.” It will not be the same without her, but she will never, ever be forgotten.