Elmer Keith--Salmon Idaho

[THREEDFLYER]

Druzilla's death was a huge hit to Elmer and Lorraine.
Interesting how Elmer ended up in Salmon.......with Sacajawea being born just a few miles south of there!

 

[S.B.]

WOW, what a photo collection. Thanks for sharing.
Steve

 

[Eddie Southgate]

Elmer's first daughter was born 25 October of 1927 . She died from complications at birth . She is buried in Weiser Cemetery in Weiser ,Washington County Idaho . Her mother's name is misspelled Lorene on her birth certificate. I do a Family tree on Ancestry .com called " Elmer Keith / Lorraine Randall Family Tree . I am into Genaeology and Elmer was my #2 Hero behind my Pap and ahead of John Wayne .

Eddie

 

[S&W ucla]

Nice Pics, Elmer was one of my favorites!! In that picture of his tombstone, the mountains in the background look like the ones in this photo to me. Beautiful place to live, and rest.

 

[Joe Kent]

H Richard, Dick ,Michael has that picture in his gunroom, you are more than welcome to borrow it to make a copy. Man, I miss those Friday nights. A 40 year habit is hard to break. Give me a call if you want.

 

[Dave Workman]

Not sure where to post this.

I found myself in Salmon, Idaho recently. Here's a photo of Elmer's house in Salmon. And two photos of his final resting place.






How did ya know it was Elmer's place? Been thinking of visiting Salmon myself one of these days.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Elmer had a house in town, then moved out on to the ranch which is north of Salmon in Gibbonsville........the road if off of HWY 93 and is KEITH RD or KEITH LN......I have a photo of the street sign someplace. I have mentioned on this thread before that my hunting buddy spent some of his youth in Salmon and his father hunted with old Elmer......see photos above. Some cool history in the Salmon area for sure and good fishing on the river so take a rod and book a trip!!

 

[Jim Watson]

My only contact with Elmer Keith was the NRA convention in Atlanta, 1978, maybe. I recall Elmer shaking hands and talking to all us ordinary members while the rest of the big names in the shooting, hunting, industry crowd were in cliques of their cronies.
Engraver Ken Hurst was personable, but he was taking orders, too.
I particularly remember seeing Col Charles Askins circulating with his Handgunner of the Year trophy in the crook of his arm and a glass of whiskey in the other hand.
Kind of solidified my opinion of the big personalities in the field.

 

[Dave Workman]

My only contact with Elmer Keith was the NRA convention in Atlanta, 1978, maybe. I recall Elmer shaking hands and talking to all us ordinary members while the rest of the big names in the shooting, hunting, industry crowd were in cliques of their cronies....

Truth be told, the gunwriters of my acquaintance are typically personable types, and a couple are even kind of shy. I'm always eager to meet one of my readers. (I only have three or four )

But the times I've been with some other writer, if someone comes up to say hello, we drop the conversation and shake hands. That happened quite a bit at the NRA show in Atlanta this year.

 

[LAH]

Mrs. Keith cut me a piece of watermelon once.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Mrs. Keith cut me a piece of watermelon once.

Now that would have been an interesting encounter to have seen!

 

[jmclfrsh]

^ Thank you for resurrecting this thread. Nice read.

That was the Golden Age of Gunwriting in my book.

 

[Green Frog]

Truth be told, the gunwriters of my acquaintance are typically personable types, and a couple are even kind of shy. I'm always eager to meet one of my readers. (I only have three or four )

But the times I've been with some other writer, if someone comes up to say hello, we drop the conversation and shake hands. That happened quite a bit at the NRA show in Atlanta this year.

Back when I was writing for the American Single Shout Journal, if somebody mentioned reading one of my articles I was so thrilled they probably got bored talking with me. I'm sure the novelty would have worn off eventually, but for me that part of it never did.

I saw Elmer Keith at an NRA convention once toward the end of his life but couldn't catch up with him to speak. A few years later I did get to meet an chat with Skeeter at his final appearance and then with Jordan at one of his. Both were most gracious and were enjoyable to listen to.

Froggie

 

[Capt. F.]

I retired from Ma Bell 16 years ago. In the seventies one of my jobs there was to man the equipment for toll or long distance side of calls.
Because the long distance circuits were on the other side of the billing equipment there was no record of long distance calls.
Sooo, being a fan of Elmer's I used to call him occasionally, usually with a reloading question.
Found him to be extremely helpful and more than willing to talk to a dumb 23 year old kid.
I know, as with all of us, he had his faults but I have to remember him as I knew him.

 

[gwpercle]

What I really enjoyed was seeing Elmer without the big cowboy hat !
Darn few photo's ever show him without it , I always wondered what was under it....he did have hair !
I printed the photo and have put it in my 1st edition "Sixguns" book .
Thanks for posting them...Awesome !
Gary

 

[Jim NNN]

What a beautiful scenic backdrop for Mr. and Mrs. Kieth's final resting place. Thanks to whoever posted the photo, whenever they posted it.

 

[LAH]

Now that would have been an interesting encounter to have seen!

It was for sure.

 

[LAH]

^ Thank you for resurrecting this thread. Nice read.

That was the Golden Age of Gunwriting in my book.

Not sure how I came upon this thread. Should have dated it before posting.

 

[LAH]

What I really enjoyed was seeing Elmer without the big cowboy hat !
Gary

Here's one without the hat.

 

[RobertJ.]

I've told this story before, but it deserves to be told again:

In the early 90's, I was living in Idaho Falls, and dating a woman whose mother was from Salmon. One evening when we were all having dinner together, I asked her mom if she knew who Elmer Keith was. She looked at me in disbelief, and said yes, she lived down the road from him, and how in the world did I know him?

It turned out she had no idea who he really was! He was just the strange old man that always wore a big hat and smoked a cigar! She was amazed to find out he was a legend in the gun world.