Fairgrounds arena dedicated in Tammy Lee’s honor

Friends of the late Tammy Lee, who died in July as a result of an accident at her Fallon ranch, honored her Nov. 21 as the Green Arena on the east end of the fairgrounds was dedicated and renamed the Tammy Lee Arena.

Roy Bock of the Nevada Paint Horse Club welcomed friends and her family along with County Commissioner Bus Scharmann and Parks and Recreation Supervisor Jorge Guerrero. Commissioners approved the re-naming of the arena at the Churchill County Fairgrounds at their October meeting. Jim Moore made a wooden sign for the arena.

Bock said Lee loved to hunt for arrowheads, collect antiques, became a talented quilt maker and lived for branding and ranch rodeos showing her horses and her working dogs.

“She loved to team rope which brought the Lee family to be members of the NPHC originally,” Bock said.

He appreciates the Lee family, which has been members for years, found a home with the NPHC. Bock told the audience people know why the Lord takes others.

“He took one of the best people we knew that day,” Bock said.

NPHC Treasurer Sharon Avery, who Bock said “got the project rolling,” offered some anecdotes.

Avery praised the livestock people.

“We talk to our trucks to make it up the hill. We know more about our animals’ diets than our own. We buy grain and hay before we buy our own food,” she said.

Avery said mucking a stall is good for depression, which caused a few in the audience to shake their heads in agreement. She added people in the livestock business always make time for friends and a handshake is their bond.

Scharmann said when the idea was brought to the commission to rename the arena, he called it a slam dunk.

“We thought it was appropriate to name it after Tammy,” he said.

Scharmann said he knew the Lee family when he was at Western Nevada College and of the contributions they made to support the rodeo program.

Lee is survived by her husband, Kenny; sons, Tommy and wife Nora; Flint and wife Bea; mother Marie; grandchildren, Stix and Stella; sister Virginia; and many extended family.