Stan and Mary Flitner

Stan and Mary Flitner were born to Wyoming pioneer ranching families. Mary’s family came to Wyoming in 1878 and established the Budd Ranch, now the site of Big Piney. In 1906, Stan’s family moved from Iowa and bought a ranch in the Shell Valley. Stan was the youngest of four brothers and sisters. When he was six, he rode eight miles from the home ranch to Shell to meet his father, who was bringing cattle off the mountains. Mary was the second of three daughters. Their father expected them to “do a day’s work” on the ranch. Stan and Mary met at the University of Wyoming and after graduation and marriage, they returned to the Flitner Ranch with the Diamond Tail brand. In the 1970s, the Diamond Tail Ranch was split between Stan and his brother David. Stan and Mary retained the Diamond Tail brand. Mary wrote of their ranching life in her memoir, My Ranch, Too, published by the University of Oklahoma Press.