John Phelan Photography

Editorial Photography: Editorial: Cowboy: Ray Stokes

  • Ray Stokes and his carbon copy grandson, Justin Manning, take a moment to relax in the saddle shop. Justin looks on, with great admiration and respect, for his grandfather.
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  • Ray Stokes, an excellent leather craftsman with old, but skilled hands, uses a semi-circular leather cutting knife on a cheek piece for a bridal commissioned by a surgeon from Colorado.
  • Leather tooling tools and stamps stand at the ready for their next call of duty.
  • Justin Manning offers some comfort to Smokey who might have been suffering from a bout of colic and not much interested in eating at the moment.
  • The mule Jasper gets some love and attention from cowboy Justin Manning
  • In Dead Bull canyon on a windy day Ray Stokes looks over the herd as they chow down on prairie grass.
  • Ray Stokes and his Grandson, Justin Manning, both near the tractor, make early morning preparations west of Sidney, Nebraska, to move horses and mules to Gordon, Nebraska for auction.
  • From Left, Rick Toczek,Ray Stokes, and Justin Manning walk through the pens at the Gordon Livestock Market, Gordon Nebraska.
  • Justin Manning and Ray Stokes, center, along with other sellers and bidders take in the auction.
  • Ray Stokes and Justin Manning stay foused on the sale ring at the Gordon Livestock Market in Gordon, Nebraska.
  • A procession of cars and trucks follows a horse drawn cart with Ray's casket up to the grave site overlooking the Sidney Draw.
  • Ray's casket is carried by his pallbearers toward the gravesite followed by family and friends.
  • Mourners head towards the final resting place of Ray Stokes.
  • Mourners make their way to Ray's gravesite for a final goodby.
  • The horse drawn cart leaves the burial site.
  • Ray Stokes sits for a portrait with his beloved Council Butte in the distance two months prior to his passing.
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