Cowley Pioneer Days

As the Cowley Pioneer Days celebration honors the heritage, values, and people who have shaped our communities, few individuals better represent those ideals than retiring Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn.

When Ken Blackburn was a fifth or sixth grader growing up in Billings, Montana, his teacher assigned a simple writing project: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Most children dream big. Some dream of becoming astronauts, athletes, or movie stars. Young Ken Blackburn dreamed of something much closer to home. He wanted to raise horses and live in Cowley, Wyoming.

Today, looking back on a lifetime of service, Blackburn often laughs and says, “I achieved my childhood dream. I just had to wear a badge for 40 years to get there.”

As the retiring Big Horn County Sheriff prepares to serve as Grand Marshal of the 2026 Cowley Pioneer Days Parade, that childhood dream seems remarkably prophetic. For more than four decades, Blackburn has devoted his life to serving the people of Wyoming while building a home, raising a family, and becoming deeply rooted in the community he loved as a boy.

And while the badge became a familiar part of his life, Blackburn is the first to say his story is not just his own. “I can't have any article that's just about me,” he insists. “It has to include my wife.”

For 41 years, Janeen Blackburn has stood beside him through long nights, emergency callouts, missed holidays, community responsibilities, and the demands of public service. Together they built a life centered around faith, family, and the Big Horn Basin. “She's been the anchor of our family,” Blackburn says. Together, Ken and Janeen raised three children in the Cowley area and built a home where service was not merely discussed but lived every day.

Throughout his career, Blackburn shared a simple philosophy with the deputies who served under him: “God first, Family second, County third.” Those priorities guided his decisions both personally and professionally.

Long before becoming sheriff, Blackburn dedicated two years of service as a missionary in San Bernardino, California. Upon returning home in the early 1980s, he enrolled at then Ricks College. What happened next changed the course of his life.

Interested in learning first aid, he walked into the Emergency Medical Services department and asked about taking a class. The director signed him up for an EMT course. At the time, EMTs in Wyoming were volunteers. Wanting to continue serving in emergency services eventually led him into law enforcement. “To stay in that field, I put on a badge.” That badge would become the symbol of a career spanning four decades.

Yet Blackburn's service extended far beyond law enforcement. For six years he served as bishop of the Cowley First Ward, a calling that allowed him to minister to families and serve his community in a different way.

Never one to miss an opportunity for humor, Blackburn often joked that if you take the first letter of his two major titles — Bishop and Sheriff — you get an acronym that pretty well summarizes his career. Behind the joke lies a lifetime dedicated to helping others.

Many residents of Big Horn County know Sheriff Blackburn from emergency calls, community events, or law enforcement interactions. Others know him from a classroom. For 25 years, Blackburn served as a hunter safety instructor, teaching generations of young people the importance of firearm safety, responsibility, and ethical hunting practices.

Over the years, thousands of area youth sat through hunter education classes taught by Blackburn. Today, many of those former students are adults raising families of their own. Teaching hunter safety became another way to invest in the future of the community he loved. Whether serving as an EMT, bishop, hunter safety instructor, deputy, or sheriff, Blackburn consistently sought opportunities to help others succeed.

In March 2026, Blackburn received one of the highest honors of his professional career when he was named Sheriff of the Year by the Western States Sheriffs' Association. The award recognizes excellence in leadership and service among sheriffs throughout the western United States. For Blackburn, the recognition was both humbling and unexpected. “There are roughly 1,500 sheriffs west of the Mississippi River,” he said. “To be selected among sheriffs serving places like Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, and so many other large jurisdictions was incredibly humbling.”

For those who know him best, the award reflected what they had witnessed for years — a commitment to professionalism, integrity, and service. Yet Blackburn remains quick to redirect attention away from himself and toward the people who helped make his career possible. No sheriff succeeds alone. Every accomplishment rests upon the support of family, dedicated deputies, county employees, community leaders, and citizens willing to place their trust in public servants.

Retirement has brought a new title. As Blackburn likes to joke, “I retired as Sheriff, but I've been promoted to Marshal.” This July, he and Janeen will ride together with their children and family members as he serves as Grand Marshal of the Cowley Pioneer Days Parade. The honor means a great deal to him because it comes from the community where he chose to build his life. “I love the people of Big Horn County,” Blackburn says.

After years spent responding to emergencies, solving problems, and serving others, he looks forward to spending more time with family, friends, and Janeen while continuing to enjoy the place they call home. He admits there are parts of the job he won't miss. “I've been saying I'm not going to miss the circus,” he jokes. Then, with the humor that has carried him through many years of public service, he adds: “But I do miss a few of the monkeys.”

Beneath the laughter is genuine gratitude. Blackburn understands that few people are blessed with the opportunity to spend an entire career serving the communities they love. As he reflects on forty years of service, he remains thankful for the people who supported him, worked alongside him, and trusted him through the years.

For a boy born in Powell who once dreamed of raising horses and living in Cowley, life turned out remarkably well. The dream came true. The badge was simply part of the journey.

As the Cowley Pioneer Day Committee recognizes Dr. Kurt Graham as Citizen Emeritus, it honors far more than an impressive résumé. It celebrates a life devoted to learning, faith, history, citizenship, and public service. From his roots in a small Wyoming community to leadership roles at some of America's most important historical institutions, Graham's journey demonstrates how humble beginnings, strong values, and a commitment to excellence can lead to extraordinary influence.

Kurt Graham and his brother James grew up in Cowley in a home built by their parents that encompassed the log house that had been their father's boyhood home. He went to elementary, junior high, and high school in Cowley before graduating from Rocky Mountain High School in 1985. After high school he attended BYU, where he earned an undergraduate degree in English and a master's in American Studies. His thesis was a study of the Mormon migration to the Big Horn Basin in 1900.

After serving a mission in Barcelona, Spain, he married his wife, Michelle. When they had both completed their degrees at BYU, they moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where Kurt earned a PhD in American history at Brown University. Two of their five children were born in Providence.

From New England the family moved to southern California, where Kurt joined the history faculty at California State University, San Bernardino. There he taught courses in colonial, revolutionary, and early US history, as well as constitutional and environmental history. He eventually published a book, To Bring Law Home, which was a case study of the lower federal courts in Rhode Island during the nation's first couple of decades.

The family returned to Wyoming for a few years when Kurt was offered the opportunity to direct the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. His parents, Donn and Kay, were still in Cowley at that time, and those were wonderful and memorable years. When an offer came to direct the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, the family relocated to Utah. After completing a renovation of the museum's principal early Church history exhibit, Kurt accepted an offer to direct the Harry S Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.

For nine years the family lived in the Kansas City area. Having developed a love of presidential history and legacies, Kurt recently became the founding president of the Adams Presidential Center in Quincy, Massachusetts — the Adams family hometown just south of Boston.

“The Revolutionary Era is so inspiring,” he said, “because it provides such clear examples of men and women who instinctively put the good of the community ahead of their own personal interests.” The Adams Presidential Center aims to help remind all Americans that citizenship is rooted in duty and responsibility.

Kurt and Michelle and their youngest daughter live in Kingston, a small community on the Massachusetts South Shore — just picture Cowley with an ocean. Kurt is currently trying to learn to sail in the bay. No ocean crossings are presently planned.

For the people of Cowley and the surrounding Big Horn Basin, Graham's accomplishments are a reminder that individuals from rural Wyoming communities can make lasting contributions far beyond their hometowns. His journey from Cowley to some of the nation's most respected historical institutions reflects not only personal achievement, but also the enduring strength of the values instilled by family, community, and heritage.

Today, Dr. Kurt Graham is recognized not only as a historian and educator, but also as a thoughtful steward of America's historical memory. His career serves as an inspiring example of how a young man from a small Wyoming town helped shape the national conversation about history, leadership, citizenship, and the American experience.