May Lillie was quite a gal! Here is
what I found about her on Wikipedia:
Mary E. "May" Manning (March 12, 1869 -
September 17, 1936)
Mary Manning was born on March 12, 1869 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Her parents were William R. and Mary Manning. May had two sisters,
Elmira and Elizabeth Manning and a younger brother, William B. Manning. May also
had three half brothers, Samuel, Edward and Albert Eager. Mary Manning married
Gordon William Lillie (who became famous as Pawnee Bill) in 1886 at her parent's
home in Philadelphia.
Gordon Lillie's wedding gift to his bride was a pony
and a Marlin .22 target rifle. A natural shot, May traveled the country as the
“Champion Girl Horseback Shot of the West.” Lillie starred his petite wife in
his Wild West shows as a sharpshooter and expert “lady” rider. She was one of
the first women to perform as an equestrian and shooter in American Wild West
Shows. While on tour in 1907, May gave a speech to women in Chicago, she said:
“Let any normally healthy woman who is ordinarily strong screw up her courage
and tackle a bucking bronco, and she will find the most fascinating pastime in
the field of feminine athletic endeavor. There is nothing to compare, to
increase the joy of living, and once accomplished, she’ll have more real fun
than any pink tea or theater party or ballroom ever yielded.”
Eventually May
and Gordon settled in Pawnee, Oklahoma on Blue Hawk Peak. They built a cabin,
established a buffalo herd, and, in 1910, and completed work on their Arts and
Crafts style home. In 1917, May and Gordon adopted a son whom they named Billy.
He died in an accident at the ranch in 1925. While her husband was on tour, May
was the hands-on manager of the Lillie buffalo ranch. She believed in the
buffalo’s importance to the heritage of the American West and to Plains Indian
culture. May was active in the Women’s Relief Corp and was a member of the
Eastern Star. She starred in “May Lillie, Queen of the Buffalo Ranch,” a film
produced at the ranch. In 1936 she and her husband celebrated their fiftieth
wedding anniversary in Taos, New Mexico. In September of that year they attended
a local celebration in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While driving back to their ranch that
night Gordon lost control of their vehicle. May died on September 17, 1936 as a
result of injuries sustained in the accident.
Photo is public domain, frame from Fuzzimo and texture from Pixel Dust Photo Arts.