TORRINGTON – It was a homecoming over the weekend for Loren Splittgerber, and other members of the graduating classes from Torrington High School.

Moving to Prairie Center Community from Nebraska while in the first grade, Splittgerber with his mother, father and sister came to live on his grandfather’s homestead. There were around 40 children in the school. 

“We went to school in Prairie Center through the 10th grade I didn’t go to Torrington until the 11th and 12th grade,” Splittgerber said. 

Splittgerber and his sister each stayed with friends and then had an apartment while finishing high school. Prairie Center is 35 miles north of Lingle, their ranch was six miles east and four miles north of Jay Em.  

Jay Em is a community located half way between Lingle and Lusk. What is left of Jay Em is only a historical site today.

 “My dad traded with the owner of the hardware store who also owned the grocery store, stone works and the bank,” Splittgerber said. “One person, Mr. Harris, did it all.” 

There is a campground near there where Splittgerber remembered studying 4-H. His mother and father were leaders in the 4H and the Torrington High School football team had a preseason camp in Jay Em for many years. 

He went back to the ranch between his junior and senior years for the summer, then he went to ROTC summer camp and worked at Estes Park for six months in the hotels. 

“I worked at Craigs Lodge, which is an historical hotel,” he said. “We worked for food and board, living off the tips and I also ran a bingo game once a week. 

“I got to keep half of the winnings. I would take kids for horseback rides, pick up dry cleaning just do different things,” Splittgerber said. “It was interesting, there were kids from all over, high school and college kids.”

After graduating from Torrington High School, Splittgerber went to college in Northern Colorado at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins. His sister also went to CSU, where they had an uncle who taught chemistry. 

Splittgerber  was undecided and said that he was going to become an architect. But his years in ROTC came back to him.

“In ROTC you were Army or Air Force,” Splittgerber thought. “We went to the gym for an assembly. The Army and Air Force told us what they did and I liked the blue uniform more than the gray uniform so I went Air Force.” 

At the end of his second year in school he got to go on a couple of flights. He enjoyed his time in the air. Splittgerber graduated in 1962 and joined the Air Force, where he was a pilot for five years. After graduation, he wanted to go into active duty as soon as possible. 

He was sent to Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, here they were getting the first T-38 supersonic trainers and Splittgerber was in one of the first classes. The T-38 is still used by the Air Force and held the climbing record to 40,000 feet in 90 seconds. Splittgerber graduated flight school and went to B-52’s, flying them for his Air Force career.  

After leaving the Air Force he found a job with Western Airlines. When Delta merged with Western Airlines he then went to work for A.G. Edwards Investments for the next 15 years. Retiring he worked with synthetic turf testing, which is used for athletic fields. 

Splittgerber’s mother was one of the charter members and officer of the Cowbells, a women group that promotes beef production. His mother came up with the idea of the Brand Room located today in the Goshen County Rendezvous Center. She searched for the owners of Wyoming Brands in Goshen County, including the family brand his grandfather used the Lazy HS for Hugo Splittgerber. His sister and mother also published books about the brands.

Splittgerber’s father bred the first Simmental cattle from Switzerland in Wyoming through artificial insemination. The Simmental made a major change in the appearance of Herefords. His father would sell calves to 4-H and FFA members. The members came from all over to purchase calves. 

In the late seventies his father took a heifer to the Houston Livestock Show in Texas. The heifer was named All-American Simmental, earning $10,000. Splittgerber’s parents were awarded the John Bruegger Memorial Award for their dedication and contribution to the Simmental breed.