“Tiny” Goodrick Jackson just returned from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where there was a big celebration the town put on in remembrance of Nick Wilson. They didn’t give her the key to the city, but she has a realistic badge which says “Pony Express Messenger.”

Every year on Memorial Day weekend the descendants and family of Nick Wilson gather in the town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to honor the memories of “Uncle Nick.”

Tiny writes: “He was a great man: At the age of 12 he ran away from home to live with the Shoshone Indians. Chief Washakie was his blood brother, and he stayed there two years. Later he rode for the Pony Express until it closed and then he drove the Overland stage. He was the first white man to take a wagon train over what is now called the Teton Pass. At the bottom of this pass is the little town of Wilson, named after him.”

At the celebration, the family was honored with a covered wagon ride up the mountain and a barbecue dinner, plus riding in the parade downtown. Nick Wilson is buried in the South Park Cemetery with a brass statue of the Pony Express rider as a headstone. Tiny is proud to be his great-granddaughter!

Frieda Liams