The Old Bison Robert Utley Remembered

By Bob Reece

Word travels fast when a great historian passes. Such is the case with our most esteemed American West historian, Robert Utley. He died June 7, 2022 at the age of 92 following complications from minor surgery. Utley’s passing has created a seismic shift in the annals of western historians.

The last time I saw Utley was February 24, 2006 when Joanne and I had dinner with him in Denver during the “Spirit of the West Awards” ceremony when Utley would receive the coveted “Spirit of the West” literary achievement award. With Utley was his wonderful wife, Melody, who also had an astounding career at the National Park Service. Before that last meeting, I would meet him in a variety of places over a period of 30 years. He always greeted you with a warm smile, and firm handshake. He was a gentle, giving man.

My relationship with Utley was mostly through Friends. At the 125th anniversary of the battle while at the battlefield, he willingly became a board member of Friends. In addition to Utley joining the board that busy weekend, so did Paul Hutton and Brian Dippie. The following Monday, June 25, 2001, Utley spoke at the Friends first symposium, “Little Bighorn Reflections”, when he reflected on his times working under Superintendent Edward Luce at the battlefield in the 1940s and 1950s.

Our phone conversations eventually were replaced by email because of his hearing loss. Utley attended some of our board meeting via phone, but those had to stop as well. In an email dated March 18, 2022 he stated he was confined to a wheelchair and his research was through his immense library of books and the internet. His days traveling in search of primary materials were over.

The last email I received from Bob was May 15, 2022. In it he wrote,
“Bob, I congratulate you on keeping the Friends alive. My last visit—and it will be the last—was 2001. Thus I was there on three anniversaries: 75th (1951), 100th (1976), and 125th (2001). Best wishes for a successful sojourn on Weir Point. Bob Utley”

Even when Bob knew his body was failing and it was inevitable his end was very near, he continued to pursue his passion of the American West. He was proudly writing his 26th book. The subject matter was General Sherman.
 

Jerome Greene

Bob Utley first entered my consciousness when I read his Custer and the Great Controversy while stationed in the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  I did not meet him in person until 1968, when he brought his family to the-then Custer Battlefield National Monument.  I met him again at the WHA meeting in Omaha in 1969, and yet again the following year at Custer Battlefield, when he attended my interpretive talk about the battle and kindly complimented me on my presentation.  By then, he had become to me something of a saint.  He proved “the” pivotal influence in my NPS career, and time and again supported my several attempts for permanent status.  I am certain that he urged Merrill Mattes to hire me for the new Denver Service Center in 1973, through which I became a “permanent” research historian in NPS. 
 

Bob always--always--supported me, and we became fast friends forever.  I recall sending him a copy of Evidence and the Custer Enigma when it appeared (right after I joined NPS in 1973), and he “blue enveloped” me a congratulatory and praiseful letter. I sent him copies of each of my books, too.  Regarding my book on Wounded Knee, Bob extolled my work in an email, terming it “without question the best book you have ever written and the best treatment of Wounded Knee ever published.  Henceforth, American Carnage will remain for years as the definitive treatment of the subject . . . .  I was super-impressed with the detail and with the extensive documentation.”  (He certainly didn’t have to do that--but he did--that was Bob.)  This from the man whose own book on Wounded Knee (as well as his entire career) had been such a major influence on my own trajectory in my joining NPS in a permanent capacity. 

He was a great person and a magnificent historian, and so worthy of our adulation and remembrance today.  Bob and I frequently exchanged emails through the years (all of which I retain), and my last from him was received on May 12.  Through my own life, I was flattered to know him--now I regard it as an amazing honor.  For all of the physical adversity and setbacks that he endured in life, may he now rest in peace forever.    

Paul Hedren

Bob's passing hit us all hard.  You will hear from our whole class of his mentoring and encouragement, whether in our professional or personal lives, and it truly marked us and certainly did me.  But what I will remember best about Bob was his engaging smile, that affable laugh, and a true warmth expressed throughout a long friendship. 

I recall first meeting him at Custer Battlefield on the occasion of the 100th anniversary and in fact have a signed-on-the-spot copy of the speech he gave that day.  We sparred some in our later working years with the NPS, me the ardent advocate for reconstructing Fort Union Trading Post, and he the agency's chief historian and tireless champion of a NPS that no longer reconstructed things but devoted its resources and energies to "real" things.  Day-long we'd parse the differences and defend our points of view till we were each blue in the face, but then, at the end of a summit, enjoy a good drink, a dinner, and the renewal of a gracious friendship (with inevitably a good Custer story somewhere in the mix). 

Our exchanges actually increased considerably in our retirement years.  I'd seek his opinion on this or that, or to review some bit of a composition, or ask a favor or for an always desired blurb, and would unfailingly receive a thoughtful reply.  Along the way he'd hear of my projects and I'd hear of his.  We had just such an exchange no more than three weeks ago.  I guess dear General Sherman sits wanting....  

The fraternity keeps shrinking.

Mike Donahue

The last time I saw Bob and his lovely wife was when he lived in Georgetown, Texas, and he was kind enough to accept a dinner invitation to my house. We had a wonderful evening and he signed the many books he had written which I had in my library. He was a true scholar and gentleman and finally before the evening was over he asked, “well is there anything you want to know about Custer?” Then we dove into a discussion for the remainder of the evening.

It meant a lot when he on occasion would write about my timed rides and research on the field in a positive note. He was a great researcher and writer. He will be missed.

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