Lynn, 9 months old.
Lynn at Eastertime.
Lynn in 1957.
Lynn Marie Pfeiffer Thomas passed on August 25, 2009 in Pinedale, Wyoming with her daughters and husband at her side. Lynn was born November 20, 1939, in Los Angeles, California. Her family moved to Paradise Valley, Nevada when she was in grade school. Lynn has been an artist all her life and has always been fascinated by color and light. Lynn's passion for drawing was so great that, as a child, she made arrangements with her teachers so if she finished all her assignments carefully, they would give her drawing paper and allow her to sketch until the school session ended for the day.
Lynn graduated from Basic High School, Henderson, Nevada in 1957 and married Mike Hahn. They had 3 daughters, one of whom passed away as an infant. After her divorce, Lynn worked at Sears in window displays and as a secretary at Titanium Metals. During this time Lynn & the girls usually spent weekends on camping and exploring adventures in a VW bus.
She met Joe Thomas in 1962, who was a technical engineer at the Nevada Test Site and in the summer of 1968 Lynn and her girls came to his Big Sandy Lodge in the Wind River Mountains to cook, clean, pack and guide trips into the wilderness. She married Joe on December 2, 1969. In her words "I ran the Lodge as the 'boss' for the next two decades as a hunting and fishing outfitter. I learned the whole gamut of this business from bookings to taking out the dudes, every facet of caring for horses, the buildings and equipment, keeping supplies available and managing the employees. I felt these years were the best of my life. These experiences became rich inspirations for my paintings ..." Lynn worked in oils, watercolor, pencil and pastels, portraying with loving accuracy the cowboy at work, horses, the majesty of the mountains, the wildlife, the sheepherder, a rancher's wife feeing the chickens from a coffee can, a pioneer woman hanging out the wash.
Lynn and Joe sold the Lodge in 1983 and moved to Joe's family ranch at the base of the beautiful Muddy Canyon, Boulder, Wyoming, just north of the Big Sandy River, where she continued her prestigious art career. Lynn's passion for photography was astounding and she made over 70,000 slides before she switched to digital. Lynn has always loved to write and many of her stories and poems have been published. Her daily blog had many devoted followers. She was working on extensive memoirs when she passed away from pancreatic cancer that had been diagnosed in October, 2007. Her daughters have committed to finish her memoirs.
Lynn was a member of Women Artists of the American West, Wyoming Artists Association, Sublette County Artists Guild, Mixed Media (a Pinedale art group) and the LDS Church. She was named Grand Wyoming Artist in 2000 and has consistently won top honors for her paintings. People around the world have been inspired by Lynn's love, kindness, spirit-filled character, art, poetry, humor, and sense of adventure.
Preceding her in death were her parents, Eugene and Genevie Pfeiffer, her sister Barbara and an infant daughter, Michelle. Survivors include her husband, Joe Thomas of Boulder, Wyoming, daughter Beverly Roberts and her husband Brent, daughter Debbie Cummings and her husband Curtis, 4 grandchildren: Shane, Justin, Tayler and Clayton, as well as 2 great-grandchildren Samuel and Colton, Sister Diana Pfeiffer, all of whom reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sister Gloria Stevens of Green Valley, Arizona, in addition to multiple neices and nephews, and her dogs Sparky and Raven. The family wishes to express their gratitude for the outpouring of love and support. No service will be held at this time. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Sublette County Artists' Guild, c/o Gina Feltner, PO Box 2151, Pinedale, Wyoming or Museum of the Mountain Man, PO Box 909, Pinedale, Wyoming. Special thanks to the Sublette County Artists' Guild for portions of this article.
