ROCK SPRINGS — During Patriot Night at the Red Desert Roundup Rodeo, the family of fallen U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum will receive a portrait painting of Rylee as an everlasting gift.
The committee directors for the Red Desert Roundup Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming, in association with the Wyoming Peace Officers Association (WPOA) and the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), announced that Patriot Night during the rodeo on Friday, July 29 will feature the fathers of two fallen Wyoming service members in a one-of-a-kind military tribute to U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum and his family.
McCollum, 20, of Jackson Hole was one of 13 service members and nearly 170 Afghan civilians who were killed during a suicide bombing near the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. McCollum was a 2019 graduate of Jackson High School, who fulfilled a lifelong dream after graduation by enlisting in the Marines at just 18-years-old.
In October of last year, WPOA, in partnership with University of Wyoming Athletics, surprised the McCollum family with a trip to War Memorial Stadium in Laramie for a VIP-experience at the Military Appreciation Day football game.
During halftime at the game, WPOA executive board member, and SCSO deputy, Jason Mower, and WPOA executive board member, and Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle, presented Rylee’s father, Jim, his sisters, Roice and Cheyenee, Rylee’s wife, Gigi, and Rylee’s daughter, Levi Rylee Rose, who was born just weeks after Rylee’s death, with a framed letter telling the story of Vietnam veteran and Gold Star father, John Phelps, of Cody, Wyoming, and his son, Chance Phelps, who also served the Marines and was killed in action in April 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In the letter, WPOA again surprised the McCollum family by letting them know that Chance’s dad, John, now a world-renowned Western artist and bronze sculptor, had agreed to craft a custom, oil-on-canvas, portrait painting of Rylee as an everlasting gift to the McCollum family, and that when asked by Mower about the possibility of doing so, Mr. Phelps described the opportunity as an “honor” and as “a labor of love.”
“This whole thing from start to finish has been in the works for almost a year now,” Grossnickle said. “Our jaws dropped when we held this painting in our hands for the first time. It’s literally a priceless work of art, and that was pretty overwhelming for us.”
Mower went on to explain that he has since become good friends with Jim, so when he reached out to tell him that he finally had the painting in hand, both Mower and McCollum instantly knew that presenting the painting needed to become its own event in order to make sure that Rylee’s sacrifice, his memory, and his legacy lives on.
“When we started spitballing back and forth, we immediately identified the rodeo in Rock Springs as the perfect Wyoming venue to do justice to the magnitude of the occasion that the presentation of this painting deserves,” Mower said.
Mower reached out to Phelps to see if he would be willing to attend the presentation and he was happy to. Next, the sheriff’s office obtained presented the idea to the Red Desert Roundup Rodeo Committee. The rodeo committee then voted unanimously to host the presentation of the painting on Patriot Night at the rodeo.
“As an organization, obviously we’re pro-rodeo, but we’re also pro-patriotism, pro-family, and pro-prayer,” Rodeo president, Travis Garrison said. “We are humbled and honored to make Patriot Night at the Red Desert Roundup Rodeo home to such a special and historic occasion.”
Garrison said the rodeo will also have U.S. Marine Inspector and Instructor Staff from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment out of Salt Lake City, Utah as part of the ceremony during an unveiling of the painting.
“When you’re talking about a fallen Marine, news definitely travels fast, and these Marines will be an integral part of the night’s festivities,” Garrison said.
