Lee Markholt

Lee wore his heart on his sleeve and you never doubted where you stood with him.

He was the eternal optimist. “I’m like that Chris LeDoux song, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have driven so fast!

Celebrating the Life & Our Eternal Love for Lee Markholt

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Copper Gables Barn 124 First St. E. Roy, WA 98580

Use designated parking only.

1 to 3 pm wild stories & fond memories shared with videographer & whiskey toast to Lee, followed by food & water provided by the family. BYOB must be given to the bartender for service before toast or imbibing.

4:15 to 7:15 pm band and dancing.

Surrounded by his loved ones Lee Markholt passed away at his home on October 3, 2020, due to complications from an embolic stroke, he was 81. Lee was born in Seattle on February 15, 1939, to the late Ottilie (Kepner) Markholt and the late Bob Dombroff.

Lee was a dirt-poor kid with big dreams of becoming a professional cowboy. He wanted to compete in ProRodeo, breed and raise his own Quarter Horses and cattle, and be respected by his peers as a top professional cowboy and competitor.

In High School, he was active in theatre and won an acting award for his performance at a Washington State-wide competition at PLU. He continued to dabble in acting and had supporting roles, in the movie JW Coop, and the series Northern Exposure.

He worked as a logger, set up and ran a horse riding stable at Ft. Lewis, worked construction, was a proud member of the IWW, and was a lifelong union supporter and activist for worker rights and equality.

Lee worked as a cowboy on ranches in Northern California and for Christensen Brothers Rodeo Co. (CB) for many years. He was a proud PRCA (ProRodeo Cowboys Association) Gold Card Member. The pinnacle of his rodeo career was placing 3rd in the world standings for the 1970 National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in bull riding. Lee’s biggest accomplishments for combined event awards in bull riding and steer wrestling were; 3rd in the 1966 North Star Circuit Finals, and 10 All-Around Champion Cowboy Awards from the 1970s-to 1980s. Some of the biggest wins of his bull riding career were winning the 1970 Golden State Finals, and the Columbia River Circuit Champion at age 39, 2nd place in the Circuit in 1976 and 1979, and 3rd place in 1980 the year he retired from bull riding at the age of 41.

He was the first to ride many of the top-ranked NFR eliminator bulls of his era that had previously gone unridden. He competed and stayed primarily on the West Coast and NW because he was a single father. Lee worked as a judge for the PRCA, BRO and PBR, taught a bull riding school in Olympia, WA, and volunteered to go into schools to educate kids and teachers about rodeo.

Two of his greatest honors in ProRodeo were after he retired. The first was in 2019, before the NFR World of Rodeo Reunion and Gold Card Gathering, he was named one of the 50 best bull riders of all time for the 50th Year Anniversary of Legendary Bull Riders, and the following year in 2020, he was inducted into the Idaho Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Lee considered himself a steward of the land and animals, loved organic gardening and farming, and was a pioneer in the National Certified Organic Food Program (NOP). He made a living from being a PRCA bull rider and steer wrestler, but bull riding was what he called his, “bread and butter” and provided the money to build The Meat Shop of Tacoma with his late brother Bob. Lee helped set the standards for the NOP and had the first Certified Organic meat shop in the US. He was invited throughout Washington State to speak and help educate about the importance of Certified Organic agriculture and meat production and was interviewed many times for KING 5 News and PBS for his knowledge in the Certified Organic industry. Lee also donated meat and dog bones to food banks, animal rescues, and organizations, and, NW Trek wildlife park.

He bred and raised Quarter Horses for over 60 years, and trained and raced them for 30-plus years. His horses and he won many races, set track records for speed indexes, and won awards from the AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association) and the OQHRA (Oregon Quarter Horse Racing Association). A few AQHA highlights were Superior Race Horse Breeder, Superior Race Horse, and High Point Champion. His last great accomplishments were from his filly Louisana Bunny. She won the Firecracker Futurity Championship and became what is called Black Type, a great honor for AQHA horses, she also won The John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship and qualified to race at The Downs at Albuquerque in the Bank of America Challenge Championships for the whole US where she placed 7th.

Lee’s biggest love of his life was his family and close-knit group of friends. He will be remembered for his unconditional love, honesty, compassion, capacity for forgiveness, and gentle nature.

Instead of flowers, the family asks that you donate in Lee’s name to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund https://www.justincowboycrisisfund.org your local food bank, or animal shelter.