09/25/2026
The Montana Pro Rodeo Hall & Wall of Fame is proud to recognize Ray Randall as the 2026 Great Montana Veterinarian honoree. He will be honored during our annual scholarship fundraiser banquet at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
Ray Randall grew up in southeastern Montana, in Miles City and Broadus. Medicine ran in his family. His father and grandfather were both physicians, and by the time he was ten years old, he was tired of being asked whether he planned to follow them into the profession. He decided early that he needed to find his own path.
That path led him south to Fort Collins and Colorado State University in 1965. He finished veterinary school in 1971, then headed to the University of Minnesota for a year as a large animal surgery intern before returning to Colorado. The Front Range west of Golden never quite felt like home. Or maybe it was the other way around. His eyes drifted back north toward the country he knew.
A veterinarian from Miles City offered him a position. It was a reasonable option. His uncle in Broadus, Doug Randall, gave him counsel worth sitting with. He pointed out that Ray would be the third generation of Randalls working in that part of Montana and that, along with whatever goodwill came with the family name, he would likely inherit a fair share of old grievances accumulated across three generations of doctors, uncles, and the complicated machinery of small-town life. He suggested Ray consider going somewhere else for a few years first.
Doug generally gave good advice, so Ray took him at his word. He began looking around.
Word came that Dick LaFrance in Bridger was thinking about retiring. Ray went to see him. When Ray asked what the work was like, Dick gave him an answer that was honest, unvarnished, and largely unprintable. The gist: if you weren’t getting kicked, bitten, or struck, you were covered in something you would rather not be covered in. Those are not the same words he used. It was exactly the kind of work Ray had been looking for.
Ray arrived in Bridger in 1973 and never left. Over the next forty-plus years, the work lived up to Dick’s description. There was no shortage of colics, cows with calving trouble, wire cuts, and dogs hit on the highway. There were long hours next to a squeeze chute and, on occasion, banged-up cowboys, which falls within veterinary scope because, as Baxter Black observed, cowboys are only partly human.
Ray was fortunate that people came from a long way to let him help their horses. Bill McNeill tells a story about pulling into the clinic and seeing trailers from Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas lined up outside. Ray never took that for granted.
Beyond the clinic, Ray was fortunate to serve in ways that took him further than Carbon County. He served on the FEI Veterinary Committee for four years, and his work as a veterinarian for long-distance equine endurance events took him from Montana to competitions across the country and to places around the world he never expected to see.
Ray taught at the Rocky Mountain College Equestrian Program for twenty years. He still enjoys hearing from those students when they succeed in the horse and cattle business.
He served as president of the Montana Veterinary Medical Association, helped with the Bridger Youth Rodeo for a number of years, and served as the on-call veterinarian for the Chase Hawks Rodeo.
But the part of Ray’s life he is most proud of has Marilyn’s name on it as much as his own. She has been involved with AQHA for fifty years, has judged for more than twenty-five of them, and was named the AQHA Professional Horsewoman in 2019.
Their son, Matt, was AQHYA President in 1998 and now runs an equine veterinary clinic in Texas. Their daughter, Erin, showed horses through high school and built her own international consulting practice.
None of this was a solo effort. There were colics in the night, heifers in trouble, and more than a few family events Ray missed along the way. Marilyn and the kids absorbed all of that without complaint. Ray credits them for allowing him to spend more than forty years in the profession he loved.
Ray has been fortunate to work alongside good people every day. In his own words:
“Thank you for your support, and for the recognition of this profession. It has been the right kind of life, and I wouldn’t change anything.”
🌟 The Montana Pro Rodeo Hall & Wall of Fame scholarship program carries the spirit of service forward by helping Montana high school rodeo athletes pursue higher education while continuing to compete in rodeo. Help us invest in the next generation of Montana rodeo by supporting the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall & Wall of Fame Scholarship Fund. Visit montanaprorodeo.org
