COVER 1 - NMHBA SUMMER 2017 low res

y Pete Herrera
“Perhaps,” says Gary Sumpter now,
“LaRae could sense what was coming.”
Two weeks before LaRae Sumpter
passed away, the two were in the midst of
a normal day at their Cross5 Ranch in a
remote section of western New Mexico.
Normal, that is, until LaRae called out
to Gary in a tone strong enough to ensure
it got Gary’s attention.
Gary’s initial reaction was to think,
“What the hell did I do now?”
What followed instead was one of the
most touching moments in their long and
loving relationship.
“She grabbed me,” says Gary. “She
looked at me and said, ‘There’s only two
people in my life that I’ve ever loved. And
that was my dad and that is you. Gary
Sumpter, I love you.’ I said, honey, I love
you, too.’ And we hugged.”
“She never talked to me like that,” says
Gary. “I think she might have known what
was going to happen.”
In the movie “A River Runs Through It,”
Norman Maclean and his younger brother
Paul share an ecstatic moment with their father
after Paul lands a trophy trout he catches flyfishing
on the Blackfoot River in Montana.
But in the same moment, Norman
tempers their happiness with the realization
that life is so unstable, so fragile, so
fleeting, that good times can’t last forever.
As the narrator of the movie, Norman
proclaims: “And I knew just as surely, just
as clearly, that life is not a work of art, and
that the moment could not last.”
Not long after that scene on the river,
Paul Maclean is murdered.
So on that Sunday evening in early April
when Gary and LaRae accepted a dinner
invitation from their neighbors, Brett and
Vera Gastineau, the magic that created the
special moment they had shared just two
weeks earlier was about to vanish.
Gary, through tears, recalls how LaRae
had dressed up and ‘prettied up’ for the
occasion. How she had marinated the steaks
they would share with the their friends.
How LaRae had danced before dinner with
Brett’s dad and with Vera. How she made
sure Gary got a good portion of his favorite
side dish—pinto beans.
Gary sipped on a beer as he sat back and
watched LaRae light up the room as she
always did.
They had just about finished eating
when it happened.
“She just looked at me and just…,” said
Gary, unable to finish the words. “She didn’t
say nothing. She didn’t grab her chest or
fight. She was sitting there and it was like she
went to sleep. We thought she was choking
on her food. There was no response.”
Gary and Brett did all they could to
make sure LaRae wasn’t choking and Vera
called 911. The Sumpters’ ranch is in such
a remote area, that the nearest ambulance is
at least an hour away. They transported her
to a volunteer fire station a couple of miles
away, but it was too late.
“She never suffered, she never fought,”
says Gary. “I think she died almost instantly.”
44 New Mexico Horse Breeder