Emmett “Mick” McCauley, 90, of Boulder passed away May 6, 2019 at Bear Grass Suites Assisted Living in Boulder, Montana.
Mick was born in Helena, MT, on December 17, 1928, the third of five children, to Edward A. and Elizabeth (Vollmer) McCauley. Growing up on a cattle ranch in the Boulder Valley working with horses and cattle at an early age would become a lifelong passion. Whether workhorse or saddle horse, he had a natural understanding of their potential and how to get the best from them. By the mid-1940s he was helping various neighbors with moving cattle, feeding and haying. On one occasion he, his brother Tom, and Harry Larson, were given the task of trailing several hundred yearlings from the Valley through the mountains west of Boulder to Elliston, for Mike Quinn then riding back.
Mick attended local schools, graduating from Jefferson County High School in 1947 as the only boy in a class of 9, his description, “the rose among the thorns.” He participated in high school football and basketball. After graduation, he worked on the Ted Knowles ranch at the north end of the Valley using workhorses to hay and feed. As an alumnus, he rarely missed a home basketball game throughout the years until 2018.
