Dorance Berry

A memorial service will be conducted on Friday, October 15, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church with The Reverend Trudy Robinson and The Reverend Richard Gilbert co-officiating. Military Honors will immediately follow the service. Cremation will take place at Schrader’s Sunset Park Crematory. Mr. Dorance Clayton (D.C.) Berry, 92, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, passed away Sunday, October 10, 2010, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center surrounded by his loving family. D.C. was born March 8, 1918, on his family’s homestead north of Cheyenne, a son of the late Jay C. and Mary (Bevan) Berry. D.C. attended a one-room country school with four other boys. He then attended Cheyenne High School and was a member of the ROTC. He graduated from high school in 1936, and then enrolled at the University of Wyoming for one year on a Union Pacific Scholarship. He was inducted into the United States Army on June 1, 1942, at F.E. Warren. He served in General Mark Clark’s 5th Army Field Artillery in North Africa and Italy during World War II. On February 19, 1944, he was severely wounded during one of the bloodiest battles of the Italian campaign in Monte Cassino, and he spent the next eleven months recovering in numerous hospitals. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Middle East Medal and numerous other battle stars. He was very proud of his military service and he was honorably discharged in 1944. For most of his life, D.C. was actively involved in the Hereford industry. During the 1920s and 1930s, he participated in 4-H where he showed fat steers and won two State Champion Livestock Judging Team titles. He was also actively involved in FFA. In 1935, he, his father and two brothers purchased some Registered Hereford heifers from F.F. Cykendall Ranch in Roggen, CO, which was their beginning in the purebred cattle business. Following his and his brothers return from the war, The Berry’s Herefords was officially incorporated and their ranch held an annual bull sale from 1941-1980, when the entire herd was sold and the corporation was dissolved. He married Dorothy (DuVall) Berry on December 4, 1946, at the First Baptist Church in Cheyenne, and they lived on the ranch north of Cheyenne until 1985 when they moved to town. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Cheyenne, the American Legion Post #6, the Disabled American Veterans, and The Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter #008. D.C. is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Dorothy Berry of Cheyenne; three sons, Don Berry and wife, Patty, of Cheyenne, Dave Berry of Horse Creek, WY, and Ty Berry and wife, Valerie, of Cheyenne; his daughter, Sue Ford and husband, Randy, of Cheyenne; his sister, Mary Wells and husband, Elton, of Torrington, WY; ten grandchildren, Ryan Ford, Travis Ford, T.C. Berry and wife, Kim, Jeff Berry, Brett Berry, Colby Berry, Karen Daily and husband, Miles, Cameron Berry, Joshua Berry and Hadley Berry; and two great-grandchildren, Tate and Cooper Berry. He is preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Jim and Marvin Berry. Expressions of sympathy in D.C.’s memory may be made to the Honor Flight Wyoming, P.O. Box 1143, Cheyenne, WY 82003, or to the Meals-on-Wheels, 2015 South Greeley Highway, Cheyenne, WY 82007.