Nellie Snyder Yost

Nebraska Sod House

Nellie Snyder Yost Was born in a sod house in
Northwest Lincoln County and grew up on her
parents ranch in the beautiful Sandhill lake country
of McPherson County, Nebraska.

1 1/2 year old Nellie

Daughter of Bert (Pinnacle
Jake) and Grace McCance Snyder. Graduated (valedictorian) from Maxwell High School in 1923. Taught one year in a rural McPherson County school riding horseback, six miles a day, to her school.
After spending two years in Salem, Oregon, where she worked in the Miller
Dep't store office.

She married David Harrison Yost in 1929 and returned to
Maxwell, Nebraska. She has one son, Thomas Snyder Yost,
four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
(Now 11 great grandchildren and 8 great great grandchildren.)

She wrote the Fort McPherson Centennial Pageant, produced in North Platte in 1963, and
was Grand Marshal of the Old Glory Blowout that same fall, the only woman to date to be
chosen for that honor. Appointed a Colonel in the Cody Scouts of North Platte in 1965. Has
been a member of the Board of Directors of the Nebraska State Historical Society since
1966 and served as president of the Board from October, 1974, to October, 1976. She is
also a trustee of the State Historical Society Foundation.

She is a past president and life member of the Nebraska Writers Guild and was Secretary-
Treasurer of the western writers of America, Inc., from 1972 to 1979. Is a charter member
of the North Platte Buffalo Bill Corral of Westerners (Secretary 1969-1970) and an
honorary member of the Omaha Westerners Corral. She is a member of Chapter GO,
P.E.O. of North Platte and a State and National Cow Belle.

She was appointed to the Fort Robinson Centennial Commission by Governor Exon in
1973, and was a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission from 1974 to 1981;
was appointed by the Nebraska Legislature to the Poet Laureate Commission in March
of that same year (commission now expired), Was first listed in WHO'S WHO IN
AMERICA in 1972 and was the recipient of the Nebraska optometric Society's "Eyes
on Nebraska" award in 1970. In 1972 was selected Beta Sigma Phi's first "First Lady of
the Year" in North Platte and made an Honorary International Member of that organization
that same year.

Golden Saddleman Award

She received the Golden Saddleman in June, 1975, highest award
given by the Western Writers of America for bringing Dignity and
Honor to the History and Legends of the West. Was made an
honorary member of the Buffalo Bill Stamp Club of North Platte in
1976. Appointed to the board of directors of Westerners
International of Tucson in 1977 and awarded the WRANGLER trophy by the Cowboy Hall of Fame
in Oklahoma City for BUFFALO BILL, the best
non-fiction book published in 1979. Re the same
book was interviewed by the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL and
invited to New York to appear on GOOD-MORNING AMERICA with David Hartman.

Western Heritage Award

Edited Bartlett Richards' book,
NEBRASKA SANDHILLS
CATTLEMAN, published by the State Historical Society in
1960. Also edited WOMAN WHO MADE THE WEST,
and wrote one chapter for it. The book was published
by Doubleday in 1980. Wrote foreword for TRAILS OF
YESTERDAY, reprint of 1920 book published in 1980
by Nebraska University Press. Edited BACKTRAILING
AN OLD COWBOY, to be published in 1982 by
Nebraska University Press.

Have read papers at the Madison, South Dakota History
Conference in 1980 and 1982. Won the 1979 Society of Midland Authors
award for the best biography (BUFFALO BILL) published in 1979. Accept the
award at the awards program held in the Drake Hotel, Chicago, in June, 1980.
Travel extensively giving lectures and programs in many states, as well as Nebraska.

Was appointed an Honorary Colonel in the Nebraska National Guards in 1980 and
have been a member of the Little Big Horn Association since 1978. She is a Baptist
and a Republican.