In 1910, W.R. and Mai Coe purchased Col. William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Irma Lake Lodge in Wyoming, one of the country's great ranches. By this time three generations of Americans had read of Buffalo Bill Cody’s exciting adventures in Ned Buntline’s Dime Novels, and the world fell in love with the American West. Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin became a haven for cattle raising and big game hunting. Wyoming artist and land conservationist A.A. Anderson first introduced Mr. Coe to Col. Cody at his Palette Ranch in 1908. “Triple A” Anderson’s ranch was a noted gathering place for sportsmen, writers, newspapermen and artists, many of which were mutual friends of the Coes. Mai Rogers Coe and William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody on the steps of Lake Irma Lodge circa 1915. The Coe family spent summers at Cody’s former ranch atop Carter Mountain. The ranch abutted Shoshone National Forest where there were riding trails to be enjoyed and overlooked Lake Irma that teemed with trout. Coe later purchased Cody’s TE Ranch as well as Anderson’s Palette Ranch, the Greybull Ranch and Hoodoo Ranch among others. On the eve of World War II, W.R. Coe owned over 200,000 acres of Wyoming land used for raising cattle, thoroughbred racehorses and feed crops as well as hunting, fishing, camping and riding. As an adult Robert Douglas Coe remembered the week Buffalo Bill spent with the Coes at Lake Irma Lodge in 1915 as “One of the big thrills of my boyhood.” It is this love of and thrill in the West that created a Cody-Coe connection spanning generations. W.R. Coe beside his mount in the Big Horn Basin, circa 1935. When “Buffalo Bill” Cody died in 1917, the country mourned a national hero and the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association was born. The Cody Enterprise credits BBMA benefactors W.R. Coe and Colonel Arthur Little of J.J. Little & Co. for writing to sculptress Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and convincing her to accept a commission to build a memorial in Cody. Having met the legendary scout as a young child, Whitney accepted enthusiastically and in 1924 completed a heroic equestrian statue. Buffalo Bill - The Scout stands in front of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which opened in 1927 in a small log cabin. Today, the BBHC is a world-class center for the study of the American West that includes the Buffalo Bill Museum, Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum and the McCracken Research Library. W.R. Coe was an early donor to the BBMA and after his death, the Coe Foundation continued to support the museum with such notable gifts as the (Frederick) Remington Studio Collection. Coe also expressed his love of the West through gifts to his adopted land, including Cody’s first paved streets and medical center, and a new library for the University of Wyoming. In 1948, the William Robertson Coe Collection of Western Americana, containing original diaries, manuscripts, letters and photographs depicting the pioneers’ struggles, was presented to Yale University. Margaret “Peg” Shaw Coe has been a member of the board of the BBMA for over 35 years, serving as chairman from 1974 - 1997. Both of Mrs. Coe’s parents were early board members of the BBMA and owners of The Cody Enterprise, a paper started by Buffalo Bill in 1899. Peg married Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe, the Coes’ youngest son, in 1943. Henry served on the board from 1951 until his death in 1966 when Peg resumed his role. Today, their son Henry H.R. Coe, Jr. continues the family tradition of involvement in the BBMA and commitment to the preservation of Western history and culture.