Campbell was last of a kind in Eagle Valley

Randy Campbell was a born sheep rancher. He grew up in a sheep ranching family, working beside his father, Ervin, and grandfather, Avery, on the Campbell Brothers ranch near Norwood, Colo. When middle school age, Randy was responsible for trailing hundreds of sheep down the highway from Redvale to Ophir. He was a hard worker who made a life-long career of the business he loved, managing sheep herds for several Colorado ranches before eventually starting his own ranch. Since the 1980s, Campbell was probably the most visible sheepman in the Eagle Valley, running herds of hundreds of woolly animals that summered on Red and White Mountain and wintered near the Utah-Colorado state line. “He was just a natural for it. In this age, he was a throw-back to the old days when there were really capable people around,” says Chris Jouflas, 83, a retired valley sheep rancher. Campbell subscribed to the “Code of the West,” unwritten rules of respect for land, fair play, loyalty, and hospitality. He was generous in sharing his way of life with friends who showed an interest and were willing to try hard. “Just don't weaken,” was Campbell's frequent advice. “It didn't matter whether we were creeping up a rutted dirt road with chains on all four tires, pulling a sheep camp up Red & White Mountain, or on horseback chasing an ewe out in the desert. He just didn't give up,” says Shaeffer. “He was the last of a breed that is gone out of the valley now. Randy was the exclamation point to the end of an era,” says Jouflas...read more