Ryan Faye Sixkiller-Allen
Marriages
Travis Jones - May 2003
Eli Allen - September 11, 2012
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - January 18, 2012
Ryan Faye Sixkiller-Allen was born Dec. 31, 1979, to Bill and Carma Sixkiller. She was welcomed home by her big sister, Brandy.
Ryan started going to ropings with her mom, dad and sister soon after she was born. Her mom timed and her dad roped.
She had a lot of great memories of those younger years.
Around 18 months old, Ryan was diagnosed with her first cancer. She spent the next couple of years doing treatments in San Francisco, and then checkups at three months, and six months, and then annually for the next five to six years after that.
Carma and Bill made those trips into family vacations and they saw a lot of places and things that made great memories for them all.
After the checkups were complete, Ryan was a busy youngster with a love for horses and life. She spent her days in either the barn or the arena, riding and playing with her sister and all the other kids who came to the ropings with their parents.
She also learned to play the piano, and she played volleyball, but most of all she loved her horses.
She started tying goats, and then progressed to roping. She roped calves and team roped, and was very good at all
three events.
Ryan really liked tying goats — she tied them so fast you couldn’t even see her hands moving.
Everyone wanted her to show them how to tie goats her way, and she taught a lot of people, but only a few ever got all her secrets. She went to Little Britches rodeos, Colorado junior rodeos, high school rodeos, then on to college rodeos.
Ryan went to the National High School Finals Rodeo in 1997 and 1998. She won goat tying national reserve champion in 1997.
She received a scholarship to the University of Wyoming and began a great college career.
Then, in 1998-99, cancer struck again and ended her time at UW.
She took treatments, had surgeries, and then went back to school in Sterling to finish her associate’s degree in accounting, and also won the all around at the Sterling college rodeo.
Through all this, she never once complained or asked, “Why me?”
She returned to Craig and worked for Cross Mountain Ranches. Her duties included attending the national cattleman’s convention in Phoenix and San Antonio. Gathering and moving cattle along with her accounting really rounded this out.
Ryan worked for Herod Industries, The Memorial Hospital and also had various accounting jobs. Through all her treatments, surgeries and just feeling bad, she made her job and her family her priority. She never complained or “called in sick.”
In May 2003, Ryan married Travis Jones and to this union Hannah was born. Travis’ daughter, Issabelle, was very special to Ryan. Everyone in the family and all their friends were so excited about this baby girl, and Ryan was so proud of her.
Ryan lost her mom, Carma, to cancer three months after Hannah was born. Then continuing her battle with cancer, she went on to have numerous treatments and surgeries.
Hannah was diagnosed with cancer in May 2010 and began her battle with cancer treatments June 29. Ryan still never complained or felt sorry for herself.
She tried to make Hannah’s trips to the doctors and treatments as fun as possible, visiting the zoo, going to rodeos with the Western Wishes and school shopping. Even though she didn’t feel very good herself, she always pulled up her boots and got things taken care of.
Ryan met Eli Allen and they were married Sept. 11, 2010. They lived in Dixon, Wyo.
Eli and Hannah were the greatest joy and loves of her life, and she enjoyed every moment she could with them.
Ryan loved having any occasion to get together — Thanksgiving, birthdays, Christmas and Easter with her were always special and spent with the family.
One of Ryan’s favorite things were “get togethers,” either to rope or share an occasion but always to barbeque and visit.
Really she did not need an excuse — she was always planning the next get together before the last one was over.
Eli was always ready to go to a roping with Ryan or to the practice pen to run the chute. He introduced Ryan and Hannah to “rock crawling.” They went to Moab, Utah, several times with friends and she enjoyed that a lot.
Although she got out and walked a few times, she loved being with Eli and Hannah no matter what they were doing.
Ryan was living in Dixon, Wyo., at the time of her death. She joins in heaven her mother, Carma; grandfather Dick Sixkiller; grandmother Ellen Faye Sixkilller; grandfather Jack Leonard; and great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers.
Ryan is survived by her husband, Eli Allen; daughter Hannah Sixkiller Jones; father Bill Sixkiller; sister Brandy Sixkiller; nephews Daniel and JW Harding; brother-in-law John Harding; aunts Kathy (Lynn) Bower and Dana Peterson; uncle Bill (Jan) Leonard; cousins Sam and Skyler; uncle Ned Sixkiller; grandmother Joy (Fred) Blevins; mother and father-in-law Kim and Danny Allen; sister-in-law Shyla Allen; numerous friends; her dog Boone; and her horse Shaq.
A celebration of Ryan’s life was Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, at the Moffat County Fairgrounds indoor roping arena in Craig, with Gail Allen officiating.
Memorial donations may be made at the Bank of Colorado in memory of Ryan Sixkiller-Allen.
