Page 79 - Speedhorse June 2020

Elizabeth Logan discovered her love for Quarter Horse racing when she was well past retirement age.
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Some of us are born with a love for horses; some develop it later in life. Elizabeth Logan is one of the latter. “I was always afraid of the
horses,” she says.
Yet when her late husband, George W., faced
open heart surgery in 1994, she did what any farm girl does: She rolled up her sleeves and faced the challenge head-on. And in so doing, she discovered her passion.
THE BACK STORY
Born in Smithland, Iowa, not far from Sioux City, Elizabeth Logan grew up on a dairy farm in Onamia, Minnesota. She graduated from Onamia High School, then went to the big
city — Minneapolis, about 85 miles south — to
work and take night courses in bookkeeping and office work.
In March 1947, she headed west to California with a friend, whose sister wanted company while her husband
was away in the Navy. It was there that she met George W. Logan, who’d
recently served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, at a swimming pool.
On Christmas of that year, they were married in Reno, Nevada.
Nine and a half years later, they decided to move closer to their
families. “My people still lived in
by Diane Rice
Minnesota, so I wanted to go to Kansas City, about halfway between them and George W’s people in Oklahoma,” Elizabeth says. “But his sister lived in Tulsa, so he wanted to go there. He won out.”
They lived in Tulsa, where George W. worked for Douglas Aircraft, until they moved to the 320-acre Logan Ranch in Haskell, Oklahoma,
in 1970, where Elizabeth still lives. “He had beef cattle and raised Quarter Horses,” she says. “He loved his horses.” So much, in fact, that George W. was honored in 2018 as an AQHA 50-Year Legacy Breeder, having registered at least one foal a year for 50 consecutive years.
OVERCOMING HER FEAR
While George W. was busy building a breeding empire that included World and National Champions, Elizabeth enjoyed a 45-year career as office manager and secretary for Sawyer Manufacturing Company in Tulsa. She retired in 2008 following a hip replacement surgery that yielded less-than-optimal results.
It was during that time that George W’s 1994 open heart surgery led her to her new passion. With George W. confined to the house, Elizabeth was faced with having to care for his barn full of studs with the help of a high school senior who helped her clean stalls and do other chores after school. She
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