“Sometimes what looks like an obstacle from an injury is actually a gift meant to move you in a different direction.”
Nori (Hoff) Stark
Mar – Apr 2024 • Vol 4, No 9
My name is Nori (Hoff) Stark. I live in Victor, MT with my husband, Rudy. I have led a very interesting, blessed life, and a challenging one! I grew up in a family of twelve people—seven brothers and two sisters. We all rodeoed, ranched, and farmed for many years together. Riding calves, steers, a long cow once, doing barrel and poles. All the special events came with bumps, bruises, stitches, scars and, of course, bragging rights if I beat any of my brothers in the same event. Buckles, money, and trophies were our winners.
I continued to rodeo with my husband and our three children, Dixie, Dillon, and Emmett until 2000. We ranched, raised Catahoula dogs, calved out plenty of heifers and many mama cows throughout the years. We raised feedlots full of steers and 70 plus horses that I handled from halter-breaking the colts, and put the first 10–20 rides on them. That’s lots of wear and tear on one’s back, arms, and legs!
Ranching comes with big expenses, not just in livestock or the dead stock, but with whatever Mother Nature can do to knock you down and whatever Old Man Winter can do to shut you down. Season of excitement, as we used to say, along with the injuries you might sustain on a ranch.
In 2005, I was kicked in the face by a 700-pound steer. The kick broke all the bones on the right side of my face except for my lower jaw, and I received 8 plates and 22 screws. Then on Thanksgiving Day, 2012, I was in a head-on collision with a 97-mile-an-hour impact as a passenger! A 16-year-old girl, driving on a two-lane, icy, snow-covered highway, lost control of her car, sliding into our lane. She hit us not once but four times, bouncing off our 24-foot trailer. We all survived the horrible accident. Thank you, Jesus!
A few years later, I was hit by a drunk driver as I walked across the street in Cody, Wyoming. A woman blew through the red light at 40 miles an hour and hit me, throwing me into her windshield with my neck hitting the roof, sending me 30+ feet in the air, then dropping me back down on the street. I remember being badly hurt, yet I felt a sense of calm and comfort, as I knew I would be OK. His presence was with me. And by the grace of God, I had no broken bones, just very beat up shoulders.
A year later my blood sugar fell very low, and I fell on my face, shattering my nose and hurting my neck. Clearly, I have definitely had my share of mishaps in this life. At 115 pounds and 64 years of age, my body was quite beat up.
In the fall of 2022, I saw an ad a