JOSEPH – If you’ve ever trailed cattle with identical twins Sharon Gibson and Sherry VanLeuven, you’ll find out quickly they’re not just along for the ride.

They work.

That’s not to say they don’t enjoy themselves. The pair just happen to take their pleasure seriously.

“If a person needs help, you can’t go wrong with those gals,” said Wes Patton, longtime cattleman. “They’re top quality.”

With a chuckle, he adds, “Before I retired, they worked circles around me. It made me feel ashamed of myself.”

Todd Nash, who manages the Marr Flat Cattle Co. and who, in springtime, drives 600 cow-calf pairs from the upper Wallowa Valley to Big Sheep Canyon, claims he couldn’t do the 30-mile, three-day drive without them.

Patton and Nash express the same sentiments shared by other local ranchers including Duane Voss, Jim Dunham, Karl Patton, Hank Bird and Doug and Janie Tippett, who have had the good fortune of Sherry and Sharon’s help in moving or gathering cows and calves.

“We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t enjoy it,” the two reverberated. “Horses have been our companions all our lives, and trailing cows not only gives us a chance to offer a helping hand, but also the opportunity to ride, and be out there in Wallowa County’s great outdoors.”

The cowboy way comes natural to the pair.

Born in Sisters, the twins’ childhood years were spent in the high desert country near Bend on a 20-acre farm in a tiny town named Tumalo. Along with their older brother David, they did chores and helped their dad, Roland Gridley, in the horse arena he’d built on the place.

“Although Dad logged for a living, and worked on ranches, he was a down right old-fashioned cowboy,” said Sherry. “He loved to rodeo.”

Their father, nicknamed Corky because of his large, wiry build, worked as a pickup man for the bronc riders, and he was also into roping and bulldogging. The twins followed in his footsteps.

“He definitely left his mark in our blood,” said Sharon. “We never miss a rodeo, and that goes for the national finals in Las Vegas, too.”

Sitting around Sharon’s dining room table they reminisced about those early years, relating to a bit of amateur stunt riding, barrel racing, 4-H and a story in which they, at the age of 9, helped drive 1,000 cattle from Frenchglen to Burns.

“The family moved to Joseph when Sherry and I were in eighth grade. Dad got a job on the divide working for Jim Dunham’s father,” Sharon said. “He’d often spoke of Wallowa County being the prettiest place he’d ever visited, and that he wanted to live there someday.”

The Gridleys spent a freezing winter on the Dunham spread – described by an old-timer as where fence posts are dimples in the snow – before moving to town.

“Water holes froze, and we melted snow for the stock,” Sharon recalls. “A team of horses and sleigh were our only means out to the highway.”

The twins made an impression on others.

“The girls were taught good work habits from their mom, Thelma Gridley, who cooked at the Chief Joseph Hotel,” said Shannon Towers, Gibson’s neighbor.

A waitress at the restaurant, she remembers the two teenagers coming in on Sundays to wash windows, dust and vacuum.

“They made the place shine.”

Those same work ethics and values learned in their youth still apply to everything the women undertake in their life today.

Known as the Gridley twins during their school years at Joseph, they participated in sports, double-dated and worked together in summer jobs. They honed their horsemanship skills, and in 1956, the pair, outfitted in sparkling turquoise, reigned as princesses on the Chief Joseph Day Court. They also rode Harley Tucker’s white horses in the rodeo’s grand entry performance.

In 1961, two years after graduating from high school, the two young women married their high school sweethearts. Sherry became Mrs. Duane VanLeuven, and accompanied her husband to the Virginia U.S. Naval base. Three three months later Sharon changed her name to Mrs. David Gibson and traveled to Panama to join Dave at the U.S. Army base.

“The separation was difficult,” says Sherry. “We’d never been apart.”

“I remember when we were kids,” Sharon said. “Sherry had to stay in the hospital overnight, and I raised such a fuss they gave me a bed too.”

Now, nearly a half-century later, the twins – having successfully structured their lives around their own individual family – continue to maintain their special bond.

Although the families live 60 miles apart, the two gals visit on the phone every morning and spend time together during the week either riding, walking – up to four miles a day – or playing pinochle. Along with their spouses they make the annual trail ride to Red’s Horse Ranch and the Minam Lodge. Socially, the foursome attend every queen coronation, and they’ve been known to dance the night away doing the western swing, two-step and waltz.

“They are a carbon copy of one another,” one fellow cowhand says. “It makes you think you’re seeing double. Not only are they identical in looks, they sound alike, and sport the same short hairdo. When riding with the twosome, you’ll see they are dressed the same, usually a red T-shirt, Wranglers, leather chinks and boots. They have saddles and tack that match, and to top it off, their horses – paints and sorrels – have similar markings.”

Sharon claims that when she goes shopping, she buys two of everything. The same goes for Sherry. Then there’s Duane and Dave, who declare that when they buy their wife a birthday gift, they buy two.

“One day at the auction,” Sharon says, “I saw a couple of horses I liked, so I bought one for me and also one for my sister.”

Janie Tippet, who Sharon worked for in the potatoes during the mid-70s, says, “The twins definitely looked out for one another. When they helped us move cows, you could see how much they cared for the other’s safety. It was always ‘be careful,’ and ‘don’t get too close to that fence.’

“They’ve always been difficult to tell apart. Full of energy and eager to help, they’d be at your side chatting away, and then galloping off to round up a panic-stricken momma cow looking for her calf. I wasn’t sure who was who, and I soon gave up trying.”

Doug added, “Janie and I were glad to get the girls. During the years we ran cattle they were indispensable. The two of them knew the range, the route and spent hours in the saddle. They joked and laughed and were tough as nails when it came to cold, blistery days. Other riders would be bundled to the hilt, and here were Sherry and Sharon, warmly clothed, but without a hat or gloves.”

Todd Nash has relied on the twins the past five years.

“They are dependable, rain or shine,” Todd says, “and if I say we’ll meet at 7 a.m., they arrive at 6:45 a.m. I can’t win.” He paused a moment, “Of course, I have an excuse . . . someone has to pick up the doughnuts.”

Also, during the drive, Todd, when asking the crew what they want for dinner, is always tickled at the duo’s harmonious response.

“Heck we don’t care. A gas station hot dog is fine with us.”

In Nash’s kidding way, he says, “Now that’s my kind of gals.” In a more serious tone, he adds, “You couldn’t ask for two better cowhands.”