Light After Sorrow
We extend our thanks and gratitude to these donors for their gifts and donations to the “Light After Sorrow”- Jeff Crockett Memorial Foundation.
The Jeff Crockett Memorial Foundation is dedicated to providing compassionate and unwavering support to families who have tragically lost a loved one within the rodeo community. Through our commitment to honoring the legacy of those who have passed, we strive to offer comfort, assistance and resources to help these families navigate their grief and rebuild their lives with strength and resilience.
Would you like to join our mission? We are always accepting donation gifts as well as sponsors for our events. Visit our donation page for all options to donate or become a sponsor of this site and our events.
Do you know of a rodeo family that is currently hurting or dealing with a loss of a family member? We are also accepting nominations of those that we can help during this time of need. Please visit our nomination page to submit this information.
Sharing Stories and Inspiration. Would you like to share your story of Jeff or the Crockett family? Please do – click here!
We are the Crockett’s, a family of 7, whose lives were impacted in the worst imaginable way with the death of our Jeff. He was a son, brother, grandson, nephew, friend and soon to be a father. In August 1988, while making his run for the NFR, Jeff was killed in a bull-riding accident at the Lyon County Fair Rodeo in Yerington, Nevada.
We are a rodeo family dedicated to assisting other rodeo families who have experienced tragedy and/or loss by offering financial and emotional support, where needed. Through a simple vetting process, we desire to assist where there is need, seeking out those who have faced the toughest journeys of their lives of having to say goodbye. Our goal is to help ease the same burdens that we as a family have experienced and endured.
Janet Wolfley, Treasurer
Living in and loving the rodeo life is like nothing else in this world, and though I havent been active in it for many years, the life and the people always have been at the core of my heart. To me, RODEO has always meant love, family and lending a helping hand, even before the loss that our family endured. As a sister and the closest one in age to my brother, his tragedy was the most impactful event of my life. The journey during and after the loss was not an easy one and the road to healing was difficult to navigate but reaching out to help others is healing within itself. Helping to ease the many burdens that come with loss is my greatest desire.
Janet Wolfley, Treasurer
Tonya Crockett Charters, Secretary
It has taken me a while to post. But this Foundation for my older brother means so much to me. Jeff was 9 years older than me and was traveling a lot. I got to see him here and there when he would stop by to get his clothes washed, ironed or breakfast made for him and his traveling buddies. I was 16 years old when he passed ant it was the beginning of a two year roller coaster of a downward spiral. After his death, Lane Frost died on my 17th birthday and then I lost two amazing people in my life to suicide. We all show up when the loss is fresh and new but how does the family really learn to deal with the every day loss? It has taken us a long time to put this Foundation together and each of us have our own reasoning to do this. If you were to ask any of us, you would come to the same conclusion that we never want another family to have the emptiness that we have felt. the hurt and pain really never goes away, but the conversations and sharing with other families with the same losses, helps ease the pain. I don’t want to just be there for someone when the pain is new, I want to be the phone call that you make weeks, months or years later, when you truly need someone to listen.
For always and ever,
Tonya Cockett Charters
We want to touch as many lives as possible with our Foundation outreach.
Do you know of a rodeo family who has suffered a recent loss or is facing difficult times because of a tragic loss of a loved one? We would love to know if you are aware of someone that we can help be a “LIGHT AFTER SORROW”.
Please click here to complete our online form and provide us with information on how we can assist.
With permission from the families, and in their own words, we’d love to share a bit about their loved one that has passed. We want to share a tribute to their rodeo family member (whether it be the rodeo secretary who dedicated years and years of her life in the crow’s nest, or the Pee Wee rider that was just starting out on their rodeo journey).
Help us honor these wonderful people and please pray for continued comfort for the survivors/family and friends of the beneficiaries of this program. As we know and have lived with ourselves, the loss never really gets easier and although life seems to go on, for those grieving it has it’s pauses. We want to be there six months later, years later, whenever you need a shoulder to cry on, support or resources to help with the grieving process, or to just hear about stories of your lost loved one.
If you have been the benefactor of help or support by the Crockett Family or the Jeff Crockett Memorial Foundation, we’d love fo you to share your story for others to see.
Tell us about your loved one and let others enjoy their memory with you. (click here)
Shared with permission granted by Cod
y Custer, printed as published on Wild Rides TV facebook:
ONE RODEO DEATH TURNS ANOTHER LIFE AROUND
(A great story for an Easter weekend)
In 1988, while at home recovering from a serious injury, bull rider Cody Custer learned that his best friend, Idaho cowboy Jeff Crockett, had been killed in a bull-riding accident at the Lyon County Fair Rodeo in Yerington, Nevada.
The death transformed Custer’s life. And not only did the risks of his job become more apparent, but Custer realized that his weak Christian faith needed to change.
“Nobody really sat me down and told me that it had to be an ongoing relationship with Jesus,” Custer said. “Not just the initial moment that I met Him, but there has to be an ongoing relationship with God on a daily basis.”
After Crockett’s death, Custer began reading the Bible. He learned there was more to being a Christian than simply believing—he needed to live it.
“I responded with truly repenting and being born again,” Custer explains. “I think that was the point when God made me turn my back on my old lifestyle.”
A week after his friend’s death, Custer got baptized to demonstrate his new commitment to follow Christ. The professional bull rider also inscribed ‘Jesus is Lord’ on the bottom of his chaps.
“I got a lot of comments from a lot of people,” he recalls. “They weren’t so good, some of them.”
Prior to riding each bull, Custer would pray over the animal, asking that God’s purposes be done. Despite the threat of being seriously injured or even killed every time he stepped in the arena, Custer learned to trust God.
He says, “God is a just God and He’s a sovereign God. He’s got it all worked out ahead of time.”
Custer qualified for the PBR WORLD FINALS nine times, and was declared the PRCA World Champion in 1992. But through all of his successes, Custer remains humble.
“I’ve failed a lot,” Custer notes. “I haven’t tried to hide my humanity from anybody. I’m human and I do fail. Every failure makes me understand how much God loves me.”
Jeff Crockett Memorial Foundation, Inc. 501(c)(3)
Tami Nichols, Founder
Mailing address:
1200 E 6th S.
Mountain Home, Idaho 83647
President -Tami Nichols
Vice President -Tyler Crockett
Secretary -Tonya Charters
Treasurer- Janet Wolfley
Ron Crockett
Linda Crockett
Brian Burford
