Wyatt “Wy” Driscoll, 73, of Belgrade, died August 14 at his kitchen table with a cup of black coffee and the Billings Gazette folded to the sports page. He would have wanted it that way, or so his daughter Jessica said, though she also said he would have wanted a steak and a cold Rainier.

Born March 12, 1953, in Harlowton, Wy moved to the valley in 1979 to shoe horses for the outfitters running strings into the Bridgers. He never left. His forge sat behind the house on Jackrabbit Lane, the same spot where he taught three apprentices and one very determined border collie named Blue to respect the anvil.

The valley changed around him. Hay fields became subdivisions. The two-lane became four. The coffee at the Co-op went from fifty cents to four dollars. Wy kept his prices the same for fifteen years until his supplier called and said, “Wy, you’re losing money on every shoe.” He raised them five dollars and considered it a scandal.

“Charged me twenty bucks less than the Billings farrier and did a better job,” said Tom Harvick, who boards horses at the old Dry Creek place. “Told me my mare’s left front was off before I even saw her limp. Just watched her walk across the pasture.”

Wy is survived by his daughter Jessica of Helena and grandson Tyler of Bozeman, who carries the tool roll now.

Services at Dahl Funeral Chapel in Belgrade at 11 a.m. Saturday.