In the summer of 1981, Keri Walters was a college freshman who had just landed her dream summer job as a horse wrangler at New Life Ranch in Colcord, OK. Trained in English horseback riding at Hidden Valley Stables, the Overland Park teen couldn’t imagine a better-suited job between semesters than working with horses in the beautiful foothills of the Ozark mountains. Hours were long, and the work was physically demanding, but Keri quickly came to love the camp, the horses and the people. And over the course of that summer, one person in particular caught her eye: Bill Biggs.
Bill Biggs was a gregarious man with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eyes. Known to everyone as Mr. Bill, he held an important role as camp director. Bill and Keri found camp life exhilarating, and their friendship blossomed in under the prairie sun.
Keri continued to work for New Life Ranch for the following summers of her college career, taking on various roles, including camp counselor, canteen director and weekend retreats director. Her work had her brushing shoulders with Bill quite a bit. By 1982, the two were dating, and two years later, the couple wed. Both schoolteachers with a united passion for education, as well as the place that brought them together, Bill and Keri chose to tie the knot where their story all began: at the New Life Ranch chapel.
Throughout the school year, Bill and Keri worked diligently within Tulsa private schools. But when summer came, they could be found serving children at their warm-weather home away from home. Bill and Keri found that working at New Life Ranch only strengthened their resolve to be better teachers.
As the years went by, children came; first, Brad in 1988 and then Ben in 1991. For the Biggs boys, New Life Ranch was synonymous with summertime. It was a place filled with adventure and bug bites, rustic cabins, high-flying ropes courses, archery and belly flop competitions. It was the place that brought their parents together. Not surprisingly, it held a special place in Brad and Ben’s hearts, too.
Both boys attended New Life Ranch as students. Hearing their dad host sessions as camp speaker left Brad in the same rapt attention as his fellow campers, something not lost on him. He knew his dad had a gift. Seeing it on full display in the company of his peers made him admire him all the more.
Bill continued on as a camp speaker until 2015, three years after he retired from teaching and two years before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Keri notes that New Life Ranch will always hold a special place in their hearts.
Lauren Greenlee is an Olathe mom of three who first learned how to horseback ride as a girl from Keri Biggs at New Life Ranch.