The flag bearer riding at the beginning of the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo Parade carrying the Wyoming flag represents Wyoming in more than one special way.

The flag bearing tradition began in 1947 as a way to honor Verna Keyes, creator of the Wyoming state flag. Not only does the flag bearer honor the flag itself, but also Wyoming's unique history as the bearer must be a Wyoming homesteader or pioneer descendant.

Molly Marton,16, of Casper will lead the parade holding the Wyoming flag this year. Marton's family history is rich in homesteading tradition, said Cindy Rogers, who has been selecting the parade flag bearer since 2003.

In 1918, Marton's great-grandfather Bernard Marton traveled from Arngeuy, France to the United States. He entered the United States through Ellis Island, enlisted in the Army and served in World War I.

When he returned to the United States, Bernard Marton and a partner bought a ranch near Buffalo to herd sheep.

Bernard Marton was Basque, as were many early homesteaders in the northern region of Wyoming. Basques, Marton said, are known as hardworking but sometimes stubborn people who enjoy singing and dancing.

In 1926, Bernard Marton married Marton's great-grandmother, Katherine Iriat, also a Basque immigrant from France. They had four sons and a daughter.

When Marton's great-grandfather died, Katherine Iriat was left to work the entire ranch with only the help of her children. One child drowned early on and another died in a car accident when returning from the Korean War.

"And that left my great-grandmother, great-uncle, my grandfather and my great-aunt," Marton said. "And they had to run a huge ranch all by themselves."

Marton described how her great-grandmother would stay in the sheep wagon preparing food while the boys worked the ranch.

"I can't imagine living out in a sheep wagon," Marton said.

When Marton's grandfather, John Marton, began attending school, he could not speak English. He spoke only Basque.

Marton's grandparents, John Marton and Helen Kaltenbaugh, celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary in June. They had two sons and two daughters who they raised on the family ranch near Buffalo. In the 1980s, the two sons bought a ranch near Alcova that Marton calls her home.

Rogers described Marton as a good student who participates in a lot of school activities and sports and as an "all-around good person".

Marton works with her dad on the ranch each year. She helps with the docking, shearing and vaccination of the sheep.

Marton said she does not plan on working on her father's ranch outside of Casper as an adult, but that the land Bernard Marton worked in the early twentieth century will probably never leave the family.

"It is like a family heirloom," Marton said.