Orilla Downing: First Female Clerk of the Court for Park County

Founding of Park County

Here in Park County, women have served as Clerk of the District Court in an unbroken line dating back to 1922.

When Park County was established in 1911, it was carved from the original Big Horn County, which had encompassed most of the Big Horn Basin with a county seat in Basin. Cody became the new county seat for Park County, and with it came the need for a new courthouse and a Clerk of the Court.

The First Clerk: George S. Russell

Park County’s first clerk was George S. Russell, born in Ohio in 1850. Before coming to Wyoming, Russell worked as a gold miner in Empire, Colorado. But as the local gold and silver mining industry was waning, George and his family moved north. By 1900, census records show him living in Cody with his second wife, Delia, and their five children. He initially worked as a carpenter in Cody, but by 1910 had become the bookkeeper for a local lumber yard, a position that likely led to his appointment as the first Clerk of the new Park County. His middle daughter, Orilla, then in her thirties, served as his deputy.

When George died in 1922, Orilla finished his term and then succeeded him as Clerk, beginning the tradition of women serving in that office in Park County for the next century.

Orilla Russell Downing Hollister: Cody’s First Female Clerk of the Court

Orilla was born in the Colorado mountains on February 6, 1884. After a brief time in Lander, where she attended school, she was living in Cody by 1900. In 1907, she married Gaylord Downing, a local ranch hand described as tall and slender, with brown hair and brown eyes. The following year, the couple toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, where Orilla performed as a singer.

Lydia Orilla Russell. Park County Archives.

By 1909, they had returned to Cody and were living with her parents on Beck Avenue, raising three children: Stanley, Doris, and George. The marriage did not last, and by 1917 Gaylord was living in Oakland, California, married to another woman named Minnie. He later died in Stockton, California in 1933.

Now divorced, Orilla supported her children with help from her parents. The 1920 census shows her working full time and living with her children in her parents’ home.

Family and Home

Throughout her life, Orilla maintained a close-knit, multigenerational household. By 1930, she owned her home on Alger Avenue, living with her youngest son, George, then seventeen. A decade later, George was still living with her, but now with a wife and two children of his own.

In 1930, Orilla also shared her home with a lodger, Dwight Hollister, a 53-year-old attorney practicing in Cody’s Walls Building. He was recently widowed; his wife Elizabeth had died in 1927. Because Hollister was maintaining a ranch on the Northfork while also working as a lawyer in town, he may have appreciated lodging in downtown Cody. Hollister would later become Orilla’s husband. They were married in Livingston, Montana, in 1947, when Orilla was 63 and Dwight was 70.

Lydia Orilla Russell. Park County Archives.

A Legacy of Women as the Clerk of the District Court

When Orilla retired in January 1967 at the age of 82, she had held the position for a remarkable 45 years. She was succeeded by women. Audrey Kinkaid Todd served for the next eight years. Lorraine S. Chrysler followed, serving from 1975 to 1992. Joyce Bower then held the position for 22 years, followed by Patra Lindenthal, who served two terms after Bower’s retirement. Deb Carroll succeeded Patra and continues the century-long tradition of women serving as Clerk of the Park County District Court.

Following her service as clerk, Joyce Bower joined the board of the Cody Heritage Museum in 2018, where she continues to volunteer each summer and serves as the board’s secretary. Joyce explained that she loved being the Clerk of the Court and being involved with law and civic leadership. Her ongoing work with the museum reflects the same spirit of civic involvement that has been evident in the Clerk of Court office in Park County for more than a hundred years.

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