Bill Sidley was as comfortable playing jazz piano as he was rounding up cattle or writing poetry.
Sidley, who died Jan. 23 at age 81, was called “the courtly cowboy” by his daughter-in-law, Nina Williams of Denver.
A service is planned at 2 p.m. Thursday at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, East 13th Avenue and Clarkson Street.
Sidley, educated in Eastern boarding schools, fell in love with the West and ranching when he went to Wyoming for summer vacations at the family ranch, called the Silver Spur Cattle Co.
But he never forgot the Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton he’d memorized, and he would often quote them. Sometimes that would happen after guests had a few drinks and an argument started. Sidley would calm everyone down with some Shakespeare, said his son William Pratt Sidley II.
Bill Sidley, who began piano lessons at age 6, was a lifelong jazz aficionado and often played gigs with a local group of friends. They called themselves “Bill Sidley’s All Stars.” But family members often referred to Bill Sidley as “Boxcar Willie,” a name he laughed at, said his son Peter Fitzwilliam Sidley of Denver. Boxcar Willie was a country-western singer.
The Silver Spur-bred Hereford cattle and in 1954, the Sidleys were the first ranchers in the Rocky Mountains to have Charolais cattle. The Silver Spur cattle won many championships at livestock shows, including the National Western Stock Show.
Sidley also worked in the collection and commercial lending departments of two Denver banks and was in oil and gas exploration and leasing.
William Fitzwilliam Sidley was born Nov. 18, 1924, in Virginia, Minn., and attended Buckley School in New York City and Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. He earned degrees in economics and naval science at Yale University, where he also sang in the Yale Glee Club.
After serving in the Navy in World War II, he married Cornelia Louise Krause of Hazleton, Pa., and the couple lived on the family ranch in Wyoming.
But Cornelia Sidley decided the children should be exposed to “something besides livestock and wide-open plains,” so the family moved to Denver, said William Pratt Sidley.
His father lived on the Wyoming ranch, near Encampment, during the week and came home to Denver on weekends. The ranch eventually grew to 12,000 acres. The Sidley family “is about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our family’s touchdown in the Platte River Valley,” said William Pratt Sidley.
The family sold most of the ranch in 1984 but kept part of it for a family retreat.
In addition to his wife and sons, Bill Sidley is survived by his daughter, Cornelia Simmons Sidley-Parker, and one grandson.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-820-1223.
