Clint Stueve, who was severely injured 12 years ago in a rodeo accident, died Thursday at Newman Regional Health. He was 51.
Stueve was critically injured Aug. 19, 1995, as he participated in a team-roping event at the Beef Fest Rodeo at the Lyon County Fairgrounds.
Stueve, then 39, had thrown his lasso around a steer’s head when his horse apparently lost its footing and went down.
“The steer started to pull for the fence,” a follow-up Gazette article stated in 2003. “Stueve lost control of his slack. The rope tightened in a tug-of-war that Stueve lost as both rider and horse went down.”
The horse tried to get up repeatedly and, failing each time, repeatedly fell back onto Stueve. A Gazette article at the time of the accident stated that the horse rolled onto Stueve’s head.
Stueve’s wife, Cindy, who was the rodeo announcer, said she did not realize it was her husband under the horse.
A friend of Stueve, then-4-H Agent Jerry Olson, said at the time that he had expected the horse to regain its footing.
“It wasn’t the arena’s fault, it wasn’t the horse’s fault, it wasn’t Clint’s fault,” Olson was quoted in the 1995 article. “It just happened.”
Later that day, at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, the family learned that the coma that enveloped Stueve could have been caused by three sources — brain swelling, loss of oxygen to the brain, or a sharp blow to the head. Stueve had undergone all three when he and the horse fell. He was on total life support for a time, with his brain continuing to swell, and his condition continued to be considered “very, very critical.”
When he was well enough to be dismissed to his home, he could not walk or talk; he could sit or stand only with “significant assistance,” the 2003 article stated. Occasionally, though, he showed awareness and understanding.
“There was one time I came home and told him how one of the kids won something,” Cindy Stueve was quoted as saying. “He did a thumbs-up right at me.”
Clint Stueve eventually progressed beyond the initial prognosis that he would never be able to open his eyes, the Gazette article stated.
Though he had lost use of the left side of his body, he was able to use his functioning arm to stroke his daughter’s hair or to rumple his son’s hair when they hugged him.
An article from Stueve’s point of view was written by his daughter, Ashley, and published in June 2003 by “Teen Ink” magazine. The piece evolved from a writing assignment in 2002 from one of Ashley’s teachers, Vickie Vaughn, at Olpe High School, according to Gazette files.
Vaughn had told the class to write an essay from someone else’s point of view. Being what she termed “a daddy’s girl,” Ashley chose to take on her father’s persona in an essay she titled “Sustained Sleep.”
In it, she wrote that he wondered what would have happened had he never gotten on his horse that day. She then described the accident, the result and the perpetual reality of being completely dependent upon others.
“Food and medicines through a tube, repositioning and ointments have replaced the other pleasures of my family and a life I loved,” she wrote from her father’s viewpoint. “As my old self, I would never have thought of showing my legs to anyone, even in the dead of summer. Shirts and jeans were this working man’s attire. Now, baring all to the ones who take care of me is routine. Thank God, because I could not survive without them.”
hartford (anonymous) says...
I am so sorry for the Stueve's loss! I know them personally and they are good people! God bless you all!
November 16, 2007 at 3:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MrCmonkeeDo (anonymous) says...
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
November 17, 2007 at 5:15 a.m. ( permalink )
create (anonymous) says...
Oh dearest ones, I am so sorry to hear about this. Ashley, I will never forget the quality of your voice in the piece you wrote and how hard I cried when I read it. I hope it gets published again; what an honor for your dad, a good and decent man. May God bless you all and give you peace.
November 17, 2007 at 7:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
im sorry this happened, im sure he will be missed, and God Bless him and his family
November 17, 2007 at 8:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
old_soldier (anonymous) says...
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
November 17, 2007 at 7:34 a.m. ( permalink )
midnight_rider (anonymous) says...
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
November 17, 2007 at 8:11 a.m. ( permalink )
MrCmonkeeDo (anonymous) says...
MrCmonkeeDo would never say anything untoward a cowboy.
Don't know what MrC did wrong but this is the "comment removed by the site staff," near as HE can remember.
Fallen cowboys should be remembered and honored as warriors.
November 17, 2007 at 3:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Observer (anonymous) says...
May our Father envelope your family with His love, and provide comfort, His peace which passes all human understanding, a deepening of faith, and His blessed assurance that He is as close as the very next breath we take. In Jesus' name.
A Stueve dynasty in wrestling at Emporia High, and a legacy of love, faith, courage, and perseverance which Clint and each of his siblings received from their Mom and Dad, and which they have passed-on to their precious children.
Clint has been healed and set free from the earthly wounds, and reunited with his dear-ones who have gone on before him.
1 Cor. 15:
51: Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53: For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54: So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56: The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
November 17, 2007 at 3:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
MrCmonkeeDo,
Your post was removed, not for its content, but for the debate about it that came later. Some readers felt the discussion was becoming disrespectful to Mr. Stueve's memory and unnecessarily painful to his family.
I realize you were not involved in the debate, but several posts came down that were related, including yours.
If the debate begins again, the comments will be removed again.
Gwen Larson
November 17, 2007 at 5:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
stephsassy (anonymous) says...
Cindy & Family
We love you very much, May the Lord be with you and your children.
Stephanie Carter-Williams
Topeka, Ks
November 22, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )