“Last Tip of My Hat”

Every rodeo season the National Museum of Funeral History does its part in the spirit of the Wild West with its “Last Tip of My Hat” exhibit, which celebrates death in the time of the cowboy. The usually modest event has been ramped up considerably this year. As always, there will be a traditional pine box coffin on loan from Cowboy’s Last Ride casket company in Early, Texas. These simple containers were a common method of burial in the West, since pine was plentiful and easy to work with. “A cowboy is a simple man, hard working, and finds a pine box to be a fine representation of who he was in life,” Edward Castillo, owner of Cowboy’s Last Ride, said via email.

Also on display will be memorial folders from the funerals of the one and only Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale “The Queen of the West” Evans. The duo was featured in more than 100 different cowboy movies and television shows. You can see plenty of other funeral folders from Hollywood cowboys in the “Thanks for the Memories” section of the exhibit, including those belonging to Michael Landon, John Wayne, Gene Autry and Tom Mix. Also represented are Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels (whom you may know as The Lone Ranger and Tonto, the ones from before the Johnny Depp movie).

Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays, 12-5 p.m.; Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Starts: March 1. Continues through March 31, 2014