Valley 101 podcast journeys to Lazy B Ranch, where Sandra Day O'Connor grew up in Arizona

Richard Ruelas, Taylor Seely, Tea Francesca Price and Kaely Monahan, Arizona Republic
Updated ·1 min read
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor dons a cowboy hat, given to her during an event at the University of Houston Law Center on March 10, 2005, in Houston.

Much has already been said about Sandra Day O’Connor since her passing Dec. 1, 2023. The ranch girl grew up to serve in one of the highest offices in the land – as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

You might have read about her early days working on her family's Lazy B Ranch in eastern Arizona. The wide expanse is picturesque and iconic. It is a place you’d imagine a cowboy film would be set. And, indeed, O’Connor’s life is one worthy of the big screen.

For today’s special episode, former Valley 101 producers Téa Francesca Price and Taylor Seely, with investigative reporter Richard Ruelas, traveled to the Lazy B to get a sense of O’Connor, her roots, and who she was as a woman of the West.

Joining them during their 2018 visit is O’Connor’s brother, Alan Day.

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Valley 101 is meant to be heard, but we do offer a transcript. Read it here. Please note that there might be slight discrepancies because of the AI used to transcribe the conversation.

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Contact the producer at kaely.monahan@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @KaelyMonahan.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Valley 101: Taking a trip to Sandra Day O'Connor's childhood home