Lani Cran Petrie
Year Inducted: 2015
Mokulēʻia Ranch | O'ahu
Kapapala Ranch | Hawai'i
Lani Cran was born in Kealakekua, Kona in 1959, the second child of Gordon and Genevieve Cran. On the day she was born Gordon was offered the manager’s position at Mokulē`ia Ranch on the North Shore of Oʻahu. He accepted and Genevieve and their two children followed him there and made their home there for the next fifteen years of her life. Lani grew up riding the rugged terrain of the Waiʻanae mountain range where the commercial cow herd grazed. In the lowlands the ranch raised replacement dairy heifers on irrigated pasture. The ranch also had a registered herd of Santa Gertrudis cows. On O’ahu, Lani gained a wide perspective on raising livestock and by the time she attended high school had decided to pursue a career in animal husbandry. After attending elementary at Trinity Lutheran in Wahiawā, Lani was accepted and attended Kamehameha Schools as a boarding student.
Lani’s family left Mokulēʻia Ranch in 1973, where Gordon moved to Paʻauilo to establish in partnership the S.C. Ranch (formerly the Kūkaʻiau Ranch). Lani would spend the summer of 1976 and all school vacations working at S. C. Ranch.
Lani graduated from Kamehameha High School in 1977, and went to Washington State University that September. Gordon had decided to leave S.C. Ranch the same year and bought out Parker Ranch’s interest at Kapapala Ranch in Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi. That summer Lani had the opportunity to ride Kapapala Ranch and to take inventory of the cattle to be purchased from Parker. This gave her the time to make lifelong friends with the Parker Ranch cowboys and their families.
From 1977 to 1979, Lani pursued a degree in animal nutrition worked for the Washington State University’s leading nutritionist and at the Cattle Feeding Laboratory there. In 1981, after taking two years off to work with her father at Kapapala, she returned to WSU to finish her degree. There she worked in WSU’s Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology Department. She also competed on the WSU rodeo team and traveled the Pacific Northwest with team members competing in rodeos.
Lani married the year after completing college and spent a year in Colville, Washington working on her husband’s family farm. She and her new family moved back to Kapapala Ranch in 1985. There, in the early 90’s, she organized the Hawaiʻi Cattle Producer’s Cooperative Transportation Division to assist ranchers transporting cattle to West Coast ports. In 1995, Lani and her husband Bill revitalized the old Kona Meat Company plant and converted it to a value-added cow processing plant for cooperative members. Within five years the business was successful but September 11, 2001 ended that and Lani and Bill returned to Kapapala Ranch in a full time capacity.
Lani has remained there and was handed the management reins in 2004 by her father. She has served as the President of the Hawaiʻi Cattlemen’s Association and with the Hawaiʻi Cattle Producer’s Cooperative. She continues to serve her community and give her time to industry issues.