My daughter and granddaughter with Roy Rogers' son and grandson.
This Saturday, July 24, is National Day of the Cowboy.
That event set me to thinking about our family's history with the "Singing Cowboy," Roy Rogers. When our daughter was a little tyke, we looked for wholesome movies for her to watch, and came upon some old Roy Rogers videos. She loved them, thus beginning her lifelong following of Roy and Dale Evans.Although she was not in the "baby boomer," cowboy fan age group, Rebekah watched every movie available, read every book Dale ever wrote, collected recordings and became a trivia expert on anything concerning Roy Rogers. She even visited Dale's childhood home in Uvalde, Texas, sending Dale a photograph and beginning a correspondence with her and her daughter.
On a visit to California, she visited with Roy's family at the Roy Rogers Museum. And then we took her as an older teenager to Branson, Missouri, where she enjoyed the family show and the museum which had been moved to that state.
When she heard the museum would be closing, her husband surprised her by taking her and their new daughter for a farewell visit to Branson. Roy's son, Dusty, and his son treated her like part of the family.
The museum's contents are being sold off little by little. Trigger is to be sold this week...kind of fitting I suppose, concerning the National Day of the Cowboy.
My daughter would tell you, "Did you know that Roy always said that when he died, he wanted to be stuffed and placed beside Trigger?"
Rebekah has traded in her old Roy Rogers video collection for some newer DVD's. Her daughter, after all, must be introduced to her cowboy friend. This Saturday, on National Day of the Cowboy, we will celebrate her daughter's first birthday. And the "Happy Trails" tradition goes on.
