My heroes have always been cowboys!

In only 10 days we will be celebrating the National Day of the American Cowboy.

The campaign to establish this special day was begun by American Cowboy magazine in 2004 to "preserve, protect and promote our cowboy and Western heritage" and lobby for the passage of a national resolution designating the fourth Saturday of every July a permanent recognition. This year that date to honor cowboys and cowgirls for their courageous pioneering spirit falls on Saturday, July 26.

I've never needed much encouragement to celebrate the cowboy lifestyle. I've been a fan of all things cowboy most of my life. Back when I was a youngster, I walked home from school almost every school day. Before we had a TV, I'd stop at the home of Daddy's cousin, Newt Douglas, over by the railroad tracks. I'd practice my piano lesson on their piano and then, along about 5 o'clock as I recall, a show called Cowboy Theater would come on. This program would alternate a week of Roy Rogers movies with a week of Gene Autry movies, and I delighted in watching the cowboys and Indians streaking across the plains on Newt and Ruby's TV.

I owe a lot of my love for horses and the cowboy life to my late uncle Mann Young, a former West Texas cowboy who moved up here, met my aunt when he went to the electric company office to get his power hooked up and married her. Uncle Mann bought me a horse when I was in junior high, and I spent many happy hours riding after school, on weekends and in the summer. We also checked his cattle on horseback, and I helped with the annual vaccinations, doctoring sick animals and assisting mama cows at calving time. I loved it.

We made many trips to rodeos, ropings and horse shows. Trips to the Rodeo of the Ozarks at Springdale during the Fourth of July holiday, the Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping at Pawhuska, Okla., on Father's Day and the annual rodeo at Vinita in August were just annual traditions. One year we hauled our horses to Springdale to ride in the rodeo parade on both the first and the Fourth of July. One day we baked in the sun, the other we got soaked in a rain shower. But that's just another aspect of the cowboy's life, taking the weather as it comes.

Uncle Mann took me to Texas to visit his brother Hubert's ranch there; and I'd climb on a horse again and cover the miles among the mesquites and the tumbleweeds, listening to the groan of the windmills. We dropped by the Pitchfork and Four Sixes ranches where I met some of the true cowboys, visited their ranch store and listened to the twang of their voices when they came in to stock up on supplies. At Uncle Mann's death, his funeral in Texas featured red roses and a coiled rope atop the casket, a fitting tribute.

In 1992, I married a "city boy." Jim was born in St. Joe, Mo., and grew up in Kansas City. He can't really understand why I'm so nuts about all this but, fortunately, he indulges me in it. I dragged him to Fayetteville to a performance of "Oklahoma" soon after we were married and he could hardly wait for the end of the show; but I was really enjoying hearing Curly singing, "When the wind comes sweeping down the plain...." He took me to the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs when we went to Fort Knox for our son's graduation from Army Reserve basic training. (He gave me a choice of going there or the Louisville Slugger Museum but, of course, he knew what I'd pick!)

Much to my surprise and delight, I found when I opened my June/July issue of American Cowboy that they'd printed a letter I'd written in their Mailbag column. I'd written to commend the editor and staff on their 20th anniversary issue. I appreciate their efforts to keep the cowboy values intact.

As the first editor's letter stated, they will never go out of style. In fact, I think the world would be a much better place if we had more emphasis on "shooting straight with people, working hard, being loyal, helping folks when they've been thrown from the saddle."

You bet I'll be celebrating the American cowboy, on the 26th of this month and every other day of the year as well.

Susan Holland is longtime resident of Benton County and a staff member of the Westside Eagle Observer. She may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 07/16/2014