Little Joe

By Beverly Jones Copeland

Joe was born in San Antonio, Texas, on the twenty-fourth of September, 1930, to his parents, Joe W. and Margaret Swift Copeland. He was a Texan, through and through, and he grew up doing the things that were expected of a child on a large Texas ranch; things that today seem unbelievable for children to do. In the already hostile hostile environment of the west Texas desert, the Great Depression was extremely hard on the ranchers and farmers in this region, and this is where Joe’s story begins. He grew up in a time when life was simpler, ranch life was challenging, and people appreciated the cherished blessings of many friends and large families.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984547279

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Copyright © 2018 by Beverly Jones Copeland.

Edited by Corey Redmond Telschow

Illustrations kindly provided by Mrs. Molly Jean Henson and Ms. Rachel Kaye Long

ISBN:                  Softcover                           978-1-9845-4728-6

                            eBook                                 978-1-9845-4727-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/18/2018

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1     The Beginning

Chapter 2     Life On The Ranch

Chapter 3     Learning The Ropes

Chapter 4     Preparing For A Hunt On The Ranch

Chapter 5     The Hunting Camp

Chapter 6     The Hunt

Chapter 7     The Wedding

Chapter 8     The Summer

Chapter 9     The Fourth Of July

Chapter 10   The Move

Chapter 11   Rodeo And Fair

Chapter 12   Coyote Drive

Chapter 13   The Long, Cold Winter

Chapter 14   The War

FOREWORD

I was raised in central Texas and met Joe D. Copeland during my first week at Tarleton State University, in Stephenville, Texas, in June of 1950. He was an upperclassman and I was a freshman, but it only took a few dates for me to realize that we belonged together. That year, before I went to be with my dying grandmother in the Texas Panhandle, I agreed to be his wife just before I left for home. I met the Copelands later that summer, and we had a church wedding in December, 1950. We were still in college, but we went to Joe’s ranch near Marfa whenever we could over the next few years. There was a big drought in Texas in the 1950s, and Joe was unable to feed the cattle, so he had to give up the ranch, which he hated to do. When we returned to college after the loss of his ranch, he began to tell me these stories, and over the course of our 57 years of marriage, I wrote many of them down. The events here are true, although I added some minor details about the people and personalities in the book by using the insights Joe shared with me, and my own personal experiences of them. I hope you enjoy his story!

INTRODUCTION

J oe was born in San Antonio, Texas, on the twenty-fourth of September, 1930, to his parents, Joe W. and Margaret Swift Copeland. He was a Texan, through and through, and he grew up doing the things that were expected of a child on a large Texas ranch; things that today seem unbelievable for children to do. In the already hostile hostile environment of the west Texas desert, the Great Depression was extremely hard on the ranchers and farmers in this region, and this is where Joe’s story begins. He grew up in a time when life was simpler, ranch life was challenging, and people appreciated the cherished blessings of many friends and large families.

For Joe’s Family

CHAPTER ONE

The Beginning

I t was almost hunting season, and the Copeland kids were spending another year on the ranch, near Marfa, TX. There were three kids in Joe’s family, and he had two little sisters, Jean and June. Jean was one year younger than him, and June was two and a half years younger. Joe had dark brown hair while Jean and June both had blond hair. All three kids had blue eyes, but he had an olive-complexion, which meant that Joe was the darkest skinned of all the kids. They definitely looked like they were all from the same family. The siblings didn’t always get along perfectly, but they were so close in age that they were friends like brothers and sisters can be.

Joe often wondered why he was so small. He could not figure out why Jean was always so much taller than him even though he was older. His small frame always bothered him. He usually felt that he had to prove himself by being better at what he did than his sisters, and he also tried hard to be more mature and responsible than the girls. It was like he felt like he had to prove that he was strong. Being the only boy had its own advantages and disadvantages. As the boy, Joe was expected to take care of his sisters, which was something the girls despised. His chores were also harder and more dangerous than the girls’ chores were. That was the way it was in those days. One good thing about being the only boy was that Joe was able to go and do things that the girls were not allowed to do. So, being small did not really affect his abilities to take on hard jobs and do hard things.

The kids always looked forward to those days when they got to get off the ranch and ride into Marfa for groceries. It was a big event! Joe loved to drive to town in the old, banged up blue pick-up truck that was used for ranch chores. In addition to that, he really looked forward to the Saturdays when the whole family would run late, and he would get to drive fast down the rough ranch road. Joe learned to drive while he was still a kid because there was hardly any traffic on the long, dirt ranch roads, and all ranch kids needed to know how to drive a car, a truck, and a tractor. In those days, one never knew when it would be necessary to drive either on the ranch or into town. He would always try to drive faster than he had the last time, and it was especially entertaining when he could manage to steer over all the potholes in the old road and cause his sisters to bounce around in the back seat. His main goal in this was for the girls to mess up their hair, which would cause them to sulk and be mad at him for the rest of the day.

One Saturday, when Joe and his family got to town, his mom and the girls went to do chores and shopping while Joe and his dad went to the domino parlor. The domino hall was where all the neighboring ranchers would gather to hang around while their wives were shopping. All these ranchers in one place meant Joe would get to hear some interesting stories, and he was always eager to hear about what was going on around town. Of course, being a kid, he could not talk much because it was impolite for a kid to talk while the grown-ups talked. Interrupting was rude, and he had more manners than to interrupt the men, so he just sat still and listened.

One rancher, who wore a beat up old straw cowboy hat, talked about how a cougar killed five lambs and a heifer on his ranch. Another rancher with a mouth full of tobacco answered him and said that his favorite coon dog got bit by a rattler! This was the kind of conversation Joe and the other boys would just sit quietly and listen to for hours. While he listened, he would secretly keep track of all the times Old Man Dobbs would cheat at dominoes. Deep down, he knew that he could play dominoes way better than Old Man Dobbs, and he always wondered why they didn’t throw the old rancher out on his rear-end for cheating! But Old Man Dobbs had been around a long time, and it was clear to all the kids that the younger ranchers respected him. He figured that was the reason the other men put up with Old Man Dobbs. When Joe finally asked his dad why he got away with cheating all the time, Dad would just laugh and say, Son, we will all get old someday! This made Joe think that someday, when he was old, that he could cheat at dominoes too. If walls could talk, that domino hall would sing with the adventures they had overheard over all those years. The girls and Joe all enjoyed their days in town, but they were most comfortable on the ranch, and it was sort of a relief to make it home after a long day of shopping.

On one of those Saturday afternoons at the domino hall, Joe overheard the ranchers talking about the possibility of a new deer hunt that would be held on his own ranch in three weeks time. From that time on, all he could think of was being with those big men on that hunt. He was so excited that he wondered if this might be his first opportunity to go on a real deer hunt. Up to this time, Joe had never been allowed to go on the hunts because he was too young. His mom said he didn’t need to be around all those old men, but he didn’t really understand that because he was always around the same old men at roundup time. Why would a deer hunt