Brent K. Ashabranner
Brent K. Ashabranner is the author of The Children of the Maya Dodd, 1986), Dark harvest (Dodd, 1985), Gavriel & Jemal: Two Boys of Jerusalem (Dodd, 1984), Morning Star, Black Sun: The Northern Cheyenne Indians & America's Energy Crisis (Dodd, 1982), The new Americans (Dodd, 1983), and To Live in Two Worlds: Indian Youth Today (Dodd, 1984).
His late brother, Gerry D. Ashabranner, was also a Western writer.
Gerald D. Ashabranner
(Deceased)
Born and reared in Oklahoma, Jerry Ashabranner graduated from high school in Bristow. He attended Tulsa University Law School and was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1938. He worked in the legal department of Shell Oil in Tulsa and Oklahoma City for 20 years, then he went into private practice with the firm of Ames, Daugherty, Black, Ashabranner, Rogers and Fowler. He retired in March, 1984 and moved to Tucson.Gerald Ashabranner was a skilled lawyer who wrote articles for law journals. And he was a lover of the American west, writing novels under the name of Dan Kirby. His books for Ace included Cimarron Territory, Showdown at Cibecue Creek, and Schreiber's Choice. He also wrote more than 60 magazine articles.
Gerald D. Ashabranner died of liver cancer on Jan. 12, 1986 in Tucson, Ariz. and his body was cremated.
Don Ashbaugh
(Deceased)
Don Ashbaugh served in both World War I and World War II as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes and as editor of an airbase newspaper. And in between he graduated from the University of Southern California in 1927 and worked on newspapers from Manila to Paris, including nine years in Los Angeles, first with the Los Angeles County News and then with the Los Angeles Times.In 1934 he joined the publicity department of Paramount Pictures. When World War II broke out in 1941, he joined the army.
While still in the service, Don Ashbaugh married Alice Collins in 1944. Upon his discharge, they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where he worked at the Review-Journal as a columnist and the county editor. He then became editor of the Boulder City News, then of the Henderson Home News. Ashbaugh had a special interest in Western ghost towns, and he wrote a weekly column on "Ghost Towns of Nevada" for several years. Then in 1955 he became Sunday editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and held that job until his death in the San Fernando (Calif.) Veterans' Hospital on Dec. 1, 1961. His wife died two weeks later.
Carlos Ashley
(Deceased)
Carlos Ashley, lawyer and rancher and cowboy poet, was born and reared in Cherokee ( San Saba County), Texas. His maternal grandparents, R.W. and Susan Gray, settled on Cherokee Creek in San Saba County in 1860. His father, Alf Ashley, and his parents came to San Saba County in 1870. Alf Ashley became a well-known rancher and hog producer.
And he never strayed far from his beloved land. Oh, he did go off down to Fort Worth for four years of college at Texas Christian University. And while he was there he was president of the student body, sports editor of the university paper, and lettered in baseball. And he won the coveted Bryson Poetry Prize (his mother, Mattie Gray Ashley, had long before instilled in him a love of lyric poetry and ballads). But when he graduated from TCU in 1926, he returned home as fast as he could. He loved the area's wooded hills and its rocky stream beds so prone to flooding in the Spring.
Carlos Ashley was a high school physical education teacher and coach for three years before he went back to college and got his law degree. He hung his lawyer's shingle out in Llano, Texas and practiced law there for many years. All the while, he engaged in his real love -- ranching and writing poetry. He wrote two books, Front Seat in Heaven (about his family and his life) and That Spotted Sow and Other Texas Hill Country Ballads (first published in 1941 and revised in 1975. The 1975 edition, of which I have an autographed copy, features the pen-and-ink illustrations of the late Harold D. Bugbee, a noted cowboy and Western artist from Clarendon, Texas.
Carlos Ashley was the District Attorney in District 33 from 1935 to 1944 and from 1961 to 1968. He held the title of Poet Laureate of Texas from 1949 to 1950. And he was the first assistant attorney general of Texas in 1944. He was a Texas state senator for ten years. 
I was personally thrilled to get to hear one of his last poetry performances. It took place at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday morning, May 30, 1992. He was there to receive another coveted award, The Cowboy Culture Award, and to present his "farewell performance."
At 88-years-of-age, he was stooped and frail. But his mind was clear and his voice was strong as he recited poem after poem. And the audience loved it, applauding enthusiastically. It was a magic moment.
Asleep at the Wheel
Ray Benson founded the Western swing group, "Asleep at the Wheel," in Virginia in 1970. A native of Virginia, he moved his group to Austin, Texas during the "Willie Nelson era". Ray Benson is the group's lead singer, guitarist, and mastermind.
At this writing, the current members of the group include Benson, Cindy Cashdollar (steel guitarist), Jason Roberts (fiddle), David Miller (bass fiddle), David Sanger (drummer), Michael Francis (saxophone; in his 20th year with AATW), and John Michael Whitby (piano). They have opened for such diverse acts as Bob Dylan (at his personal request) and George Strait.
In 1987 their album, "Asleep at the Wheel 10," scored two mega-hits: "House of Blue Lights" and "Way Down Texas Way." In 1993 they recorded their album, "A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys," and it featured guests Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, and George Strait.
In 1999 Benson conceived and recorded an album called "Ride With Bob," a tribute to the Western swing music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. The cuts featured a wide range of guests, from Western swingerJody Nix to such acts as The Manhattan Transfer and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. It became their best-selling album in their 30-year history. And the lead cut, "Bob's Breakdown," received a Grammy Award in Feburary, 2000, for "Country Instrumental of the Year".
CLICK HERE to go to the official Asleep at the Wheel web site.
Sandra Dallas Atchison
Atchison was born on June 11, 1939 at Washington, D.C. She received the B.A. from the University of Denver in 1960. And she married Robert Atchison on April 20, 1963.She was an editorial assistant for Business Week Magazine from 1961 to 1963, and again from 1967 to 1969. Then she served as the magazine's bureau chief from 1969 to 1985. Since then she has held the position of senior correspondent. In 1980 she also was a regional book columnist for the Denver Post. Her articles have also appeared in Americana and Continental.
Using the pen name of "Susan Dallas," she has nine books on Western history and art to her credit. Those book are Colorado Homes (1986), Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps (1985), Sacred Paint (1980), Yesterday's Denver (1974), Cherry Creek Gothic (1971), No More Than 5 In A Bed (1967), Gold & Gothic (1967), Gaslights & Gingerbread (1965; reprinted, 1984), and Vail (1969).
Sandra Dallas Atchison received the National Heritage Wrangler Award for the Outstanding Western Art Book in 1980 (Sacred Paint) from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center. In 1986 the Women's Library Association and Denver Public Library Friends Foundation named her "Colorado's Exceptional Chronicler of Western History.
Sandra Dallas Atchison joined Western Writers of America in 1987. She was a board member of Historical Denver, Inc., during the years of 1979-1982 and 1984-1987. From 1983-85 she was a board member of Visiting Nurse Association of Denver. She is also a member of Denver Women's Press Club, Women's Forum of Colorado, and National Book Critics Circle.
Roscoe Ates
(Deceased)
Roscoe Ates, comic and movie actor, was born in Grange, Mississippi on Jan. 20, 1895. He suffered from stuttering early in life, but conquered it by his teens and later used it in his comic routines. He used his rubber-faced comic routine and his ability as a fiddler to play the vaudville circuit, until he was discovered by Hollywood.
In 1930 he appeared in the Western movie, "Billy the Kid". He was even in the classic film, "Gone With the Wind" in 1939. Other small roles followed, as did a stint as a Major in the "Special Services" arm of the Army during World War II.
But in 1946 cowboy actor Eddie Dean selected him as his sidekick "Soapy Jones". That series included 16 films. He finally had to discontinue his stuttering routine on screen, due to complaints from PTA groups that it was degrading to children who stuttered. It was during this series with Eddie Dean that Roscoe Ates' beloved wife, Barbara, died of lukemia.
He went on to perform on stage and in other films, including "Hills of Oklahoma" (1950) with Rex Allen, "The Stranger Wore a Gun" (1953) with Randolph Scott, and his last role in "The Errand Boy" with Jerry Lewis in 1961.
Roscoe Ates died at the age of 87 of lung cancer on March 1, 1962 and his remains are in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA. His only child, Dorothy Ates, died in 1982.
CLICK HERE to go to a site featuring his complete filmography.
Verne Athanas
(Deceased)
He was born in Cleft, Idaho, but his family moved to Oregon when he was very young. He graduated from Ashland High School in 1936, then married fellow graduate Alice Spencer. Along the way he slopped hogs, dug postholes, drove trucks, was a railroad brakeman, a gandy dancer, a service station attendant, a stationery salesman and more.But in 1946 he became a full-time writer. Athanas wrote many short stories for such magazines as Indian Stories, Railroad Magazine, Country Gentleman, Blue Book, Argosy, Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Redbook, and Collier's. His stories were mainly about Oregon--its railroads, mountains, forests, logging industry and history. He was the author of three novels. 20th Century Fox bought the screenplay rights to his novel, The Proud Ones.
He served for several years on the membership committee of Western Writers of America. And he contributed several short stories to the series of WWA anthologies. And in the May, 1954 issue of The Roundup, Athanas said of himself: "I don't remember when I learned to read, nor can I put a finger on the first time I wanted to write. I play the typewriter by ear. I wouldn't know a past participle if it crawled off the paper and bit me, and I expect if it could, it would."
Verne Athanas, 44, a jovial and outspoken man, was serving as the master of ceremonies at the Awards Banquet of the 9th Annual WWA Convention at Boise, Idaho on June 21, 1962. Bill Burchardt told what happened next: "After several minutes of characteristic Athanas banter, Verne introduced me, and I got up to install the new board. My remarks were very brief, and I had talked for perhaps a minute and a half, was almost finished, when I heard Alice say, `Bill, Verne's having an attack.'
"He was seated right beside the speaker's podium and when I looked down his face was gray as clay and he was slumped in his seat. I stopped talking and turned to help. Several of us tried to help and an ambulance was called. It took perhaps ten minutes for it to come, but it was already too late. Verne was gone" (The Roundup, Aug., 1962)."
Verne Athanas had died of a heart attack. That ended the convention. Verne was survived by his wife, Alice; and by two sons, Michael and David. (See his photo and obituary in the Aug., 1962 issue of The Roundup.)
Phillip H. Ault
Ault was born on April 26, 1914 at Maywood, Ill. He received his A.B. degree from Depauw University in 1935. And he married Karoline Byberg on June 5, 1943. She is deceased.He was a reporter for the LaGrange (Ill.) Citizen from 1935-37. From 1938-48, he was an editor for United Press International, living in Chicago, New York City, Iceland, North Africa and London. He was the bureau chief in London from 1944-45. He served as assistant managing editor and director of the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times-Mirror. He was the editorial page editor from the Los Angeles Mirror-News from 1948-57. He was the executive editor of Associated Desert Newspapers from 1958-68, then was the associate editor of South Bend (Ind.) Tribune from 1968-79.
His articles have appeared in Saturday Evening Post, American Heritage, American Legion, Argosy, Phi Delta Kappan, The Scroll, True West, and Michiana.
His 18 books include co-authorship of Springboard to Berlin (1943), This Is the Desert (1959), coauthorship of Reporting the News (1959), News Around the Clock (1960), co-author of Introduction to Mass Communications (1960; used in over 400 colleges throughout the world), How to Live in California (1961), Home Book of Western Humor (1967), Wonders of the Mosquito World (1970), These Are the Great Lakes (1972), Wires West (1974), All Aboard (1976), By the Seat of Their Pants (1978), co-authorship of Perspectives on Mass Communications (1982), Whistles Round the Bend (1982), co-authorship of Reporting and Writing the News (1983), co-authorship of Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics (1986), coauthorship of Maincurrents in Mass Communications (1986), Santa Maria Historical Photo Album (1987).
He won a Spur from Western Writers of America for the best juvenile book in 1976 with All Aboard! (Dodd Mead). Three of his books have been Junior Literary Guild selections. He received a medal from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. And his biographical information is listed in Who's Who in America, Dictionary of International Biography, International Year Book, and Statesman's Who's Who. He was a panelist at the 1989 WWA Convention in Portland.
Vivian Austin
(Deceased)
Vivian Austin was born in 1919 in Hollywood, CA.
Vivian Austin made her first movie in 1938, but encountered severe health problems early in her career and became blind. That forced her into an early retirement from Hollywood in 1948.
But here's where her life took a romantic twist. She began going to Dr. Ken Grow, M.D., in Palm Springs, CA. He treated her and eventually cured her blindness, and then he married her.
Vivian Austin's Western credits included Adventures of Red Ryder ( 1940), Boss of Boomtown (1944), Twilight on The Prairie (1944), and Trigger Trail (1944).
Vivian Austin died on Aug. 22, 2004.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Vivian Austin.
Gene Autry
(Deceased)
Gene Autry was born as Orvon Gene Autry on Sept. 29, 1907 in Tioga, Texas. He was reared in southern Oklahoma. He became an accomplished and popular entertainer through his cowboy movies and his singing and recordings. He popularized "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Here Comes Santa Claus".
Gene Autry was also a smart businessman who invested his show biz earnings into real estate, radio and TV stations, and his pride and joy, the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. He became a multimillionaire back when that feat was much more uncommon.
Doug Autry
(Deceased)
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Dudley Autry was born in 1922. He was eclipsed by his famous movie star and singing cowboy brother Gene Autry.
Dudley performed under the name of "Doug Autry". He had a small and undistinguished career in show business.
Doug Autry did an acceptable, though ordinary, job of singing. He just didn't have the talent that Gene had. He appeared in traveling shows such in the poster shown below, which may have been in association with "Col. Gatewood's Flying X Rodeo" or "Dailey Brothers Circus".
It is my understanding that Doug pretty much rode along on the wave of popularity surrounding his rock star-like brother, Gene Autry. That is until Gene, tiring of his undependable nature and perhaps a drinking problem, asked friend and fellow entertainer Pee Wee King to take him on the road with him.
That is how it happened on October 29, 1945 that Doug Autry came to the village in Oklahoma renamed Gene Autry, Oklahoma (1941). He was with a group of musicians and singers from Nashville's famous Grand Ol Opry. The group also included comedian Minnie Pearl, and Pee Wee King and his band, The Golden West Cowboys.
Two years later Pee Wee King would hit the big-time with a song he and fellow band-mate Redd Stewart wrote called, “The Tennessee Waltz”. Oklahoma's own Patti Page had a Number One hit with that song and with another King composition, “You Belong to Me.”
Les Gilliam, a native of the town and later named "The Oklahoma Balladeer," is the 11-year old standing just right of center in the photo below, just in front of the man in a white hat.
Taken in downtown Gene Autry, OK on Oct 29, 1945.
Don Davis Photo provided by Les Gilliam.
Left to Right: Clydean Haney, Louise Haney, Estell Brock, Cecil Crosby (former Deputy Sheriff whose idea it was to change the name of the town), Kathryn Brock, Hub Haney, _____(Unknown), ________ (Unknown ---probably Pee Wee King's Girl Singer), Richard Haney, Andy Warner, Carson Sampley, Joyce Young, Dudley (stage name was “Doug”) Autry (Gene’s brother who was part of the Pee Wee King Show), _____(Unknown), J.O. Gilliam (Les' brother), Paul Gillespie and dog, Alice Louise Sampley, Winnie Gilliam (one of Les's sisters, partially hidden), Jo Lee Dillon, Billy Cowan, Marion Lee Thomas, Mary Alma Haney, William Colclasure, Jimmy Brock, Minnie Pearl, Richard Conway, Margaret Gilliam (another of Les's sisters) , ______(unknown; Pee Wee King Band Member), Wayne Colclasure, Les Gilliam in front, Hardy Murphy (Ardmore Rodeo/Business Man-helped Gene Autry to buy nearby ranch) Ruby Dillon, Don Davis – Steel Guitarist for Pee Wee King and source of this photo), band leader Pee Wee King, and four unnamed members of Pee Wee King's band: 1. _____; 2. _____; 3. _______; 4. ________; a horse owned by Cecil Crosby (adult at far left). ---Names supplied by Les Gilliam.
On Feb. 13, 1950, Doug Autry married Barbara Bardo. Before he died he had at least five wives.
Apparently Doug Autry co-wrote a song with Johnny Bond called "Am I Just a Pastime?".
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors. Therefore, all Westerners and/or their agents are requested to submit recommended changes by contacting Stan Paregien through his
e-mail address.
© 2008 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
