Frances ElaineRosenthalKallison (November 29, 1908 - December 30, 2004) was a pioneering American rancher, historian, and philanthropist. [1] In 2016, she became the first Jewish woman inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in recognition of her courage, resilience and independence. [2] [3]
Kallison was born November 29, 1908 in Fort Worth, Texas, a second-generation Texan and the only child of Mose A. Rosenthal and Mary Neumegen. Kallison briefly attended Vassar College before transferring to the University of Chicago, where she received a bachelor's degree in economics in 1929, shortly before the stock market crash in October that year. Kallison returned to Texas, where she met Perry Kallison (b. 1903, d. 1999); they married on March 8, 1931 and settled in San Antonio. The couple had three children. Frances Kallison died in San Antonio, Texas on December 30, 2004. [4] [5]
For much of her life, Kallison worked alongside her husband and his family managing the family enterprises, including the largest farm and ranch supply store in the Southwest, and a ranch that bred prize-winning Hereford cattle, Angora goats, and sheep. [6] Most of the ranch became part of Government Canyon State Natural Area in 2002. [7] [8]
During the Depression, Kallison led the National Council of Jewish Women to lobby the city of San Antonio to open a maternity ward at the public hospital, as well as a well-baby clinic and prenatal clinic. She also worked for the repeal of Texas's poll tax. [5]
After World War II, Kallison was among the founders of the Ladies' Auxiliary to the Bexar County Sheriff's Mounted Posse, a precision riding team that regularly performed at parades and expositions and at hospitals and orphanages. In 1948 she served as captain of the posse. [9] The Mounted Posse appeared on-screen in Two Guys from Texas (1948), Rio Grande (1950), and in an episode of The Cisco Kid . Funds raised went to the public hospital and other charities. [5]
Kallison was a long-time supporter of the arts, from small artists' projects to serving as a trustee of the San Antonio Museum Association and the Witte Museum. [4] [10]
In her late 60s, Kallison's long-time interest in Jewish history motivated her to return to school. She received a master's degree from Trinity University in San Antonio. [9] In 1979, she helped establish the Texas Jewish Historical Society. She has been called "the acknowledged authority on the history of the Jews of San Antonio." [4]
Connie Douglas Reeves was believed to be America's oldest cowgirl. She was the oldest member of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and one of the first women to study law at a University of Texas School of Law. One of Reeves most notable quotes was "Always saddle your own horse", which Liz Smith once suggested in her gossip column was "not a bad motto, even if you are just getting into your Mercedes." In 1998, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum awarded Reeves the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award for her contributions to the Western way of life. She was one of only two women to have earned the award; the other being Mollie Taylor Stevenson Jr., founder of the American Cowboy Museum.
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight, was an American rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J. Frank Dobie said that Goodnight "approached greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history." In 1955, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Dale Evans Rogers was an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers.
The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. The trail was established by Black Beaver, a Lenape guide and rancher, and his friend Jesse Chisholm, a Cherokee merchant. They collected and drove numerous cattle along the trail to Kansas, where they could be shipped east to achieve higher prices. The southern terminus was Red River Station, a trading post near the Red River along the northern border of Texas. The northern terminus was a trading post near Kansas City, Kansas. Chisholm owned both of these posts. In the years of the cattle drives, cowboys would drive large herds from ranches across Texas to the Red River Station and then north to Kansas City.
The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is located in Fort Worth, Texas, US. Established in 1975, it is dedicated to honoring women of the American West who have displayed extraordinary courage and pioneering fortitude. The museum is an educational resource with exhibits, a research library, and rare photography collection. It annually adds Honorees to its Hall of Fame.
Laura Cunningham Wilson is an American photographer. She has completed five books of photography and text: Watt Matthews of Lambshead (1989), Hutterites of Montana (2000), Avedon at Work: In the American West (2003), Grit and Glory: Six-Man Football (2003), and That Day: Pictures in the American West (2015). She is the mother of actors Owen Wilson, Andrew Wilson, and Luke Wilson.
Eulalia "Sister" Bourne was a pioneer Arizona schoolteacher, rancher and author. She taught at rural Arizona schools from 1914 to 1957.
Harold Dow Bugbee was an American Western artist, illustrator, painter, and curator of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas. Bugbee sought with considerable success to become the dominant artist of the Texas South Plains, as his role model, Charles M. Russell of Montana, accordingly sketched life of the northern Great Plains.
Bonnie McCarroll, born Mary Ellen "Dot" Treadwell, was a champion rodeo performer and bronc rider most remembered for her death at the Pendleton Round-up in Pendleton, Oregon. She also excelled in steer riding, bulldogging, and automobile jumping. In her riding career, McCarroll competed against such other women as Tad Lucas, Mabel Strickland, Fox Hastings, Dorothy Morrell (Robbins) and Florence Hughes.
Nancy Lee Bass (1917–2013) was an American philanthropist. She was known as the "First Lady of Fort Worth, Texas."
Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy was an American heiress, rancher, horse breeder, philanthropist and art collector from Fort Worth, Texas.
Anne Windfohr Marion was an American heiress, rancher, horse breeder, business executive, philanthropist, and art collector from Fort Worth, Texas. She served as the President of Burnett Ranches and the Chairman of the Burnett Oil Company. She was the founder of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1981, she was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Mary Ellen "Dude" Barton was an American cowgirl. She was born Mary Ellen to Wilburn Barton and Ella Orr Barton. She was the granddaughter of Al Barton, an early cowboy and rancher of the area. She was the last child born of the family, and grew up on the family ranch on the North Pease River east of Flomot, Texas. She had learned how to handle horses and mules while doing farm and ranch work in her youth. Dude loved playing basketball but entered her first rodeo competition at age 15 in 1939 at a local contest in Matador.
Fern Sawyer was an American cowgirl, rodeo champion, politician and inductee into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. She was the first woman to win the cutting horse competition at the 1945 Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo. Sawyer was also the first woman appointed to the New Mexico State Fair Board. She was well known for her "flashy attire," according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. She lived in Crossroads, Lovington, and Nogal, New Mexico. She was also a charter member of the National Cutting Horse Association and the first director of the Girls Rodeo Association.
Electra Carlin was an American art dealer and gallery owner in Fort Worth, Texas. She operated Fort Worth's longest-running private art gallery, which was also the first in the area founded and operated by women.
Wanda Harper Bush was an American barrel racer who was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1978 and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2017. The August 2017 induction ceremony was ProRodeo's 38th annual event, and marked the first time in the event's history that the class of inductees included barrel racers from the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA). Bush competed in the Girl's Rodeo Association (GRA), now known as the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) and won two World Barrel Racing Championships, in 1952 and 1953.
Mary Ann Dyer "Molly" Goodnight was an American cattlewoman and rancher married to prominent Texas rancher and cattleman Charles Goodnight. She was a 1991 inductee of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.
Nancy Sheppard is a ProRodeo Hall of Fame trick rider and trick roper who was inducted in 2003.
Pam Minick was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2000.
Minnie Lou Bradley was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2006. Bradley is considered an innovator in the beef cattle industry.
