Nita Brooks Lewallen
1997 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame Honoree
Nita embraced the ranching life she grew up in. Nita dedicated over half a century exploring the horse industry, particularly thoroughbred breeding, and her contributions have been significant. She was named the Texas Breeder of the Year three years running and became the first woman to receive the USDA and Goodyear Awards for Rancher of the Year.
Nita has been a generous supporter of Cowgirl University, attending events and speaking to the participants about her life. Recently, our Director of Education went and visited Nita and her husband, G.K. Lewallen, who is a 1994 Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductee, at their home in Stephenville. In addition to discovering that Nita makes some spicy chili, we also discovered that Nita and G.K. have trained their dog to run a “barrel” course consisting of various obstacles outside their home.
Some highlights of the conversation:
On receiving the Goodyear Rancher of the Year Award in 1987:
Vela: I’d like to jump to the conservation recognition - the Goodyear Rancher of the Year Award. As I was reading … you had a real problem with the weeds?
Lewallen: Snakegrass. That’s not the official name. They [cattle] only eat it if there’s nothing else to eat. And, when we used to run sheep, they kept it from growing. But we had to quit running sheep because of the coyotes.
And the broomweed is a problem. It takes over certain years. But it’s not poisonous.
It just takes up, keeps the grass from growing. You saw it out here in front of this house. And, of course the cedar and the mesquite eradication is a big part of the program and we keep a Caterpillar going year round …
Vela: The award, then, was for your efforts at trying to control both the snakegrass …
Lewallen: The undesirable grasses.
Vela: And were there risks with that when you opted to spray?
Lewallen: I didn’t know it would work. I just knew it took a lot of money and we had to have certain weather conditions for it to work right. You know, rain at the right time and everything seemed to have worked well and now after all these many years of practicing this program, you can see our fence line at a distance. You can tell where our country begins and the neighbors … there’s always grass on our side. (laughs)
Vela: Right, right.
Lewallen: Not always. But, more so because of this practice. And we can run more livestock because of this. But we manage … not to overstock.
Vela: You were, it’s mentioned repeatedly, the first woman who got the Rancher of the Year. That was a big deal. That was huge!
Lewallen: Yeah, I thought it was.
Vela: And, so, was there kind of a sense of you know, this is kind of a boys’ club and we’re not sure we want her in here and …?
Lewallen: Well, no, really, because I had operated this ranch since I was eighteen years old. I had a sense of pride and you know, I didn’t feel out of place and I felt like this was my business. And I had seen my daddy practice it. And I saw it work.
And, of course, my son was pushing me. “Mother, you can do this, you can do that.” I guess he’s the leading force and you know, I might have weakened but the soil man would come out and we’d walk over the country and he would explain … this weed and that weed. You know it’s really interesting.
On Finances:
Vela: I read that when you were growing up, that it was a struggle for you all -- that things were tight, times were tight.
Lewallen: Right.
Vela: And I wonder if you can talk to me a little bit about that. At the time, did you recognize that you did not have a lot of money and it was tough to make ends meet?
Lewallen: As a child, I really didn’t. I didn’t know times were rough. You know, children are not aware of hardships, I guess. I was aware that we never got to go on a vacation. We never, you know, it was just work seven days a week. As a child if we did have a Sunday, we spent it on horseback, playing Cowboys and Indians. (laughs) Because you didn’t go anywhere in a car. You didn’t go into town to a movie. You didn’t go anywhere. You stayed at home. And horseback was about all there was to do. Climb a windmill … or a mountain. (laughs)
We’d get up, leave the house, Mother would pack us a lunch, and we’d tie it on the back of our horse, be gone all day. And speaking of horses, we ran those horses hard over those hills. They had to be rugged to stand it. Now, horses are so tender-footed. But then, they were used to those rugged hills. My grandson tries roping and he cannot keep the horse sound enough to rope. Well there’s something missing because back in the, my age, occasionally a horse got crippled, but, not to the extent that they do now.
It’s just a rock, well it’s like people. People were more rugged. Horses were more rugged. You know? It was … the difference in time …
Vela: So when you look back now, on your childhood, at the time you really didn’t know because you were happy, you were well-fed, all those things … that you all were struggling ... Your parents, I guess, never talked about it?
Lewallen: No. They really didn’t. There’s one thing that stood out in my mind … then … bank foreclosures were considered a disgrace. I mean, if people had the tags on them you know, it was humiliating. Now it doesn’t mean as much as it did then. But I remember, we owed so much money on this place that my daddy had bought, and the bank inspector would come and inspect our stock. And, we would bow and scrape … you know, like he’s the king, he’s going take it away from us. (laughs) And he’d even lift the lids off the pots Mama had cooking to see what we were having for lunch. And I remember my daddy saying, “Well … if they come today and take it over, all we can claim are our work horses and our milk cows.” Otherwise they’d take all of our livestock, the land … Well that hit me. I knew things were bad when I saw a car coming, and I thought, “Oh, I hope that’s not …” (laughs) They never foreclosed on my daddy.
On Droughts:
Lewallen: The drought was when it didn’t rain … I know you read that book, The Time It Never Rained …
Vela: Yes.
Lewallen: I can relate to that, so well. That Elmer Kelton. And there’s nothing for the livestock to eat. And we had a truck, we didn’t have money to buy food, feed … So, the government paid us to kill … these animals, and that was tragic, tragic …
That was the saddest …
You know, that’s the worst thing I remember. Of course, everything else was good … compared to that. We didn’t talk about it … because it, I could tell that he [dad] was near the breaking point. So, we just didn’t talk about it.
Vela: Right.
Lewallen: He endured it and came out of it smelling like a rose.
On being inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame:
Vela: What is your proudest accomplishment?
Lewallen: I believe being inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. I was inducted as a rancher girl. Not a rodeo girl. But I think that I was categorized as a rancher so, see, it points back to my ranching. And two friends put me up for it. (laughs) I should thank them. Gosh! Have I accomplished that much? (laughs) It really doesn’t seem like I … you know, deserve all the credit. I feel like it’s mostly luck. And I just did the right thing at the right time.
Vela: Well, hard work, wouldn’t you say? Persistence?
Lewallen: Yes, I did work at it.
On women:
Lewallen: When I was still there [Hardin-Simmons], you couldn’t even wear pants on the campus. Now, that sounds like the Dark Ages. And I taught riding. That was the only place I could wear pants was to the stable. (laughs) And now we wear them to church.
Vela: About the pants. At the time, did you really think about it? Did you really think, “this isn’t fair or this is stupid” or did you just do whatever was required?
Lewallen: I had to follow the rules, I thought it was stupid… (laughs)
But, I would never had worn pants to church then.
And, as a little girl, I didn’t wear pants to school, I don’t think, you know, grade school … when it was cold, I wore long stockings. (laughs) And I always wore a hat to church. Always! Not any more. But, you were undressed without a hat. (laughs)
Vela: As someone who’s kind of been in what some would say a historically traditional male kind of business, but now that we’ve seen these changes from when you started to now, for women - do you think we’ve leveled the playing field now? Do you think now it doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man … ?
Lewallen: I don’t think it matters now whether you’re a man or a woman.
But I think it’s up to the woman to demand respect. And they’ll get it … if they demand it. But, you know, I think women can carry, compete against men without being too mannish. You can still be a lady.
Nita Brooks Lewallen and G.K. Lewallen