90-year-old Texas rancher 'thankful' for still 'being able'

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Elmer Maben agrees he is an "old-time cowboy" who still enjoys being around cattle and horses. - Courtesy photo

November 27, 2003 -- When singer/songwriter Donnie Blanz wrote "You Just Can't See Him from the Road," he could easily have been talking about 90 year-old Texas rancher Elmer L. Maben.

A Fayette County resident, Blanz wrote the song about "real" cowboys ... the ones who worked the land to make a living and weren't worried about "wearing designer jeans" or new boots, or having people watch and applaud his every move. Maben, an old-time cowboy, still wears his tight jeans, western shirts and boots ... and, always, his cowboy hat. His idea of a cowboy is just like Blanz's words that describe a "real" cowboy. Maben said he is thankful he is still able to be a part of his ranch, and as he works his cows, he doesn't need a cheering crowd, and you "just can't see him from the road," either.

Maben was born outside of Rotan, in the West Central region of Texas, in 1913, "probably at home," he said. His dad was a farmer and a freighter, using two wagons and four horses to move "anything anybody wanted to move," and even worked on the railroad to help support his family of three children, explained Maben.

After moving to New Mexico for several years when Maben was 18-months-old, his dad purchased a section (640 acres) of land and had cattle, so Maben has been around cattle all of his life. After some time, the family decided to go home to Texas, covering the distance in a covered wagon, picking cotton along the way to help support the family.

Maben's grandfather started ranching in 1882, and his dad bought a section in Red Mud in the fall of 1924 for $12 per acre. Maben said his dad "grubbed out the land," clearing fields for plowing and planting cotton and grain.

After a while, Maben wanted to try something different and meet new people other than the friends he had at home.

In 1937, he decided to try it on his own and went out "cowboying," as he put it, working for ranchers in various places, including the famous Matador Ranch. What he didn't know was that while he was gone, his dad and uncle traded most of their horses and mules for a tractor! He, laughingly, remembered the F-12 Farmall they purchased, because he hated to drive it. He said he did everything he could to ruin it, but it didn't work.

One friend told him, "I just don't know how you farm without a Ford tractor, but I don't know how in the dickens they can farm with one!"

In 1950, Maben purchased the first 63 acres of what is now over five sections of Maben ranchland in the West Central and Rolling Plains region of the state. While the family had always had Jersey cows for milking, Maben has raised Brangus cows for years, using Angus bulls. He said he guesses he's always loved cows since hearing them "bawling" when he was young.

Twice a week, Maben drives the 120-mile, round trip to his ranch in Spur from his home in Snyder. He can still tell which one is missing out of the herd while he drives around counting his cattle. This year's calf crop netted 36 calves out of 40 heifers. And, as other cattlemen celebrate the prices, so does Maben. He was very excited to tell he sold the calves this fall for over $1 a pound, the highest he's ever been paid in all his years of ranching.

His days of horseback riding aren't as often as before, but he still rides in special parades every summer, and rides, occasionally with his son who ranches in Spur, too.

After the death of his first wife, he married Madie Lewallen, after meeting her at a Senior Citizen Dance. Some people thought it was crazy ... an 82-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman ... but his two children and her five children thought it was fine. She sometimes accompanies him to the ranch, and enjoys hearing his cattle tales from years gone by.

Maben is, also, an artist, making characters and windmills from horseshoes in his little shop behind the garage.

When asked what he considers himself, he laughingly said, "I'm a jack of all trades and ain't worth a durn at any of them!"

He cited some of today's young generation of "cowboys ... have it easy, and do their cowboying at night," where they can perform under the lights for crowds of people. "They don't know what hard work is!" he noted.

As far as hard work goes, Maben said digging post holes and building fences is about as hard as it comes, and he's done his share of both, over the years. After oil was discovered on his property, it didn't slow him down ... it just gave him more money to pay the "bean bill."

Today, you can find the Mabens relaxing at home, during the days he doesn't go to the ranch, and if there's a senior dance in any of the surrounding counties at night, they are on the dance floor.

After seven years of marriage, they are looking forward to many more, and he claims that "until the day I die, I'll still have a horse and a cow."