I am honored to say I shared a panel at the MAPCon (Money & Power Conference for Women) with Ms. Connie Reeves this spring. She was a whippersnapper at 101. Warm, gracious, and extremely sharp as a tack…God bless you, Connie, and thank you for being such an amazing human being. From the Houston Chronicle:
Connie Reeves, who taught three generations of girls how to ride horses at Camp Waldemar in the Texas Hill Country and was an honoree of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, died Sunday from the effects of a fall from her horse. She was 101.
In her 67 years at Waldemar, Reeves taught more than 20,000 girls, including my neighbor, Amanda, how to ride. She told them her motto: Always saddle your own horse.”
Her own horse, Dr. Pepper, is 28 years old. The horse had kicked and thrown her several times, and once Connie suffered fractures. Her affection for Dr. Pepper, however, never wavered. She liked a lively horse, she said.
Born in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept 26, 1901…1936 she took a job as a counselor for horseback riding at Waldemar, where she met her future husband, Jack Reeves, a rodeo star and keeper of the camp’s horses. Jack died in 1985.
In 1995, she wrote an autobiography, I MARRIED A COWBOY.
So, when you’re not sure where you are going in life, or how to get there, just remember: Always saddle your own horse!
Angie Tamburello
says:I had the honer of working at camp Waldemar with Connie for four summers. She was amazing. you know when you are little you have supperheros to look up to and be you idol, well then you grow up and forget about those things untel you meet someone like Connie Reeves then you really know what it is like to have a real idol. That means so much more to your life.
Gene
says:I heard a story about Connie Reeves yesterday on NPR (it’s available at the NPR website. I remember thinking how amazing people like her are — they’re the kind of people who, like a fine wine, get better and better with age. They live more in their second century than most people do in their third decade. Spirit. It’s an amazing thing.