Tuesday, January 30, 2018

The True West Class of 2018

January 30, 2018
   Here's a fun little feature I am working on which will run in the magazine later this year. I wanted to honor the many fine people who contribute to the magazine's success and I thought it would be fun to show them at a young age, to illustrate that their passion for all things Western has been a lifelong pursuit. This is a sneak peek, at a work in progress:



Let's pay tribute to the scholars, teachers and students of the Old West who have made True West magazine what it is today, the very best history magazine on the face of the Earth. The matriculation continues.



Allen Fossenkemper : Four Years Old (1947) Tucson.  
"I had spent a winter in bed with Scarlet Fever and the Measles so the Doctor told my Mom to take me to Arizona for six months to recuperate." Allen was our first promotions director and to this day promotes the magazine through his performances in his singing group, "The O.K. Chorale."



Tom Jonas: "I think I was about 6 years old in this 1956 photo. We were living in Glendale, Arizona at the time. I don’t remember which cowboy was my favorite—it might have been Roy Rogers. I was also a fan of Fess Parker as Davy Crockett and Guy Williams’ Zorro." Tom does great maps and has located hard-to-find historical locations, like the Canyon de los Embudos site where Geronimo almost surrendered in 1886. Tom anchored our coverage on the Geronimo surrender and the Fly photos in the July, 2017 issue of True West.


GREG CARROLL: "My seventh birthday (1963) on the front porch of my boyhood home in Wichita, Kansas. That's my older sister Jan. I am defending the Plains of Kansas, as the lawman Matt Dillion. I was a late bloomer to True West magazine, discovered it thru BBB's discussions on his radio show. I wasn’t a very good student of history, but now love it and have a lot of catching up to do." Greg is our regional sales manager for Arizona, California, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas (his home state!), Nevada and Washington.


Rod Tinamus: "I was five years old when the shot was taken in 1953. I inherited my interest in American History from my father; whose family arrived here in 1732. I remember there was a picture of the Alamo church in the family photo album that my grandfather had taken in 1936, and when I asked my father about it he told me the story of the battle. At that point I was hooked and began my study of the history of the Old West." Rod appeared prominently in our Emmy Award winning documentary, "Outrageous Arizona" (2012).


Rhiannon Deremo: "I was six or seven (1996) when this photo was taken at a stables somewhere in the Valley of the Sun. I have always loved horses and growing up I loved watching Westerns with my dad. My favorite was 'True Grit' with John Wayne." Rhiannon came to True West in 2015 and is in charge of all things online (she is our social media editor).



Rebecca Edwards: "This photo was taken in May of 1957 when I was four-years-old, at Houston Farms in Rushville, Illinois. I was inspired at an early age by my grandfather's love of history. My great, great grand-father, the Rev. L. John Scripps and his nephews were prominent in newspaper publishing, and my great, great aunts inspired me with their artistic talents. My mother loved Westerns, and we would watch them together as I grew up. As I look back today I can see how the stories of the Old West, injustice, good triumphing over evil, along with art and publishing led me to True West." Rebecca joined us in April of 2012 and she is the graphic designer on the feature you are reading.

"You can accomplish almost anything if you don't care who gets the credit."
—Old Vaquero Saying



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