Remembering RoyThe Silver Screen Legend XIV Raffle.oday’s kids are so advantaged they can almost beTconsidered disadvantaged as they have so muchyou have to wonder how they can appreciate anything.It’s not their fault; blame it on parents and grandparentswho want to give them “more than we had” and, in someways, wind up giving them less. Things can’t replace timeinvested in their lives.When my generation was growingup we had a real appreciation for thefew things we had. I didn’t realize atthe time how poor we actually were.No government agency tried to sign usup, or politicians curry our favor. Wedidn’t have a car until I was 11-yearsold, so I didn’t think it was unusual togo to the grocery store pulling a wagon.My father died before I was ayear old and mother remarrieda few years later to a good man.He had virtually no educationhaving dropped out of schoolin the 4th grade to work in thecoal mines, but he always hada job, we always had a warm,dry, clean house, although quitesmall and nothing fancy, andmom always set a great table. Idon’t know how she managed onso little money.Saturday evening was alwaysa great treat as mom made a bigpot of popcorn on the stove andmade a large pitcher of Kool-Aid. How could we be poor withsuch treats? Sunday dinner wasalways a roast or meatloaf sowe could have cold sandwiches in theevening as we listened to Jack Bennyand Amos and Andy on the radio. Ithought surely even kings could notlive any better, and I’m saddened thattoday’s kids miss these wonderfulpleasures. We all seemed to be veryhappy with very little; so many oftoday’s kids are so sad with so much.Although my stepdad had virtuallyno education, he was a voracious reader.We always had books, magazines, andwe got a special treat on Wednesdays.Although we lived in Ohio at the time,this was the day you could pick up thespecial edition of a New York paper. Sowe got the Sunday comics early as wellas a magazine section which alwaysThe Silver Screen Legends XIV commemorates Roy Roger’s 100thbirthday and consists of a pair of 5-1/2" Colt SAA .45s in a doublebuscadero rig. This set was recreated by Jim Lockwood, ConradAnderson, Bob Lescovec, Mike Engstrom and Charles Sauer.had a centerfold of a movie star. WhenI got a full color picture of Roy Rogerson Trigger rearing up on his hind legstacked up on my bedroom wall, I feltas rich as a young kid could be. Roywas my hero and it was a wonderfulSaturday afternoon when we could goto town and see a double feature withRoy, Trigger, Gabby and Dale Evansall for 10¢. The fact Roy was bornLeonard Slye in Ohio and a fellowBuckeye made him even more specialto me. I was fortunate to grow up at atime when we had heroes, somethingtoday’s kids have a hard time finding,and Roy Rogers was right at the top ofthe list as “King of the Cowboys.”Of course, it was all make-believe.Even at our young age we knew movieswere not real, but that did not keepus from being positively influenced bycowboy stars such as Roy. In my lateryears I discovered Roy Rogers and hiswife Dale Evans were real-life heroesdedicating much of their life to helpingdisadvantaged children. They adoptedmany such kids and in fact, Dalewrote a best-selling book titled AngelUnaware which told of one of thosechildren. Roy and Dale were bothpeople of faith which they lived outby helping others. Today, one of theirlegacies is found in the HappyTrails Children’s Foundation.Roy Rogers appeared in thepages of GUNS in the earlydays as he was more than justa shooter on the silver screen.He was an avid sportsman,hunter, fisherman, gun collectorand staunch supporter of ourSecond Amendment rights. Iremember seeing him picturedwith a Weatherby rifle andearlier I lusted over the Schwinnbicycle he was sitting upon.Roy Rogers entertained severalgenerations of kids and still seesto their needs today throughthe Happy Trails Children’sFoundation which is located inRoy’s longtime home of AppleValley, California. The foundationbuilt the Cooper Home to provide forabused children. This is a long-termcare facility and treatment center forseverely abused boys. With 40 acresof high desert land it is a wonderfulsetting for healing.continued on page 8990WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • NOVEMBER <strong>2011</strong>
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