I was down in the basement going through some old boxes and happened to find my lunch pail from my elementary school days. It reminded me of so many adventures. This was no ordinary lunch pail. It was a Roy Rogers Chow Wagon lunch pail. When you run on to something like that, all of a sudden you are transported back to another time. My imagination was brought to life every Saturday morning when the Sons of the Pioneers welcomed me into the world of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Roy, the singing cowboy, and his girl Dale, dog bullet and sidekick Pat in Nellybelle the Jeep. This show, more than any other on television, shaped my vision of the type of man I wanted to become.
Roy Rogers always stood for what was good and right. He lived by a code of conduct held accountable to God. He loved his country. He loved his wife. He never let the bad guy win no matter how insurmountable the odds. I was infatuated with Roy Rogers. While the pony we had growing up was not a palomino like Roy’s Trigger, Tricker was a black and white pinto. During my very young years, I renamed him Trigger. In fact, I renamed by cousin Steve to be Pat. And for years, he was not allowed to call me by my real name, only Roy. I called him Pat. Everybody thought we were crazy, but we lived the Roy Rogers life—me and my horse, and Steve, I mean Pat, was into cars, so he had Nellybelle the Jeep.
We had so many adventures on the 100-acre farm. Sometimes Steve/Pat would be over at our house on Saturday mornings. We would watch The Roy Rogers Show and then get dressed up in our kerchiefs, cowboy hats, six-guns and head on out to the barn to saddle up Tricker/Trigger. One time, I thought I would really get in trouble after I carved RR into the horn of one of my Dad’s best saddles. He didn’t seem to mind. One year, when I was about 8 years old, I was the Master of Ceremonies for the Paris Elementary School Christmas Program. I wore a gray cowboy hat, a checkered shirt with fringe across the front and back, and new cowboy boots. My confidence was at a high when Mom and Dad said I looked just like Roy.
I nearly wore out that Roy Rogers Chow Wagon lunch pail over the years taking it to school. At night, I had a little Roy Rogers lantern to show me the way when we were camping out in the woods or at Cooks Forrest. Roy Rogers had quite the impression on me and still does. Not that I think about it often, but when I do, I remember the lessons he taught by his example. He and Dale did a lot of good for kids during their lifetimes. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Apart from my wonderful parents, brothers and buddy Sonny, Roy Rogers was one of the few people who kept me on the right path. I’ll end with this: As the Sons of the Pioneers would sing at the end of every episode, Happy trails to you!
