The Arizona Cowboy

There's lots of history in Willcox Arizona and E. Pierre Brehm will tell you all about it.  He's the elderly gentleman, slowed from age and arthritis, who is the official Willcox Tour Guide.  Call him any time and he will set up a tour for you for FREE.  He's retired, you know.

Thankfully E. Pierre opened the Rex Allen Museum for me on my overheated-convection-oven trip to Willcox last week.  No one in their right mind goes there mid summer.  The building has air conditioning, so I spent some time walking around looking at all the stuff from the 50's and 60's western music scene.

You can't miss the windmill courtyard.  Rex was born not far from here in Mud Springs Canyon.  As he grew up, he played guitar with his fiddle-playing dad.  Being a real life cowboy, the rodeo life was for him until he learned how hard it was.  He wandered East to Chicago to become Cactus Rex as part of a vaudeville act.

Along with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, he became one of the singing cowboys in the early 50's, riding his horse KoKo.  By 1954, he was the LAST of the singing cowboys and moved over to a new show Frontier Doctor.  Unfortunately, that didn't last long.

The little town of Willcox was pretty proud of their Arizona Cowboy, beginning the tradition of Rex Allen Days.  What you probably don't know is he had a badly crossed eye which caused him to be very timid and shy.  Surgeries were never able to correct it.  

I have to say this is the most fabulous gunbelt I've ever seen.  I watched in awe every Saturday morning as he rounded up the bad guys and put them in jail.  

Rex Allen was the first to have THAT voice.  Like Sam Elliot or Mike Rowe, you would recognize it anywhere.  Disney recognized it too and he became the voice of their wildlife films and the Carousel of Progress at the World's Fair.  Oh I remember it well!!  

He even had his own show for awhile, featuring the Sons of The Pioneers, writing and singing his own songs.  

He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and inducted into the Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma.  He was also the very first to win the Golden Boot award.  No, I never heard of it before either, but it's from Hollywood to anyone in the business who made significant contributions to the Western Genre of film.  

At any rate, he was a good old boy who came back to Willcox for every Rex Allen Days event, including the burial of his beloved horse KoKo.  The town had this statue built across the street under the big oak tree to remember their hero of the film industry.

Unfortunately KoKo wasn't buried here until he had been moved a couple of times, but alas, his bones are now below this memorial.  Rex cried, as would I.  As you walk around, you may even encounter Rex himself.  They say his family spread his ashes in this park so he would forever be with his beloved horse.  

It's also interesting to note that the town of Willcox is very proud of their cowboy heritage.  In the back room is their own Cowboy Hall of Fame.  The images you see, and there are MANY, are of the local cowboys who made this town possible.  

It was fascinating to me to walk through here, as many of these gentlemen and ladies reminded me of the folks I grew up with on the ranch.  Just good normal cowboy folk.

I thanked E. Pierre for his time and dropped an additional $20 in the box.  It seems both museums here are having a hard time staying afloat.  Since then, I've learned about Apple Annie's Country Store in Willcox, as well as the Pioneer Cemetery, resting place of Warren Earp.  

I think a phone call and an official tour of Willcox should definitely be planned.  There's more history here than meets the eye.