“In 1987 I received a letter from Margaret Formby, President of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Hereford, Texas. She informed me that I had been nominated and selected to be inducted into the National Cowgirl hall of Fame.

                I was elated. I always considered myself a cowgirl. I grew up with cowboys, and I could rope and ride, sing of the west, yodel, and had my own rodeo; therefore I was a cowgirl.

                This new honor—to be recognized by every cowgal in America—that is something I needed to think about. I never thought of myself in terms of being a Real cowgirl. Few of those still existed.

                I vividly remember sitting on a front porch, staring across the prairie. This was the ranch of Maye Hunt Stevens. Her daughter, Bettye Jeane Moore, played bass and sang harmony with me for many years.

                Tom Swatzell, the Dobro King, played with us too. The three of us traveled all over the country together. We had a lot of fun and our friendship lasts to this day.

                Bettye Jeane Moore grew up on the ranch. Her mother, Maye, is a Real cowgirl. I told Bettye Jeane I had met very few Real cowgirls in my life and it would mean a great deal to me if she would take me to her mother’s ranch and introduce me to her.

                Maye is a woman, a mother, wife, help-mate and rancher. She can ride, rope and brand ‘em along with the best cowhands on the place; and when the day is over she can make the best fried chicken and the lightest biscuits ever to enter a hungry mouth.

                Maye is a poet and artist, revels in the west and all it stands for, loves the wide-open spaces and never shirked a day’s work in her life.

                As I sat, motionless, just staring across the wide open plains, I began thinking about all the great women who helped settle the west. I know all about Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane. Until that day, I did not know about Maye Hunt Stevens.

                It seemed an almost impossible task to be the many things required of a Real cowgirl. Maye is all of that and much more because she did it all with grace and with a real love for a life as a Real cowgirl. I envied her passion for living and working, and for the way she admired her family and friends.

                As I look back and think about my life, I have come to the decision that Maye Hunt Stevens should be in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Maye lived the life of a Real cowgirl and has done it with all of the charm and demeanor worthy of such a title. By definition, she is a Real cowgirl and I will always think of her in that way.

                After a fabulous home-cooked meal, Maye, Bettye Jeane and I sat lazily on the front porch, enjoying the view. All the words from all the western songs, so familiar to me, floated across the range; sagebrush, cactus, steers, dogies, horses, saddles, sunsets, prairie and on and on. I found myself staring into a western song. As only Bob Nolan might pen, “A picture no artist ne’er could paint.”

                This vast western country is still home to Maye and it still fits her…perfectly.

                “Look there,” I said, pointing, “I think I see ole Gene ridin’ up.”

                It was that kind of moment. I hope there will be others, but if not, that one will hold me for a lifetime.

                I hope someday Maye Hunt Stevens can ride along with me as a member of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. There is no doubt in my mind that she is a Real cowgirl.”