DTM_Summer'26_Flattened - Flipbook - Page 14
His background on the McElroy Ranch prepared
Elmer well for this job—raised by ranch folks and
knowledgeable about ranch life, he was
comfortable in the dusty arenas and frosty show
barns. He blended in with the ranch crowd,
sporting his own Western-wear gear of cowboy hat,
boots and buckle. His natural humble demeanor
made him a good observer and listener, and he
didn’t interject himself into the stories he wrote,
real or fictional. Indeed, even his autobiography
contains many more stories about the people in his
life than his own interior musings.
Portrait of Elmer in Dress Uniform
Source: Angelo State University–Anni Lipp Kelton Collection
Elmer returned home to Texas without Anne (foreign
liaisons were forbidden by the Army so they would
have to wait until Elmer was a civilian again before
marrying), leaving her family to wonder whether he
would make true on his promise to send for her and
her young son, Gerhard. Elmer continued his
education by taking correspondence classes and,
confounded by the Army’s short list of suggestions for
potential careers for ex-infantry soldiers (walrus
hunter?), he took up day-ranching around Crane, the
only occupation he knew at the time. He and Anne
kept up a constant correspondence, and after various
setbacks and difficulties, Anne and Gerhard arrived by
ship in New York where they were met by Elmer, his
mother and his aunt, who had driven all the way from
Texas. Elmer’s mother bought Anne new clothes to
replace the traditional dirndl—all that she owned—as
well as new shoes, for all that had been available in
war-ravaged Europe were ugly lace-ups, serviceable but
hardly fashionable. She wore her new aqua dress when
she and Elmer got married at his grandmother’s house
in Midland, reciting her vows in practiced English that
she did not understand . . . except for “I do.”
Elmer finished his degree in Austin under the G I Bill,
living with Anne and Gary (as the cowboys in Crane
had dubbed young Gerhard) in a small trailer they
bought to save on rent. While there, he wrote short
stories, carefully studying examples by other writers,
even typing their stories to get a sense of the rhythm
and style that the writers used. He sent his stories to
various pulp magazines, receiving many rejections until
Ranch Romances published “There’s Always Another
Chance” and paid him the princely sum of $65. As
proud as he was to have finally gotten published, Elmer
knew selling the occasional story would not support a
family, and he accepted a job as farm and ranch
correspondent at the Standard-Times in San Angelo
shortly after graduating.
Entrance to McElroy Ranch
Source: Angelo State University–Anni Lipp Kelton Collection
Elmer didn’t give his characters such latitude
either; there’s not a lot of navel gazing in his
work—a man was as a man did, plain and simple.
He could sketch the gist of a character using a witty
anecdote, which was the way of the cowboys he’d
listened to as a young boy. His gift for capturing the
local atmosphere—its terrain, flora and fauna,
sights and sounds and smells—can make you feel
like you’re sitting in the deep shade of a
ranch-house porch after a long, dusty day while a
windmill’s creak keeps time to the rocking chair
you’re sitting in. Elmer saw the beauty in this hard
land of ours, something perhaps only a native can
fully appreciate, and used his descriptive powers to
convey his love of his native country in his novels.
Of the little city that was to be his home for the rest
of his life, Elmer said, “San Angelo was and is a
green oasis, especially for travelers approaching
from the semidesert west . . . As a Boy Scout I had
once camped with friends on the river and thought
San Angelo the prettiest town I had ever seen.
Except for some in Austria, I still felt that way on
seeing it again in 1948.”
