DTM_Summer'26_Flattened - Flipbook - Page 15
Elmer and Anne added two more children to their
family, Steve and Kathy. Elmer stayed on with the
Standard-Times for fifteen years, moved on to Sheep
and Goat Raiser Magazine, and then spent 22 years
as associate editor of Livestock Weekly, pursuing his
own writing as time allowed.
Portrait of Kelton Family, 1957.
Source: Angelo State University–Anni Lipp Kelton Collection
Bobby Frank, who took over Livestock Weekly from
his father, Stanley, worked alongside Elmer for
twenty-odd years. Stanley and Elmer ran the paper
together, writing articles and editorial content,
receiving market reports on a USDA teletype back
when the paper was printed in-house using
Linotype machinery. Houston Harte, who owned
the Standard-Times, was disappointed that Elmer
hadn’t come back to work for him, but Elmer said
that taking the job as associate editor at Livestock
Weekly “was one of the happiest career decisions I
ever made.”
Elmer admired Stanley Frank, a former cowboy
who had poured his “blood, sweat, and guts” into
making a success of his paper, “devoted to the
bonafide rancher at the forks of the creek.”
Though he spoke in the “vernacular of the
cowboy,” Stanley was a tough editor, insistent on
proper grammar and spelling. Bobby confirms this,
having had his own copy regularly handed back to
him covered in red pencil.
Elmer had a great work ethic, stepping in to help
get the paper out when Stanley was ill. Elmer’s son,
Steve, also worked at Livestock Weekly, starting
about the same time Bobby did, helping with
layout and printing. In all those years, Bobby only
knew of two occasions where Elmer got angry,
brief moments that quickly passed.
Elmer, Bobby says, was a humble man, and didn’t
like anyone making a fuss over him. In the
old-fashioned way of the gentleman cowboy, he
never wore his hat indoors. He always made time
for people who wanted advice about writing, quite
a few over the years, who would stop by and visit
Elmer at Livestock Weekly. Patient and encouraging,
he generously shared his phone number in case
they wanted more advice. The front door to the
Kelton’s modest home on Oxford was always open;
Anne, quiet and unassuming like Elmer, shared
her loved of baking with friends and neighbors like
the Franks at Christmas, bringing good wishes and
a fresh pie. Elmer had a nice study, Bobby
remembers, packed with books and VHS westerns,
where he could do his writing—all the hobby
anyone knew him to have.
Elmer, the dubious, reluctant cowboy, became a
fine, authentic Western writer. He never did get
verbal approbation from his father, despite his
success as author of more than fifty novels, seven
of them winning the Spur Award from the Western
Writers of America. His novel, The Good Old Boys,
was adapted into a movie by Tommy Lee Jones.
And the novel that Elmer is best remembered for,
The Time it Never Rained, is dedicated “in particular
. . . to my father.”
According to Bobby, Elmer could type faster than
you can talk, using what today is an antiquated
typewriter that still resides at Livestock Weekly.
Elmer worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
in the office, and chased down stories the rest of
the week, either for the paper or for his
fiction—usually a bit of both, since his characters
were drawn from folks he encountered while
working—and put some 100,000 miles a year on
his company car.
Film Adaptation, Featuring Tommy Lee Jones
Source: IMDb.com
