Back To Home Page To Archives - Spring of Life - H. Roger Bothwell Roy Rogers and Gene Autry Both Roy Rogers and Gene Autry are gone now. It is a passage for me and I am suspicious also for many other males my age. When we were little boys Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were not singers. They were cowboys. For us city boys they were the ultimate dream role model. I can remember asking my Daddy where cowboys lived and how I could get there. He promised he would tell me when I was old enough to go. He never did. It was the only promise my Dad ever made to me that I can recall his not keeping. I figure either he forgot as the years went by or by the time I was ready he figured I could find my way west. I never liked it much when Roy and Gene sang. It seemed like so much wasted time. They needed to be busy chasing bad guys and bringing them to justice. It was wonderful how they could get punched and get right back up and knock out those bad men. They were shot at and never were hit. They never killed the bad guys they only wounded them so they could put them in jail. They were wonderful. They were different from Superman and Captain Marvel. Those guys were comic book fantasies. Roy and Gene were real. But they grew old and now they are gone. A piece of my childhood is gone with them. I guess I can still listen to records of Roy singing “I’m back in the saddle again” or Gene singing, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer.” Actually that always bothered me because that wasn’t a cowboy song. Alas I guess heroes can’t be perfect now can they? I’m glad Roy and Gene were a part of my childhood. Somehow I think real heroes were better than purple dinosaurs and big yellow birds. I'm Roger Bothwell and my address is hrb1@tiac.net or 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453. Thank you for your support of our faith ministry. Past devotionals can be accessed at Archives