Paul Grose Reflects On Almost 40 Years At King Ranch Grose grew up as a preacher’s kid. He was born in New Hampshire but spent his early childhood traveling with his family in South East Asia as missionaries of the Methodist Church. They went from Malaya (prior to being Malaysia) to Singapore and after four years ended up in Texas. He graduated high school in Austin, Texas and went on to study Ranch Management at Texas A&M. Prior to going to college he spent some time working on his grandfather’s farm located near Claxton, Georgia. Grose shared that this formed his initial interest in agriculture that would carry forth for the rest of his life. While at Texas A&M, Grose took a semester off and went to work on a ranch in Colombia that was owned by his uncle who lived in Florida. “I went there for the experience, to learn the language and to work on a ranch,” he said. 56
He became fluent in Spanish and
possible.
gained hands-on work in South Ameri-
He remembers landing and driving
ca. After college, Grose went back to
for several hours in the pouring rain
work for his grandfather, who wasn’t
before arriving at a big ranch house
ready to retire although he was in his
where everyone was already asleep.
late 70s. While working again on the
Grose woke and had breakfast with
Georgia farm, he decided he would go
the president of the company and
back to graduate school for a master’s
some other employees, starting the
degree in Ranch Management.
first of many experiences working for
“I wanted to pursue a career internationally in ranch management, so I
King Ranch. Grose became the manager of that
applied to work for King Ranch,” Grose
ranch, where he was for two and a
said. “It took me ten months to get an
half years. There were five King Ranch
interview.”
locations in Venezuela at the time, and
At first, King Ranch told him they
although he worked near the coast,
didn’t really have anything for him to
he would travel between the ranches.
do. Grose asked them if he were to go
After that, he was sent to work for a
to South America, what experience
King Ranch cattle and Quarter Horse
would make him a valuable employee
operation in Brazil.
for them in the future. So, hearing
After a few months into the new job,
that, they offered him a job and sent
Grose decided he should either forget
him to Venezuela in May of 1983. He
about his girlfriend back in Venezu-
even missed his master’s graduation
ela or marry her. So, he went back to
ceremony to get there as quickly as
Venezuela, asked Lenoska to marry Golf Central • Volume 22, Issue 1
