Arizona Farming & Ranching Hall of Fame

ARIZONA FARMING & RANCHING HALL OF FAME

BY JANICE BRYSON

The twelfth annual Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame Honorees Dinner was held on March 2, 2019 at the historic Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park. The honorees selected between 2008 and 2019 represent the Navajo Nation to Douglas, Safford to Parker and all points in between. Carole DeCosmo, author and historian, conceived the idea of a farm experience that would include an agricultural hall of fame. The Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame was founded in 2007 to preserve, present and honor the agricultural legacy of the farmers and ranchers in Arizona. The Hall of Fame Committee each year recognizes Honorees, five living and three posthumously, representing farming and ranching families, educators, businesses and the sciences that have created an enduring legacy for future generations.

A source of pride for the Hall of Fame are the books published every five years with the biographies and pictures of each honoree. Preserving the Legacy Volume I includes 2008-2012 honorees and Volume II spans the years 2013-2017. Books can be ordered from www.Azfare. org if you do not find them at a museum gift shop in your area. Posthumous honorees for 2019 included Delmar Dee John from the Buckeye/Gila Bend area who farmed cotton, alfalfa, barley and wheat and Ross Roberts, son of one of the early pioneer farm families in Palo Verde, who started his successful cattle business with 2 heifers. Also Karl Gaius Udall, Eagar, who had the reputation of being an honest man who spent his life furthering the interests of agriculture for his family and his community. Everett Rhodes, Casa Grande, was honored for his contribution to agriculture as director of Project CENTRL, a rural leadership program, as well as his involvement working with FFA and 4-H. Other living honorees included Frank Auza, Flagstaff, one of his lasting contributions to the sheep industry was building the sheep bridge over the Verde River at Bloody Basin. Buckeye’s Perry Family established a cattle ranch at Cordes Junction in the 1880’s and descendants farmed in Phoenix, Kyrene and Buckeye.

Honoree Grace Townsend Wystrach, Elgin, personifies the belief that you can take a girl off the ranch but you can’t take the ranch out of the girl. Her parents Bob and Betty Townsend bought the Rain Valley Ranch near Sonoita in 1949 and their three daughters begin life on a cattle ranch. Grace was the sister who loved the ranch. The girls went to school in Elgin and later Grace headed to the University of Arizona where she was a member of Phi Beta Sorority as well as the Rodeo Club and Quadrille Team. Moving to Southern California after graduation, she taught school and met her future husband, Mike Wystrach, a pilot at El Toro Marine base. During his 17 year military career, the couple and their family would return to the ranch often to help with branding and shipping. In 1978 they returned to Sonoita with their six children to run the ranch for Grace’s father and start one of their own. The family got started in the registered Hereford business when their oldest daughter fell in love with a heifer she saw in Las Vegas. Grace was honored by 4-H for her work with the organization and has been active in the Fair and Rodeo Association of Santa Cruz County. Mike’s interests include operating their Sonoita Country Inn, the Steak Out Restaurant and Saloon as well as the Mercantile Deli.

Grace and her children take her cattle each year to shows from the West to the Midwest culminating with the American Hereford Association National Show. She also sells bulls at two Arizona sales each year. Last but not least of the 2019 honorees is the Chilton Family, Arivaca and Tucson. Jim and wife Sue live at the Arivaca Ranch and brother Tom and wife Kathy reside at the Tucson Ranch. Tom’s son John, the sixth generation involved in Arizona agriculture, in the Owner/President of Handwerker-Winburne, Inc. where he is engaged in the cotton business in Arizona as well as international markets.

Jim and Tom’s father Ken was not only an educator; he and his wife Margaret began their life together on farms and ranches in Arizona. During his ranching career he improved every ranch he purchased throughout his long life. He was named Cattleman of the Year in 1988 by the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association.

Margaret’s family, the Cospers, drove cattle from Texas to Arizona in 1885 and were among the first settlers on the Blue River and in the Duncan area of eastern Arizona. Thomas Chilton and family arrived in Arizona from Oklahoma Indian Territory by covered wagon in 1898. They settled on a farm and ranch now partially covered by Roosevelt Lake. After the construction of Roosevelt Dam, the family moved to the Duncan area where they farmed and ranched.

In 1979, Jim and Tom with their father Ken Sr. joined together to establish the Chilton Ranch and Cattle Company, a cow-calf ranching operation at the Diamond Bell west of Tucson. In 1987, Jim and Sue with sons Ken and Tomas purchased a 50,000 acre ranch south ofArivaca expanding the family operation. Tom has been the managing partner for both ranches since the early 1990’s.

Both brothers have received numerous awards for their contribution toagriculture in Arizona. Jim was Rancher of the Year in 2002 and wonthe Arizona Farm Bureau Oscar. His wife Sue served on the ArizonaGame and Fish Commission appointed by Governor Brewer and iscurrently serving appointed by Governor Ducey. Tom was recognizedfor his lifetime contribution to agriculture when the University ofArizona College of Agriculture granted Tom their Lifetime AchievementAward in 2010.

Nomination forms for the Hall of Fame are available at: www.azfare.org. The completed nomination form and all supporting material, i.e. biographical material, pictures, newspaper clippings, letters of recommendation, etc., must be received no later than Sept. 1, 2019 at: P.O. Box 868 Glendale, AZ 85311