Biography
I am a third generation Arizonan born in Prescott and raised in Rimrock. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of helping my family ranch and farm along the beautiful Beaver Creek. Most of my free time was spent exploring Beaver Creek its tributaries and the surrounding Verde Valley on horseback. The valley was amazing because there was never a lack of new things to explore! There were unique geological formations of limestone, colored sandstone and ancient lava flows, caves, canyons with vertical walls, winding arroyos, mesas, high vistas and hidden valleys, rivers, streams, springs, artesian wells and swimming holes, ancient Indian ruins, turn of the century structures abandoned by ranchers, farmers, merchants, miners, cavalry, outlaws and gangsters, mesquite bosques, cottonwood groves and juniper forests and abundant wildlife.
I attended Beaver Creek Elementary and during a film project made in celebration of the schools centennial I was one of the lucky students chosen to interview Eulalia “Sister” Bourne author of several books including Ranch Schoolteacher. We visited the site where the school had been located along Walker Creek where she taught her very first class, then a site not far from the schools current location. I found a small object in the soil and when I asked her what it might be she replied that it looked as though I had found a piece of one of her old corsets. The fact that only a fragment remained was a good indicator of what 'the Woman in Levis' thought of corsets! The film produced by the students of Beaver Creek School is part of the Sharlot Hall Museum collection.
When my family gathered each year to celebrate my paternal great grandmothers birthday I would get a chance to meet Larry Toschik a distant relative and a prominent artist and illustrator. I always brought a drawing to give to my sweet ‘Granny” for her birthday and it was a great inspiration to me when Mr. Toschik would comment on my talent. One year he gave me an autographed copy of the February 1976 Special Issue of the Animals of Arizona by Larry Toschik Arizona Highways Magazine. I have it in a frame in my office to this day.
I loved the rich cultural history and traditions of the Verde Valley and in 1986 I competed for and was honored to win the title of Colonel’s Daughter. The title of Colonel’s Daughter is derived from the novel of the same name written by Captain Charles E. King who came to Fort Verde in 1874. The Colonel’s Daughter, escorted by the Camp Verde Calvary, leads the Fort Verde Days parade, among other duties. It is a tradition which began in 1960. The young contestants are judged 50% on horsemanship and 50% on poise and personality. I think one of the most memorable moments was when the Camp Verde Calvary presented me with a pair of spurs in keeping with the Colonel’s Daughter tradition of ‘earning her spurs.’
In 1988 while attending Yavapai College Clarkdale Campus I met William Ward. Will was born in Tucson and his family had been in Arizona for generations. His grandmother’s family, Merritt, had owned a sawmill, general store and post office in Camp Wood. Merritt Springs in that area is named for his grandmother Lois Merritt Ward who also authored the Apache Pass Cookbook. His father Don, born and raised in Prescott, was a range conservationist and at one time worked for the Beaver Creek Ranger District.
My passion has always been for art and, thankfully, God has blessed me with a natural artistic talent. As a young girl, my first drawings were of horses. Through the years I expanded my subjects to include the beautiful inspiration that I recieve from all of my Southwestern surroundings. To experience standing next to a towering saguaro on the sun-baked desert floor, then, standing next to a towering blue spruce on a high alpine vista overlooking the same desert where I had stood only an hour earlier, and, to have experienced all of the rich biodiversity in between is truly awe inspiring! The Southwest is blessed with such a rich bounty of the beautiful character of God's creation that I can only hope to portray a small portion of that bounty through my photographs and my artwork. But, not only is the Southwest blessed with a natural bounty, it is also blessed with an amazing history of culture and traditions. My passion as an artist is to strive to translate and portray, within a two-dimensional surface, not only what I see in my surroundings but also what I feel and percieve. I look forward to learning and exploring new techniques of artistic expresion and growing in understanding of the world around me.
It is difficult for me to choose from graphite, colored pencil, water miscible oil and water color which is my favorite medium but of these I have always felt the most comfortable using graphite. I am continually amazed by the finest detail and richness of tone and texture that can be produced by such a simple tool. How the style of a pencil stroke or the starkness of contrast can alter or create the mood of an entire piece. I also love color for the great range of effects it has on emotions. With colored pencil, oils or watercolor, either through dry or thinned washes or light pencil strokes, I can layer my colors to create wonderful depth of tints and hues. Also, with these techniques, I can achieve the fine detail that I feel is so necessary to portray my subjects.
In 2004, I partnered with The National Day of the Cowboy because I believe in their mission. I have also used my talents to preserve the Western tradition of lending a helping hand. I have donated several murals to the 943rd Rescue Group stationed at Davis Monthan Air Force Base and donated the patch design currently in use for the Montezuma Rimrock Fire District. May God bless those who serve and protect our great nation!
I currently reside in Tucson along with my husband and my son. Here I enjoy the incredible beauty and culture of the Sonoran desert from the back of a mountain bike.
Accomplishments:
2010 2nd Place, Professional Color Photography,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2010 4th Place, Professional Fine Arts, Oil Painting
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 Best of Class, Professional Fine Arts, Oil Painting,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 1st Place, Professional Fine Arts, Oil Painting,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 2nd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Oil Painting,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 3rd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Oil Painting,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 Merit, Professional Fine Arts, Oil Painting,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 1st Place, Professional Fine Arts, Graphite Drawing,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2008 3rd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Graphite Drawing,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2006 2nd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Graphite Drawing,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2006 2nd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Colored Pencil
Drawing, Pima County Fair, AZ
2006 2nd Place, Professional Theme Division, Collage, Pima
County Fair, AZ
2006 3rd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Colored Pencil
Drawing, Pima County Fair, AZ
2006 3rd Place, Professional Fine Arts, Graphite Drawing,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2004 1st Place, Fine Arts, Graphite Drawing, Fort Verde Days
Art Show, AZ
2004 Honorable Mention, Non-professional, Colored Pencil
Drawing, Arizona State Fair
2003 Best of Class, Non-professional, Oil Painting, Pima
County Fair, AZ
2003 1st Place, Non-professional, Oil Painting, Pima County
Fair, AZ
2003 1st Place, Non-professional, Watercolor, Pima County
Fair, AZ
2003 2nd Place, Non-professional, Colored Pencil Drawing,
Pima County Fair, AZ
2003 1st Place, Fine Art Adult, Watercolor, Davis Monthan
A.F.B., AZ, Artist and Craftsman Contest
2002 1st Place, Fine Art Adult, Watercolor, A.A.C.C. Artist
Craftsman Contest
2002 1st Place, Fine Art Adult, Watercolor, Davis Monthan
A.F.B., AZ, Artist Craftsman and Photography Contest
2002 3rd Place, Fine Art Adult, Graphite Drawing, Davis
Monthan A.F.B., AZ, Artist Craftsman and Photography
Contest
2001 1st Place, Non-professional, Gouache Painting, Pima
County Fair, AZ
2001 1st Place, Non-professional, Graphite Drawing, Pima
County Fair, AZ
2001 3rd Place, Non-professional, Watercolor, Pima County
Fair, AZ
2001 3rd Place, Non-professional, Acrylic Painting, Pima
County Fair, AZ
1989 2nd Place, Adult Novice, Ceramic Sculpture, Verde
Valley Fair, AZ
1989 2nd Place, Adult Novice, Ceramic, Verde Valley Fair, AZ
1988 Artist of the Year, Graphite Drawing, C.V.H.S, AZ
1988 1st Place, Adult Novice, Wood Burn Drawing, Verde
Valley Fair, AZ
1988 Honorable Mention, Adult Novice, Colored Pencil
Drawing, Verde Valley Fair, AZ
1987 3rd Place, Leather Tooling, Fort Verde Days Art Show,
AZ
1987 Honorable Mention, Graphite Drawing, Fort Verde Days
Art Show, AZ
1986 2nd Place, Junior Arts, Acrylic Painting, Verde Valley
Fair, AZ
1984 Best of Show, Junior Arts, Graphite Drawing, Verde
Valley Fair, AZ
1984 1st Place, Junior Arts, Graphite Drawing, Verde Valley
Fair, AZ
1984 1st Place, Junior Arts, Graphite Drawing, Verde Valley
Fair, AZ
1994 Associate of Arts Degree, Glendale Community College
2008 Artwork used as the watermark for The 2008 National
Day of the Cowboy, Cowboy Keeper Award.
2007 Donated artwork for the Grace Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Tucson, AZ Summer Series bulletin covers
2007 Assigned by The National Day of the Cowboy to draw a
compilation of Texas state cowboy history for the 2007
National Day of the Cowboy Heritage Project
2006 Assigned by The National Day of the Cowboy to draw
a portrait of John Farris, 2006 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame
Inductee
2006 Assigned by The National Day of the Cowboy to paint a
portrait of Bob Robinson, 2006 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame
Inductee
2006 Donated artwork for the 2006 2nd Annual National Day
of the Cowboy Commemorative Hatch Show Poster
2005 Donated a wall mural for the 305th RQS, Davis Monthan
A.F.B., Tucson, AZ
2004 Donated a wall mural for the 305th RQS, Davis Monthan
A.F.B., Tucson, AZ
2003 Designed logo for Beaver Creek Realty, Rimrock, AZ
2002 Donated patch design for Montezuma Rimrock Fire
District, Rimrock, AZ
2001 Donated two wall murals for the 305th RQS, Davis
Monthan A.F.B., Tucson, AZ
2001 Letter head design for Desert Hawk, 305th RQS, .A.F.R.
monthly newsletter
1991 Designed banner for Blue’s Buzzard Chili
1989 Design for Camp Verde Saddlebag’s Pony Express Card
July 15th, 2006 to February 2007, Two pieces of Fine Art displayed at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Gallery in Colorado Springs, CO
Family History
In 1884 my ancestors came to the Arizona Territory. They were part of one hundred families who left behind their homes in Utah to settle in the rugged and wild land. In the Spring of that year my great, great-grandfather Miles Reay, a farmer and school teacher, his wife, Emily, nine year old Miles William, who was born in Kanosh, Utah along with his three younger siblings, gathered their belongings and livestock for the arduous journey. The large group was broken into small bands in order to survive the scarcity of water in what few watering holes there were. The Reays traveled with the brothers Lorenzo and Seth Wright and their families along with a couple of other families. Young Miles William walked most of the journey. They crossed the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry where the horses and cattle were driven into the river and forged their way to the other side while the wagons and people were carried across by ferry. The families followed the dangerous trail that lead them through the Mogollon Rim country. By the time they reached Showlow the cattle had grown thin and weary so they were left behind to recuperate at the ranch of a family friend. The families continued on to Fort Apache and up the Gila River. The Gila Valley, the main settlement area of the 100 families, had only a Calvary post to protect them from the bands of the Chiricahua-Apache that escaped placement on the San Carlos Indian Reservation and traveled up the Gila River. In October of 1884 the Reay family arrived in Solomvile in the Gila River Valley where they made a temporary dug out home. The Reay family along with their friends the Wright brothers and their families later moved to Thatcher, a town of only seven families, where Miles homesteaded 80 acres. After a fire destroyed the Reay home and all of their belongings Miles built a house made of mesquite fired brick that still stands today on Reay Lane in Thatcher, AZ.
Emily was a tough little lady who helped her husband Miles clear the mesquite-covered land to plant a fruit orchard and helped him care for the animals they had brought with them all while raising a family and keeping up a home. She was remembered for her little sayings like “I’ll get as far as Hades and that’s it” and for never turning down or losing a horse and buggy race!
Miles William, my great grandfather, learned to work cattle at the age of 10 alone on the open grazing land on Mount Graham. Naturally it took a lot of skill to raise cattle in this country. The farming area in the Gila Valley is consistently flat except for Mount Graham, which towers above the farm lands to a grand 10,000 feet above sea level. As a young man, Miles ran freight wagons from Globe to Wilcox as his father had done. Later he and his brother Luke operated a livery stable in Globe and ran a stage coach line. When the mines opened up in Hayden in 1910 they sold the stage coach line but kept the freight teams which they used to level the ground for the mill and smelter to be built. They saved up their money and bought land along the San Pedro River. Luke went on his own a few years later and bought a ranch farther south at the mouth of Aravaipa Creek. Miles built the Seven Slash Z Ranch which ran 12 miles up the San Pedro River and up Crozier Peak. He farmed, had orchards and ran cattle.
Lucile Ellington, my great, grandmother, moved to Arizona in 1915. She was 20 years old when she came to live with her Aunt Lily who was teaching school in a two room farm house two miles from Winkelman. The property was owned by Miles William Reay who had leased it to the county to be used as a school room and teacher’s quarters. Since he was a widower with no children he had moved to a small cabin on the other side of the farm. When Aunt Lily died of pneumonia a few months later, Lucile decided to become a teacher. She attended Northern Arizona Normal School in Flagstaff, which later became N.A.U. She received her teaching degree in only one year. She took a job teaching in Aravaipa where she lived for two years before she moved to back to Winkelman. Later she taught at Hayden Junction but had no means of transportation. When Miles learned of her predicament he gave her a beautiful horse to ride and a courtship began. When the flu epidemic closed the schools in 1919 Miles proposed and he and Lucile drove to Tucson to get married. The school house became a farmhouse once more. My Grandfather Newton Reay was born there in 1929. In 1929 when the stock market crashed the Reay family was more fortunate than others as the farm and orchards had been very prolific and Great Grandpa Miles was not one to go into debt for land, stock or equipment. The mines shut down and many people in the Hayden-Winkleman area had no income and no food. The Reay family gave food to the poverty stricken families in that area. When the market price for cattle dropped below the cost of shipping them the Reay’s future looked very dim. They had five small children. Miles and Lucile opened a store in the screen porch of their ranch house. They knew they couldn’t get much for their products but decided anything would help. They sold beef, pork, poultry, fresh eggs, milk and what fruit and vegetables they didn’t give away. Lucile was kept very busy when local residents learned what could be purchased for little money at the Reay’s farm/store. She worked the store and cared for the family while Miles worked the farm, orchards and cattle. The Reay family was able to survive the Depression better than most. When Miles Reay retired in 1945 he sold the Seven Slash Z Ranch. He, Lucile and their younger children moved to Glendale Avenue where he had a small farm and a few farm animals just to keep him busy. In 1956, Lucile bought a cabin in Oak Creek Canyon and began the family tradition of summer vacations at “Granny’s Cabin.”
In the summers, after the ranch was sold, my grandfather Newt would head for the mountains where he would cowboy for other ranches. In the Spring of 1948, at a hay ride for a church youth group, he met Rosemary. Rosemary was born in Phoenix at the Eva Harris Maternity Home and raised in the farming community at North 19nth Avenue between Northern Avenue and the Arizona Canal. Her family had seven acres of citrus and belonged to the Arizona Citrus Association. Newt and Rosemary married in October of 1948 and moved to Oracle where Newt worked building roads and clearing land on the backside of Mt. Lemmon. They later moved to Winkelman and lived in the old farm house on the Seven Slash Z. They had eight children including my father John. Grandpa Newt farmed and did construction work and in 1967 moved to the Verde Valley to farm and ranch on Beaver Creek. They ran cattle under the Triangle Bar X brand. Grandpa Newt and Grandma 'Rosie' currently own the Trout Creek Ranch on Trout Creek which is near the head waters for the Big Sandy River in Northwestern Arizona. There, along with my dad, John, the family raises cattle and farms alfalfa hay.
I wish I knew as much of the family history on my mother’s side as I do my father’s side. My mother Bonnie was born in Phoenix. She is a Paramedic, Flight Nurse, Instructor, a Shift Captain for the Montezuma Rimrock Fire District and I just can‘t keep up with nor would I have room to list everything else she has done and is currently doing! Her father John Girvin was born in Tucson in the maternity hospital called The Stork’s Nest. He joined the Marines and was assigned to security for the atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands. When he was discharged he moved to Buckeye back in the day when cattle still grazed the Black Canyon Highway. He meet and married a pretty gal named Alice, worked for Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph then later transferred to Williams where he left the telephone company to work on power line construction. Alice went to work for the government at the Army’s Navajo Ordnance Depot in Bellemont where the family lived for awhile, later she went to work for the Northern Arizona University library where she finished out her career. Grandpa John Girvin joined the Bill Williams Mountain Men in 1955 and is a lifetime member. The group was started in 1954 by Williams residents to promote their town and its history. They dressed up like the town’s founder, a hunter and trapper in the early 1800’s named Bill Williams, and made a 150 mile horseback ride, called a rendezvous ride, to Scottsdale to participate in the JayCees’s Rodeo of Rodeos Parada Del Sol. Grandpa John has made the rendezvous ride 19 times.
Family history completed with the help of: the Reay and Girvin families, Zane W. Mead, and the book, 'Emma Posterity and You' compiled by Freda L. Allred.
This page was last updated: July 19, 2016
