STEVE KELTON is retired from the San Angelo-based Livestock Weekly, where he spent 42 years, the last 25 as editor. A West Texas native, he is a son of the late Western novelist and livestock journalist Elmer Kelton. During his youth, Steve spent as much time as possible on the McElroy Ranch in West Texas’s Crane and Upton counties. Managed by his grandfather, Buck Kelton, the McElroy was where Elmer and his brothers grew up. Aside from journalism, Steve is the author of the nonfiction books, Renderbrook, A Century Under The Spade Brand, a history of the Renderbrook Spade ranch in West Texas; and Grassroots Legacy, a commissioned history of the Texas Farm Bureau’s first 50 years. He lives in San Angelo with his wife.

ELMER KELTON (1926-2009) was the seven-time Spur Award-winning author of more than forty novels, including the Texas Rangers series, the Hewey Calloway series, and the Buckalew Family series. He was also the recipient of the Owen Wister Lifetime Achievement award. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for forty-two years, and served in the infantry in World War II.