BEHIND THE CHUTES AND ELSEWHERE

COWGIRLS DON’T JUST HAPPEN

THEY EARN THE TITLE

            Most girls, born on ranches, were put atop a horse when they were still in diapers by a dad or grandpa.  Some stayed on a horse for the rest of their lives and were fortunate enough to know the true meaning of a cowgirl.  But not all cowgirls began that way.  Some young-uns cut their teeth on silver spoons, or in the middle of a major city, never knowing a thing about a horse, like how soft his upper lip is when it nuzzles up against your arm, or how the trusty steed will stand there when you fall off and wait for you to get back on. 

            It’s not their fault, those city girls, that they didn’t start out with ‘country smarts’.  But some of them became the best cowgirls that were ever made.  Back in the beginning of rodeo and wild west there were women who bulldogged steers, rode broncs, trick rode and roped, rode race horses or Roman rode with a foot on each horse, but had started out  in a much different world.   The story of Claire Belcher Thompson is that kind of a story.

            Claire, whose real name was Gladys Rogers Emmons, was born in Mansfield , Massachusetts , on February 4^th, 1902 , to Florence and Henry Emmons.  In 1907 her mother divorced Emmons and brought Gladys to her grandmother, Frances Rogers Harding, and left her.

Grandma Harding, and her aunt, Mabel Barnes, lived in Mansfield , and raised Gladys to be a proper young woman.  She studied piano at the Conservatory of Boston and attended LaSalle Junior College for one year.  Her aunt also introduced her to horses and riding in a proper way, including dressage.

            Gladys married at eighteen, a young man by the name of Sumner Barton Kirby, and the following year, 1921, they had a daughter, Miriam Frances, who died ten days later of meningitis.  The sudden death of her daughter saddened Gladys and soon her marriage fell apart. 

            She met a rodeo performer named Bob Belcher, whose expertise was as a bulldogger.  Her background with horses and the handsome cowboy gave her a new direction.  Bob taught her to bulldog steers.  By 1925 they were working on the 101 Wild West Show.  She changed her name to Claire and was listed in their program  as Claire Belcher, a lady bulldogger.  She also rode broncs, did some trick riding and was ready to try anything.  It is stated by a Kansas City newspaper that Claire and Bob Belcher led the grand entry of the 101 Wild West Show there in 1925.  By 1929, however, she and Bob were divorced.

            Although the media was sparse in her day Claire got plenty of publicity.  Her varied abilities and outgoing personality caused her to be the subject of many articles.  Her name could be found often in the Billboard, an early day vaudevillian periodical, that had a column for rodeo and wild west performers,  called The Corral; True West Magazine; Hoofs & Horns, just to name a few.

            She married Jack ‘Red’ Thompson who was a trick roper, who won many contests,  as well as a bulldogger.  The two traveled the ‘rodeo road’ from New York to Tucson to Cheyenne to Fort Worth to Kansas City , Chicago , Madison Square Garden and London , England .  Claire was often feted against Fox Hastings, another cowgirl bulldogger, at various rodeos.  She also won the lady bronc riding at London in the Tex Austin rodeo there, 1934.  This versatile couple was well known in rodeo circles, and their names often appeared in the win columns of rodeo results.  They had a wonderful life and the young woman raised in the east, knowing nothing about the western way of life had taken to the life of a cowgirl with ease.  In fact in many interviews she would tell the reporter she was born in Uvalde , Texas , on a ranch.  It is surmised she thought her eastern upbringing didn’t seem quite natural for a cowgirl of her abilities. 

            At the Burwell, Nebraska , rodeo in 1936 Red Thompson was gored by a steer and was never able to compete again.  Although he lived until 1950 his condition deteriorated over the years.  Claire spent much time caring for him.  She tried to continue competing in rodeos and hoped they could live off her earnings, but when that was not enough she put on weekend rodeos, with Richard Akerman, at the Bar C Ranch, near Fort Worth , to help raise money for Red’s medical expenses.  Many of their rodeo friends helped, including Mitzi Riley and her mother, Tad Lucas, who was a good friend.  Claire did many things to make money.  She wrote a column for Hoofs & Horns magazine called “Cowgirl Comments”, and later she was a columnist for “Powder Puff & Spurs” a women’s rodeo magazine.  She also assisted the Marine Corp in their recruitment for World War II.

            She moved to Lake City , Florida , in 1960 after Red Thompson died.  She married Frank S. Lohre in 1963.  Claire knew Frank from her 101 Wild West days as he had been in the management end of the business.  Claire (Gladys Rogers Emmons) Lohre  died on April 11, 1971 , in Lake City , Florida , and is buried in the Spring Brook Cemetery in Mansfield , Massachusetts .   She was, a true cowgirl that earned her title.

            Claire’s descendents are working very hard to gather as much information about this early day cowgirl as possible.  She did not keep in touch with her family during the latter part of her life and they would like to put the pieces of her life together.  If you have any knowledge of her please contact me by e-mail @ rodeogal@airmail.net, and I will put you in touch with her family.