< PreviousAs we were working on this issue, we also were reminded of the significance of the Galveston County Fair & Rodeo — April 8-16.“Amid the cotton candy and cook-offs, there is a serious side — ensuring the ongoing vitality of our region’s farming economy,” event President Paul Tibaldo said.Finally, in this issue you’ll notice a new feature called Seaside Style. The feature is an upgrade and makeover of the long-running Closet Confidential. People express their style in more than clothes, and that’s what we aim to capture in Seaside Style.As always, we welcome your feedback. Please write to editor@coastmonthly.com.Happy trails.LAURA ELDERCoast Monthly Editor10 COASTMONTHLY.COM / April 2016From the EditorMythology has always followed the cowboy. Texans in particular celebrate the lone figure on a horse riding herd on the dusty — or in this case the salty — plains. Mostly, we celebrate the cowboy virtues — honesty, simplicity and hard work.Life is changing for our coastal cowboys, there’s no doubt.Ranch land in Galveston County is dwindling to make way for de-velopment. Most of the cowboys and cowgirls we interviewed for this issue work other jobs to survive these days, while ranching part-time.But the cowboy culture is alive and well here. The best part of pro-ducing this issue was meeting some of the people we featured. These days, everyone’s in a hurry, trying to make a living. But that didn’t stop the men and women we featured from taking time to open their homes and their ranches to us.What struck us most was just how polite and gracious they were, reminding me what I love most about being a Texan.No matter how much things change, people still say “yes ma’am” and “thank you.”Yes ma’am and thank youPhoto by Jennifer ReynoldsCONSISTENTLY RANKED AMONG THE TOP TWO PRODUCERS ON GALVESTON ISLAND FOR DOLLAR VOLUME & NUMBER OF CLOSED TRANSACTIONS• Honored 5 times by the Houston Business Journal for Closed Transactions• Honored by H Texas Magazine• Honored by Heritage Texas Properties as 2013 - 2015 Top Producer• Nationally recognized as Real Trends 2014 Top 250 Real Estate Professional for Closed TransactionsSUE JOHNSON, brokerSUE JOHNSON | Broker Associate | 409.682.9050 | sue@heritagetexas.com | heritagetexas.comwww.suejohnsongalveston.com®409.682.9050PIRATES BEACH WEST4202 RUM BAY | $1,500,000PIRATES BEACH4106 FIDDLER CRAB | $439,000SEA ISLE4038 FORT BEND DR | $224,900SEA ISLE4210 LIBERTY | $269,900LAFITTES COVE 13658 STEWART RD | $515,000SEA ISLE21717 ZACHARY | $398,000PIRATES BEACH4115 PELICAN | $429,000PIRATES BEACH 4111 LONG TOM | $525,000TERRAMAR BEACH 3903 LAGUNA | $260,000SEA ISLE4034 REEVES | $219,000PIRATES BEACH 4022 MUTINY CT | $649,900BEACHSIDE VILLAGE11610 BEACHSIDE | $1,095,000NOTTINGHAM CAMPSITE4009 11-MILE RD. | $559,000PIRATES BEACH 13822 PIRATES BEACH BLVD. | $339,900SEA ISLE4130 KENT | $289,900PIRATES BEACH3705 MARINA | $239,90012 COASTMONTHLY.COM / April 2016ShorelinesWhat do pirates, dogs and bachelors have in common? Coast Monthly readers love them. Last month, we asked readers to vote on their favorite issue of 2015 and the results are in.With 19 percent of the votes going to the October issue, it’s safe to say our readers are hooked on pirates. Despite their bad reputations, these swashbuckling seafarers capture our fascination.From one sea dog to another, our Coastal Canines issue in August was also a favorite among readers, receiving 14 percent of the votes. It’s clear man’s best friend has a special place in our hearts.Moving from hounds on to hotties, our bachelor issue in April took third place with 13 percent of the votes. Who doesn’t love a man in a nice suit?Favorite issue of 2015Coast Monthly last month gave an outdated website for Williams party Boats. The correct website is www.charterfishinggalveston.com.CORRECTIONHere are some comments from read-ers on the issues they love:The issue I voted for was June — Men Who Cook — because who doesn’t want to see men creating in the kitchen? It gives a totally different perspective and approach to the dish, the style, spices and technique, and as a woman who loves to cook, I am in-trigued by what men can bring to the table, especially if they cooked it!– Marisa FolseI loved the August edition on Coastal Dogs, which I hold dear to my heart.– Marita HustedI voted for Pirate Mystique because pirates are badass!– Richard ReidApril. Bachelors. I think women (married and single alike) look forward to seeing Galveston County’s eligible and successful men, especially if they live on the island — i.e. Tony Gonzalez … proof that cool, successful and good looking single men actually live on this sandbar. Keep up the great work!– Sharis DejaynesI moved to Galveston and opened my art gallery here because I love the ocean, and the May issue made me want to put on my flip flops and walk in the sand. You captured the island and ocean feel in a great way. I love it when the cold days of winter are behind us and summer is right around the corner. Well done Coast Monthly.– Robert PetersonHere’s what readers are saying about the March issue:Capt. Williams has accomplished a lot, and while she may be the only woman running party fishing boats in the Gulf of Mexico, she is definitely not the only female ship master in the Gulf of Mexico. There are several female drill ship and OSV (offshore support vessel) masters in the Gulf of Mexico and on ships around the world. Their numbers are nowhere near the men-to-women demographic, but there are enough that it is not an amazing thing when you work with one. We actually have a school at the other end of the channel that turns out several women a year with a license that would cover the Williams Party Boats; they would not know anything about fishing, though. Let’s try in the future to applaud folks that are moving work equality in a progressive direction without dis-carding others with the same accom-plishments that are moving ahead. Capt. Dave HedgepethGalveston Visit coastmonthly.com for more comments about stories.Photo by Stuart Villanueva19%14%13%#4 September – The Food issue#5 December – Coastal Christmas#6 November – Bachelorettes#7 March – Spring Fashion#8 February – Mardi Gras#9 May – Swimsuits#10 June – Men Who Cook#11 July – patriotic party#12 January – Winter TexansYOUR BACK OR NECK PAINIS UNIQUE TO YOU.SHOULDN’T YOURTREATMENT BE, TOO?For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit houstonmethodist.org/orthopedics or call 281.523.3355.At Houston Methodist, our team of world-class specialists uses acomprehensive approach to deliver an individualized treatment plan tothose suffering from neck or back pain. Whether it’s minimally-invasivesurgery or a nonsurgical therapy, our doctors use leading-edgeimaging and rehab technologies to guide our patients to a happier,pain-free life.2020 NASA Parkway, Suite 180Nassau Bay, TX 77058The cowboy lifestyle is in Chance Gardner’s blood. Though he can’t be a full-time cowboy, Gardner raises cattle on his ranch in Hitchcock, is president of the Gulf Coast Ranch Rodeo Association and serves as pastor of Cowboy Ministries Church in Alvin. COASTMONTHLY.COM / April 2016 15Story by Cathy C. BertrandChance Gardner looks like he was born on a horse. Sitting tall in the saddle, he braces against a bone-chilling wind as night falls on Jack Brooks Park in Hitchcock.Gardner’s cowboy hat and thick jack-et might not protect him from the biting breeze, but that doesn’t seem to bother him much. He’s doing what he loves, honing his cowboy skills at a ranch rodeo.Gardner and his wife, Heather, are masters at the cutting competition, which singles out calves from the herd. The contest begins with a nudge to Gardner’s mare. Suddenly, his horse transforms into a traffic cop signaling calves to stop, or move in different directions.As Gardner dismounts from his mare, he calls his sons, 15-year-old Brennan and 16-year-old Haze, to the arena and shares tips about horse skills.“Even though I can’t make a living work-ing as a full-time cowboy, this is something I just have to do,” Gardner said. “I love this lifestyle.”Rough ridersCoastal cowboys stay in the saddle as cattle industry changes and pastureland disappears to developmentPhotos by Stuart VillanuevaChance Gardner, right, and his son Brennan ride down a country road near their property in Hitchcock.16 COASTMONTHLY.COM / April 2016BIGGER THAN LIFE“There’s nothing like cowboy culture in all the world,” said J.P. Bryan, a Texas historian who last year opened The Bryan Museum in Galveston.Bryan should know. He has amassed a collection of some 70,000 books, documents, artifacts and works of fine art exemplifying the history of Texas and the Southwest at the museum, of which he and his wife, Mary Jon, are co-founders. Among items at the museum are saddles, spurs, antique firearms, rare books and maps.“We love to say we’re from Texas,” Bryan said. “Everyone knows Texas is big, and cowboys are bigger than life. Men want to be identified with heroic figures like Texas cowboys, who have the courage to take risks and weather the odds.”But being a coastal cowboy gets tougher each year as development and urbanization encroaches on pastureland. Cyclical beef prices and droughts also make it difficult. The days when Texas families could make a living on ranching alone are fading.Manuel Betancourt moved to Texas as a political refugee in 1964. Betancourt had been jailed in Cuba for three years for re-fusing to give control of his ranch to former Cuban President Fidel Castro. Overnight, Betancourt lost everything.Family friends and a French diplomat helped Betancourt and his family travel from Cuba to Casablanca, Morocco, on a ship. Friends assisted him with passage to New York and relocation to San Antonio. Earl Dicus, the Episcopalian bishop of San Antonio at the time, helped Betancourt, his wife Suzette and children Joe, Rudy and Su-sana move to Galveston. The couple’s fourth child, Gina, was born on Galveston Island.When Betancourt arrived in Galveston, he didn’t have a dime in his pocket. Galveston rancher Shearn Moody Jr. offered Betancourt a job as a ranch hand for $250 a month with free rent and paid utilities. Moody provided the Betancourts with an old camp house on 8 Mile Road on the island’s West End.Betancourt worked for Moody full-time, then part-time. As the ranch declined, he supplemented his income by running cattle for others. After 32 years in Galveston, Betancourt moved to Santa Fe to raise cattle on his own ranch.“All my life, I’ve been running after cows,” Coastal CowboysPhotos by Jennifer ReynoldsJ.P. Bryan, co-founder of The Bryan Museum, and Curator Andrew Gustafson, left, discuss a map showing routes through Texas used by colonists and immigrants. The map is featured in one of the museum’s displays. Saddles, above, and Southwestern works of art, left, along with a collection of spurs, are displayed at The Bryan Museum in Galveston.“Everyone knows Texas is big, and cowboys are bigger than life. Men want to be identified with heroic figures like Texas cowboys, who have the courage to take risks and weather the odds.”– J.P. BryanKELLY KELLEY | BROKER/CO-OWNER | RE/MAX LEADING EDGESALES CENTER NOW OPEN2402 Mechanic Street | Galveston, Texas 77550281.794.9463 | TheStrandLofts.com12’ - 14’ Exposed Duct CeilingsPremium Stainless Steel Appliance PackageGranite, Marble, Quartz or Slate CountertopsCustom Cabinetry & StoragePine Wood FloorsOriginal 10’ WindowsFitness CenterControlled-Access EntryPet FriendlyIn the Heart of Dining, Shopping, Entertainment and the WaterfrontHIGH STYLE FOR AN ELEVATED LEVEL OF LIVINGHISTORIC MADE MODERNEase into a new life at The Strand Historic Lofts and experience a new kind of Texas Gulf living. Loft living in the heart of historic Galveston features bright open spaces with exposed original brick walls and room after room of impressive finishes and authentic details.GALVESTON HISTORIC LOFTSfrom the low $200,000SProud winner of The Landmark Commission “Rehabilitation Award” & The Historic Preservation Commission’s Sally B Wallace Outstanding Rehabilitation Award18 COASTMONTHLY.COM / April 2016he said. “When you’re a cowboy, you have to be half veterinarian to help sick cows, part carpenter to fix fences and gates, part farmer to drive tractors, and know how to rope, ride a horse and drive cattle. Most of the time, you work by yourself. You have your independence.”Betancourt, 88, still runs a ranch opera-tion, but muses about the fate of raising cat-tle and urbanization that has supplanted it. Some of the largest tracts of coastal pasture-land in Galveston’s West End and on Bolivar Peninsula and the mainland have in recent years been snapped up for development and other uses.(Above) At age 88, Manuel Betancourt still runs ranch operations in Santa Fe and on the West End of Galveston. (Right) Cattle graze near a condomini-um construction site in Galveston.“In the next few years, ranches may be over,” Betancourt said. “Many cowboys have to work at other full-time jobs, so they can do what they love as ranchers.”DON’T FENCE ME INTexas still leads the nation in cattle, but most people now live in urban places and are a part of city culture, according to the Texas State Historical Association.More cattle run where there are smaller populations of people, Bryan said.“People still ranch near housing devel-opments, but competition for educating children, building houses and conducting business makes it uncomfortable for full-time ranching,” Bryan said. “To keep the cowboy tradition alive, a person has to look at other enterprises such as a fencing business, milk farming or bee keeping.”While Betancourt and others still raise cattle full-time in Galveston County, it’s be-coming more difficult as rangelands shrink.Ernie Deats can teach a lesson or two about cowboy culture and the chang-ing landscape. And when the Dickinson resident, cattle raiser, author and retired educator talks about his Galveston County ranching heritage, people listen.Deats’ great-grandfather, W.C., moved to Dickinson from Deatsville, Ala., after the Civil War and began ranching on 200 acres on Dickinson Bayou. His grandfather, Edwin, extended cattle grazing by leasing another 1,000 acres. Deats’ father, Malcolm, continued ranching and passed his legacy on to his son, who raises cattle at his K-Bar COASTMONTHLY.COM / April 2016 19RE/MAX LEAding EdgE409-744-33003616 7 Mile Rd.Galveston, TX 77554The Tom and Gerri Team409-789-1672The Sincox Team281-413-0222Frank Burgy 409-771-4773Ryan Moody409-599-1818Kelly Kelley281-794-9463Susanna Mayberry409-234-6618Linda Landrum409-599-8214Rob Roy281-445-5000Nicki Huprich409-599-0490SELLING OR BUYING? 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