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Profrle in Courage
The W ord times of Frank DuBois.
By StephenL.Wilmeth

hole in the arena fence

lTlhe size of thejustice
doesn't
do
to the story. The
I
I prelude took place over several

in an impromptu debate.
Frank claims he shed so much light on his
opponent that the young man decided then
and there to change his party affiliation.
Asked where he had registered, Frank had to
admit he wasnt!
The two registered together. They were
then drafted into Republican ward duties
with the former liberal becoming the new
Albuquerque Southeast Heights ward chair
and Frank the new vice chair. That led to the
introduction to the county party chair who
also hailed from cow country.
It was through this chairman that Frank
was introduced to Sen. Pete Domenici.
When the senator decided an agriculturist
was needed on his staff, Frank made the list.
The selection came down to Frank, with a
basted the liberal

hours of horse trading. The level of cow-pasture arbitrage was reaching epic proportions
as the negotiators whittled their binding
agreement toward a conclusion.

It

ended in

the crescendo of splintered fence with the

rider, horse, and steer leaving the scene of the
accident in three directions.

It

started when somebody gave the duo

It evolved into intense
negotiation with the need to prove the little
pony's prowess. The buyer was not getting
the promised results so the seller entered the
some beverage tokens.

arena to offer both horse and rider some

remedial instruction.
When all was set, out of the chute the
steer bolted with roper and horse in hot pursuit. In schooling the horse, too much time
was taken and decisions had to be made. The

horse cut left, the steer turned right, and the

rider continued in a straight-line header shot
tloo.tgh the fence. Folks who witnessed the

spectacle claim that at the onset of the

launch, the rider's eyes and mouth were both
shaped in the silme geometric configuration
as the hole he created when he sailed headlong ttoor'tgh the fence.

Nineteen Sixty-Five
Frank DuBois arrived at New Mexico State
Universilf in the fall of 1965. He was from a
ranching falnily from Corona, N.M. He was
raised in Albuquerque, but family heritage
shaped his life. His friends, cultivated by
summers spent on the ranch, were influences. That group of young men left a per-

manent impression on the school and

certain establishments within Las Cruces for
two generations. Their exploits were somewhat legendary.

His education was hit and miss. Three

Frank refirmed to school

and completed his
bachelorts degree in 1973.
56With a fabulous
comebaclr.,

I closed with

a2,37 GP,\tt he boasts.

At the age of 400 native son
andNl'.M. secretary of
Ag"iculture, DuBois was
convinced he needed to
statr team roping.

Although there was a touchy situation

influenced by cold beer and Merle Haggard
music, Frank prevailed with an emerging
reputation as a commonsense thinker and
capable political operative. He spent five
years with the senator learning the way
Washin$on worked.
Tired of politics, Frank DuBois got the
job of policy analyst for the New Mexico
Department of Agriculture in L979. His last

a subscription to the I'{ational Review.In

real cowboys bulldog.

those articles, he found his natural conservative leanings. Armed with new logic, he lam-

WINTER 201 5/2016

The matter of the Nauqo/Hopi dispute

sealed the deal. The graduate degree holder

awarded a ticket to Washington!

eral. Influenced by his brother, Frank bought

RANGE MAGAZINE

sponsor.)

completed his bachelor's degree in 1973.

'With a fabulous comebacK'he boasts.

Cowtown, N.f., that he was

46 o

land dispute. Frank had been reading the

Congressional Record and he knew about
the legislation. He condemned it. (What he
didn t know was that Domenici was a co-

ical advice, Frank returned to school and

injured one night showing the locals how

Not trusting eastern doctors, he loaded

Two study cases were used in the interview: an analysis of legislation and advice for
the senator's position on the Navajo/Hopi

his chances to lift anything and he d be better

off using his head from that point fonvard.
Mistaking the inference as professional med-

up and drove home to Albuquerque. His

doctor told him his injury probably ended

returned. One departure included a construction job in Philadelphia. It was there,

across the river at

3.7 GPA.

pontificated on the history and the normative values that must be considered for the
ruling. Frank's response was simple. He suggested the senator needed to support the
Navajos because the Hopis weren't New
Mexicans and would have nothing to do
with the senator's reelection. The interrogator left the room smiling and "Pancho" was

"I closed with a2.37 GPAI'

The year L974 set in motion the unlikely
road to Washington and a life never i-agined. It started with an argument with a lib-

times he left school and three times he

bachelor's degree and 2.37 GPA, and a candidate with a master's degree in ag econ and a

dutF for the senator was to organ tze asenate

Natural Resource Committee hearing in Las
Cruces. One contributor of testimony was
Frank's new boss. At one point, the senator
leaned over and asked, "you are going to

should have come easy

of

characteristic pattern

it fficult to get the curl

he wanted in his loop,
he also practiced daily.

brush Rebellion. President Reagan then

When he was on the

road with official duties
he caried a bale of hay

came into office and Frank's name surfaced

and his horns and prac-

for the directorship of the BLM. Shortly

ticed in the eve'fiings in

thereafter, Iames watt, the secret ary

motel parking lots. He

threw at least 50 loops
every day, but that still
didnt fix the problem.

oflnterior, called and offered him the job of deputy

assistant secr etary of Land and Water
Resources.

It was back to Washington for Frank

and his family. They stayed until 19g3

U)
uJ

assessing issues. He read

They exchanged jabs under the table.

For two years, Frank dealt with public_

workings of the Public Rangelands ImprovementAa and the underpinnings of the Sage-

zY
(f
lt

and he studied. Finding

lands policy. He was also exposed to the

sated by reverting to his

work for thatsuy?"

leave me to go

U)

o
m

didn't. Frank compen-

F
E
:)

o
o
a
o
F
o
r

(L

when Bill Stephens, N.M. secretary of Agriculture, offered Frank a job as assistant
director. Frank was lookin g at several

things, not the least of which was his

future. He took the job and it culminated
in his being named secretary of Agriculture
in fall 1987. The country-influenced boy
had arrived. He was home and in the posi-

tion to impact all New Mexico.

"I was the head hog at the troughi'he
proclaims.

At the

age

of 40, native son and secretary

of Agriculture, Frank was convinced he

needed to start team roping. It was an
opportunlty to engage New Mexicans who
were important to the state. It was great exercise and with a bit of qualification it could
even be deemed a gentleman's sport.

Always thrifty to the extreme, Frank

started roping with borrowed...everything.
Horses, saddles and trailers were all extracted

from various and sometimes questionable

characters within the roping brotherhood.
That was made worse by his decision to join
the Riff Raff Roping Club, which held court
at a Las Cruces veterinarian's place.
It was there that he sailed through the

fence at the end of the arena.

It was also
a gray

there r,vhere one night he was riding

mare. When she cut left, Frank held his

slack and followed his steer gracefully off

into

space

for a fleeting moment before he

hit the ground and broke his foot. What

was not known during those times was
what was going on in his body. Always a
fairly gifted athlete, he struggled with
hand/eye coordination.

Something was wrong. Things that

Ar

rop: Frank DuB ois bulldogging with his unde,

Curley McCarey, hazing. It was an in1ury
sustained showing eastern cowboys how to
bulldog that prompted Frank to return to school,
Anovn: Frankloves to be around his young rodeo
athletes and the respect is mutual. He is shown
here presentinghis annual DuBois Award to the
All Around NMSIJ cowboy and cowgtrl in 2013.
The awards are originalbronzes madeby Curtis

kcnr: Frank andhis father, Frank Senior,

mounted and ready to work cattle at the DuBois
Ranch headquarters, Corona"N.M., circa I g 54,
Fort.

His vision became quirkf.At times, he

would even see double. In L990, he learned
what the problem was when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It would prove
to be the chronic progressive form of MS,
and each crisis would result in a stepwise
reduction of physical ability.
Frank and his wife, Sharon, discussed the

matter and made a decision. He wouldn't

retreat yet from the sport nor would he

retreat from his duties at NMDA. He concluded that he had a window of opporflrnity.
So, he went ropin

C'oneRopirt'

Frank roped in New Mexico. He roped in

Colorado and Oklahoma. He roped in Texas
and even in Mississippi. When the nerves in
his feet deteriorated to the point that he
couldrt't keep them in his stirrups, he used
WINTER 2015/2016

o RANGE MAGAZINE .

47

big rubber bands to keep them in place.

When he got to the point he couldn t

hitch to get mounted, he started using a
rubber tool box

as a step

to reach his stirrup.

When he couldn't stand long enough to

curry his horse, he would brush one side
and sit down to rest in a folding chair. When
he couldn't throw his saddle, he got on the
side of the trailer where he could lay his
blankets and then his saddle on his horse. When he
couldn t bend over to attach

four important goals-demonstrating he

could run and be effective in a high-profile
state agency and competing at a high level in
a demanding sport while handicapped-he
set out to address two more.
For some time he had demanded that his
staff keep him abreast of issues from across

the West that would eventually affect New

Mexico. "I was always disappointed in the
duily briefurgi' he admits.
U)
o
d]
His political blog, "The
l
o
Y
z

oYerreach boots on his

horse, he got down on his

CE

lJ-

became a daily briefing for

tr
:)

legislators, policy wonks,

and children of the Ameri-

o
o

When he reached the

point he couldn t keep his

Under his control, it

a
trJ

knees and crawled.

Westernerl' was his answer.

can West

from far and

near. It covers "property

balance, though, he knew
rights, water rights, endanpermanent changes were
gered species, livestock
imminent. In a legislative
grazing, energy produche
couldknowing
session,
wilderness, and westtion,
periods,
long
for
n't stand
It also
agriculture."
ern
pride
and
his
he swallowed
hiswestern
enough
mixes
wheelchair.
a
fittully rented
music
and
literature,
tory
hearing,
After a three-hour
Buster b ecame Fr ank' s nitY anA.
to keep it fun and lively. It
Their partnership was unique.
he headed to the bathroom.
has become such a ritualisHe
help.
no
He accepted
that it has taken a
morning
in
the
read
tic
door
the
and
button
pushed the handicap
the Bible of many
place
alongside
pennanent
was
he
"swooshl'When
opened with a big
westerners.
and
button
the
pushed
ready to exit, he again
It also devotes time and space to rodeo,
the door again opened with a big swoosh,
of the NMSU rodeo program, atrd
matters
his
boots
distance
but he misjudged the
Rodeo Scholarship Fund. The
DuBois
the
door
the
between
stuck out and was trapped
to be the final rung on his list
happens
latter
and the wall.
He singlehandedly
achievements.
greatest
of
ordered,
he
backi'
"Whoa, whoa...back,
realizing that steel horse didn

t respond to

lifted the fortunes of NMSU rodeo. When

voice commands like his favorite rope horse,

Coach Jim Dewey Brown arrived, he' along

Buster.

with Frank's funding support, elevated the

program into national prominence. Frank

Buster had become Frank's nirvana. He

had come to Frank as a seasoned but some-

what troubled horse. Both of them found

comfort in a unique partnership. There are
stories of Frank coming out of the header's
box only to find himsef off balance. Rather
than score the steer, Buster would "run to

balance" and keep Frank upright and centered. Th.y might wind their way down the
arena, but when Frank was back under control the horse would again concentrate on
the steer. Theywon saddles and trophybuck-

but their real success was a most

special humar/equine bond of trust.

les together,

loves

to be around his young rodeo athletes

and the respect is mutual.

His autobiographical sketch reads:

"Frank DuBois...New Mexico secretary of
Agriculture, former legislative assistant to a
U.S. senator, a deputy assistant secretary

Interior, and the founder of the DuBois

Rodeo Scholarshipl'Each step brought personal recognition. He will be known bythose

markers, but his most revealing chatacter

may not get full public scrutiny. It is much
too personal. Some will describe it as an
intense work ethic while others will describe
it simply

Sftl Fighting for the West

Frank DuBois retired from his post as secretary of Agriculture in 2003. Eventually
bound to his wheelchair, he embarked on
new challenges. Having accomplished two of
48

RANGE

MACAZINE

WINTER 201 512016

of

as

heart.

L. Wilmeth, a rancher from southern

Niw Mexico, sals, "Frank DuBois has made
us all better stewards, and for that we remain
at
forever grateful." Frank can be reached
Stephen

mscowboy@Wail.com,

I:TTERg
(Continued from page

j5)

RANGE contributors present a greatdeal of

common sense but the writer from North
Pole, Alaska, hit the nail on the head with "go
back to the Bible." In it are all the things we
are doing wrong and how we have put the
creation ahead of the Creator and His ultimate plan for creation. The starting point to
getting back on track, if it is not too late,
would be to humbly put Christ back in
"Christmas." Our revisionist historians have
skewed our compass; 2 Chronicles 7:I4points
the way.
Nonrvr Ross , GnsetsY

Httt,

CermonmH

"Xrnas" goes back about a thousand years and

is an ancient and respeaful use of the word
Christmas. "X" is Greekfor Chnst and not a
negative

for this holy and joful hokday.-Cl

CI: Thankyou for the reply. I was unaware

of the history of the origln of the word Xmas.
am appreciative of your explanation and not at

all offinded. Respeafully, Norm

Myhusband
packed mules on
the Flathead Forest

in Montana...

tells some harrowing stories

about the fire

camp supply trips during fires. And some
people want to take livestock out of the

mountains. Recent legislation-The Merced

River Plan-no longer allows operation of
stables and pack strings in Yosemite National
Park, effective 2016.
Ppccv KnnrzeR vLA FecEsoor

HEtt ON

EARTH

On the phone last week, speaking of the crtastrophic collapses ofwestern ecosystems and
economies by wildfire and other causes'
nature restoration genius and ftiend Mark
Vande Pol ("Wildergarten" author) muse&
wish certain lying, money-grubbing nature
expertswould worry more about going to
hell-and spend less time making hell on
earth with their policies." Kinda sums it up.

"I

Srsvs Rtcu, Sarr LerB CtrY, UreH

COOL STUFF
My son, Linden, seven' said to me today:
"God isn't finished with me yet, and I guess
he never will be, because even when I'm rotting there'llbe some really cool stuffgoing on
with me." lfm...yeah. Keep smiling.
Smnne D.S.

Hott,

Hnqspnrn, Mot'l-tRNR