Western writing legend, Elmer Kelton honoured

Cowboy culture enthusiasts from all parts of the America and even further afield  kicked off the 22nd annual National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration on Thursday evening last week, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
Guests enjoyed a steak meal and reveled in the art, music and literature that celebrates the way of the West at the American Cowboy Culture Association awards dinner.
The ACCA board of directors judge the nominees and select winners in categories ranging from western music to rodeo awards, said Monica Hightower, an officer of the symposium. Each of the winners took home a miniature authentic leather saddle that sits on a custom-made wooden stand.
Although it was an event to congratulate the 10 ACCA winners, it was also a time to commemorate the life and achievements of the late Elmer Kelton, the award-winning western
fiction writer and the man for whom the symposium was dedicated this year.

“When (Elmer would) get home from work, he’d go to work,” said Steve, Elmer’s son. “We’d have supper and the next thing I’d know the typewriter was clattering. It’d clatter up into the night.”
Steve and his mother, Ann, accepted the dedication award on Elmer’s behalf.