‘True grit’: Ranching couple in their 90s work together to save cattle from wildfire

SHAMROCK, Texas (KFDA/Gray News) – A photo is worth a thousand words, especially when it tells the story of a dedicated, loving couple in their 90s.

But a recent photo of a longtime ranching couple trying to save their family’s cattle from wildfires in Texas tells their life story.

Delmer Barefoot, 92, and his wife Mildred Barefoot, 91, moved to Wheeler County, Texas and started ranching some 60 years ago.

“She said here’s a farm for sale in the paper ... And I said ‘Yeah,’ looked at it and said, ‘Well, we can’t buy that.’ And she said ‘Well…’ and she kept on. You know how a woman is,” said Delmer Barefoot.

The couple bought the farm but quickly realized that ranching would bring its challenges.

“That first year, we really struggled to make a go of it,” Mildred Barefoot said.

After the initial struggles and getting the hang of things, better times arrived – at least for a while.

Then, their first home was wiped out by a tornado in 1977.

“I was out at the farm on the tractor and this cloud back here looked terrible. I thought, ‘Man, I might oughta go to the house and see what’s going on,’” Delmer Barefoot recalled.

They rebuilt their home in 1978, where the couple has lived ever since.

But even after living through a tornado, the Barefoots have persevered through even worse tragedies, they said.

“We lost our oldest boy in ‘71, and that was harder than the tornado,” Mildred Barefoot said.

The couple has been married for nearly 73 years and say their faith helps keep them going.

“The main thing that has kept me going is my faith in God, and He has helped us through every bit of what we’ve had. And the good times, He’s made them better, more joyful,” Mildred Barefoot said.

Delmer Barefoot, however, said his advice is just keeping his wife happy.

“Just do what she says and go ahead,” he laughed.

Their drive to stick together was on display last week when the couple left the safety of their home to help save their cattle from wildfires.

Delmer Barefoot was adamant about saving the cattle, but his wife wasn’t going to let him go alone.

“Following through on his gut instinct of ‘Go help,’ and I thought, ‘Well, I can’t let him go by himself, I’ll go with him,’” Mildred Barefoot said.

Rayna Barefoot, the couple’s granddaughter-in-law, also showed up to the farm to help her in-laws.

“We pull up, and there they were, both together, trying to open that gate,” Rayna Barefoot said.

Her husband told her to snap a photo of the longtime ranchers.

“And I did, and when I looked at [the picture] I thought wow... true grit, you know. This story has to be told,” she said.

The photo is more than a snapshot. It’s a symbolic capture of the spirit of the couple rising to fight yet another battle together and to pull through again, just like they have done for decades.

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