Waldrip and his wife, Frances, will leave the place they've spent their entire married life on Friday when he retires as campus superintendent. With them go one of the last links to Farley, who founded this renowned outpost for wayward boys in For ranchers willing to work hard, study and live by Christian values, Farley and his staff promised in return "a shirttail to hang onto.
Landowner Julian Bivins donated acres along the Canadian River to fuel the dreams of Farley, an Amarillo businessman and former wrestler. The old film "Boys Ranch" immortalized the place for moviegoers nationwide. Other than some funding for the public school on campus, the ranch receives no government money. Neither is it tied to a religious denomination, a choice Farley made to keep his ranch free to choose its own paths. A foundation fueled by private philanthropy keeps Boys Ranch running; there is no fee to send children to the ranch.
The campus has expanded continuously over the years. In , the last boys were moved out of the courthouse, now the Julian Bivins Museum. The facility's best-known product would graduate six years later. Waldrip was one of the first people to give me a spanking when I was there," said former U. Bill Sarpalius, who escaped poverty and homelessness on the streets of Houston when he was He was somebody that had the same type of vision Cal Farley had.
He dedicated his life to helping boys, he and his wife and his brother Roger. It wasn't uncommon for misdeeds to be remedied with sore bottoms until then. I wanted them to be remembered. For Thorade, who with his wife cares for 14 ranchers, the elimination of corporal punishment was only one sign that things might be changing too fast here.
He opposes the unilateral use of a prescription parenting technique being installed by ranch president Wes Taylor. Taylor, we've been told to work within the STEP program, but also to use common sense when you get in a situation where a child is totally disrespectful and disobedient," said Thorade, who arrived here last summer.
