WEBVTT 00:00:02.786 --> 00:00:04.892 Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:00:04.892 --> 00:00:19.969 In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. 00:00:19.969 --> 00:00:22.442 Here's your host, Aaron Alejandro. 00:00:30.250 --> 00:00:37.576 Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:00:37.576 --> 00:00:45.784 We appreciate you stopping by and taking a little time out of your day to spend a little time with us. 00:00:45.784 --> 00:01:00.887 It's an honor to have this platform and this technology where we can invite guests on and we can share their experiences, their insights and maybe, along the way, we pick up on something that we can put in place in our lives and make our lives better. 00:01:00.887 --> 00:01:03.847 That's the reason why it's called Grow in the Future. 00:01:03.847 --> 00:01:06.906 I've always said if you want to know what the future is, grow it. 00:01:06.906 --> 00:01:08.771 Well, how do you start that? 00:01:08.771 --> 00:01:14.632 You got to find something to plant, you got to take care of it, you got to harvest it and you got to share it. 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:18.628 And today we have a very, very special guest. 00:01:18.628 --> 00:01:24.927 Excited for y'all to meet this man and I'm excited to share his story with you. 00:01:24.927 --> 00:01:26.831 And you're about to find out why. 00:01:26.831 --> 00:01:31.066 So, ladies and gentlemen, we have Mr Winston Chandler. 00:01:31.066 --> 00:01:39.831 Winston, you're retired, you were at Boys Ranch for years, you drove trucks, but you're just an all-around good guy. 00:01:39.831 --> 00:01:41.515 Thank you for joining us today. 00:01:41.534 --> 00:01:43.280 Well, thank you, thank you for joining us today. 00:01:45.468 --> 00:01:54.480 Well, thank you, we're going to dive in here and we're going to have a good time talking about some things. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:59.743 Mr Chandler, before we start, I always ask guests. 00:01:59.743 --> 00:02:06.737 Every guest on this show gets the same question, and the first question that every guest gets is what are you grateful for today? 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:09.741 What are you grateful for today? 00:02:09.741 --> 00:02:10.462 What are you grateful for today? 00:02:10.462 --> 00:02:14.550 Well, one thing is I'm glad I live in the united states and I love america and I love texas. 00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:20.105 And the other thing is, uh, my beautiful wife that I lost. 00:02:20.105 --> 00:02:28.584 That's, that was the most important thing to me, because if it wasn't for her I'd have, I'd have never made it myself, and everything. 00:02:28.584 --> 00:02:43.383 She is the wise one of the bunch and so she was always calm and cool and everything, and I was always going 90 miles an hour and everything, and so so I'm grateful for that and everything. 00:02:43.383 --> 00:02:49.939 And then the other thing is the Lord's been with me and helped me and blessed me my whole life and everything. 00:02:49.939 --> 00:03:04.210 And that's the main thing for me is you know you can't do nothing without the Lord, and when you think there's nobody else around, you know he's the one that comes and helps. 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:06.909 I agree Everything you said. 00:03:06.909 --> 00:03:07.717 He's the one that comes and helps. 00:03:07.717 --> 00:03:08.823 I agree Everything you said. 00:03:08.823 --> 00:03:09.907 We could stop right there. 00:03:09.907 --> 00:03:12.628 So I'm like you. 00:03:12.941 --> 00:03:13.905 I love my country. 00:03:13.905 --> 00:03:19.908 I love the liberties that I have, the freedom that I have, that I get to choose what I want to eat. 00:03:19.908 --> 00:03:23.763 I get to choose if I want to play a sport, what sport I get to choose. 00:03:23.763 --> 00:03:24.915 If I want to play a sport, what sport I get to choose. 00:03:24.915 --> 00:03:31.674 What job I want, I get to choose what I listen to on the radio or what news I want to watch or what entertainment. 00:03:31.674 --> 00:03:40.669 I mean we are so blessed to live where we live and have all the opportunities that we have and then also to be blessed with a beautiful family. 00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:46.390 So I agree with you, and that beautiful woman that Winston was referring to was Ollie. 00:03:46.390 --> 00:03:53.133 We called her Ollie Pearl and that was Mr Chandler's, like he just said. 00:03:53.133 --> 00:04:04.246 That was his balance, and Ollie was a great, great, great woman and I know she was proud of you and proud of all that y'all have accomplished for both your family and for so many others. 00:04:04.246 --> 00:04:08.151 So thank you for sharing what you were grateful for today. 00:04:09.334 --> 00:04:10.254 Well, thank you. 00:04:11.941 --> 00:04:14.926 Okay, so let's start talking about some things. 00:04:14.926 --> 00:04:21.826 So for the folks that don't know, let me tee up why this is a very unique podcast interview. 00:04:21.826 --> 00:04:32.572 For those that do not know, that may not be familiar with my background, I'm going to give you just a very brief synopsis to tee up this man's role in my life. 00:04:32.572 --> 00:04:35.466 I grew up in a broken home in Dallas. 00:04:35.466 --> 00:04:37.732 My mom and dad divorced when I was six. 00:04:37.732 --> 00:04:40.423 My father passed away when I was 10. 00:04:40.423 --> 00:04:43.127 This was in the 70s. 00:04:43.127 --> 00:04:44.310 I began to rebel. 00:04:44.310 --> 00:04:50.646 You can't tell now, but I used to have really long, bushy hair and I got into a lot of trouble. 00:04:50.646 --> 00:04:52.850 And my mom tried everything. 00:04:52.850 --> 00:04:55.805 She tried the church, she tried big brothers and big sisters. 00:04:55.805 --> 00:04:58.232 She tried several things and nothing was working. 00:04:58.232 --> 00:05:02.327 And finally, september 3rd 1980, she said that's it. 00:05:02.327 --> 00:05:11.060 She said I've tried to help you, I've tried to get you straight. 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:11.723 You don't want to get straight. 00:05:11.723 --> 00:05:12.303 I'm going to get some help. 00:05:12.303 --> 00:05:13.125 And so we flew from Dallas to Amarillo. 00:05:13.125 --> 00:05:19.504 At Amarillo they put me in a van and they drove me 36 miles into the country to a place called Cal Farley's Boys Ranch. 00:05:19.504 --> 00:05:33.422 And when I got to Boys Ranch, the first thing they did was they took me down and they introduced me to this woman and her nickname was Abdul the Butcher and she was the barber and she cut all my hair off. 00:05:33.422 --> 00:05:38.380 And then I remember they said we got to go to the dining hall to say goodbye to your mom. 00:05:38.380 --> 00:05:45.983 And here are 400 boys in this dining hall and I remember they said you know, say goodbye to your mom. 00:05:45.983 --> 00:05:49.250 I was real i's still the real tough guy and I just remember saying see you. 00:05:49.250 --> 00:05:53.142 I meant that's how I said goodbye to my mom is I'll see you. 00:05:53.142 --> 00:05:57.071 Uh, the rest of the story for that, paul harvey rest. 00:05:57.091 --> 00:06:01.084 The story is two weeks later I'm on the phone crying going mom, please get me out. 00:06:01.084 --> 00:06:02.788 I swear, swear, I'll straighten up. 00:06:02.788 --> 00:06:14.468 But I remember I left the dining room and they took me over to the counselor's office and I was sitting in the counselor's office and at this point I got to tell y'all I was getting a little nervous. 00:06:14.468 --> 00:06:21.764 I'm sitting there by myself and this boy sticks his head around the corner and he says hey, are you the new kid? 00:06:21.764 --> 00:06:22.906 And I said yeah, I'm the new kid. 00:06:22.906 --> 00:06:25.509 He goes what dorm are you going to be in? 00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:28.091 And I said I'm going to be in Bridwell dorm. 00:06:28.091 --> 00:06:30.115 And the guy goes ooh, bridwell. 00:06:30.115 --> 00:06:32.744 And I said what's so ooh about Bridwell? 00:06:32.744 --> 00:06:35.550 He goes, have you not met your dorm parent yet? 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:36.540 And I said, no, who is it? 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:38.541 And they said his name is Winston Chandler. 00:06:38.541 --> 00:06:41.064 I said, well, tell me about Mr Chandler. 00:06:41.064 --> 00:06:42.867 They said Mr Chandler. 00:06:42.867 --> 00:06:51.415 He's about five foot nine, he weighs about 185 pounds, he bench presses over 400 pounds and he's the hairiest man you've ever seen. 00:06:52.716 --> 00:07:07.262 At about that time it's like that kid sees a ghost, he takes off and this big old cowboy turned the corner and he took his cowboy hat off and he said hello goes, my name is Winston Chandler, I'm gonna be your daddy for the next four years. 00:07:07.262 --> 00:07:20.064 And I remember my jaw hit the ground and he said darling, out here at boys ranch you're gonna take math, science, history, english, but out here at the boys ranch you got to take a vocational program. 00:07:20.064 --> 00:07:23.430 Well, I had never heard of a vocational program. 00:07:23.430 --> 00:07:25.613 It sounded a lot like vacation. 00:07:25.613 --> 00:07:32.442 So I was like see, I signed me up for that vacational program and I remember I asked Mr Chandler, I said what do they have here? 00:07:32.442 --> 00:07:40.165 And you said well, they had like building trades, skillsusa, and they build houses and work on cars. 00:07:40.165 --> 00:07:50.579 And then they said we have this other program called Future Farmers of America, and I said Future Farmers of America? 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:54.230 I said I can't be no farmer, I'm from Dallas. 00:07:54.230 --> 00:08:03.492 And then I remember Mr Chandler looking at me and he said said, darling, you're never going to learn anything unless something depends on you. 00:08:03.492 --> 00:08:10.050 And I never forgot that he said you're never going to learn anything unless something depends on you. 00:08:10.050 --> 00:08:19.732 So Mr Chandler told me he said I'm going to put you in ag because you're never going to learn anything unless something depends on you. 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:35.664 Ladies and gentlemen, that day set in path the reason why we're even on this podcast today, because mr chandler, this man right here, is the one that put me in agricultural education. 00:08:35.664 --> 00:08:38.331 This guy's one that put me in the ffa. 00:08:38.331 --> 00:08:42.525 Now, I had a rough start in the ffa but I finally found my. 00:08:42.525 --> 00:08:45.673 I went on to become the state FFA president. 00:08:45.673 --> 00:08:50.932 I went to Texas Tech University on five scholarships. 00:08:50.932 --> 00:08:53.865 I've been so blessed. 00:08:53.865 --> 00:08:55.753 I've been to coast to coast. 00:08:55.753 --> 00:08:58.743 I've been in every state in the United States except for Alaska. 00:08:58.743 --> 00:09:01.328 I've been able to take my family with me. 00:09:01.328 --> 00:09:06.461 We've traveled all over, all over the United States, even did a mission trip in Mexico. 00:09:06.461 --> 00:09:14.488 So many of you that may be listening to this know that we started a national organization for foundation officers called LEAD. 00:09:14.488 --> 00:09:36.107 I don't know that any of the things that have happened within the Texas FFA that I've been privileged to be a part of, or anything nationally, could have ever happened if this man right here had not, on that day in September of 1980, put me in agriculture, put me in ag education in the FFA. 00:09:37.292 --> 00:09:47.004 Now y'all understand why I said this is a very special guest, because the fact that we're all talking and the fact that you're here today is because of Winston Chandler. 00:09:47.004 --> 00:09:52.663 So, mr Chandler, I've given everybody a little bit of background of how we came together. 00:09:52.663 --> 00:09:54.706 But let's go back in time. 00:09:54.706 --> 00:09:57.191 Tell us a little bit about you. 00:09:57.191 --> 00:09:58.793 Where did you grow up? 00:09:58.793 --> 00:10:01.004 Tell us a little bit about your family. 00:10:01.004 --> 00:10:07.941 Give us a little bit about your background about your family. 00:10:07.961 --> 00:10:08.802 Give us a little bit about your background. 00:10:08.802 --> 00:10:18.226 Well, I was raised on a farm in a ranch and, uh, I had two older brothers we were seven years apart and I never get I never did get to be a little bitty kid, my thing. 00:10:18.226 --> 00:10:25.291 I was driving a tractor when I was six years old and I could shoot a shotgun and ride a horse and do stuff like that. 00:10:25.291 --> 00:10:29.870 I didn't play with toys, I had to be a big boy like my brothers and stuff. 00:10:29.870 --> 00:10:41.504 And you know, you know it's just I started out and we worked hard and we played hard and I think that's what you have to do and that's you know. 00:10:41.504 --> 00:10:45.673 And I had a, you know, had a good family and stuff like that. 00:10:45.673 --> 00:10:53.874 And after, you know, after I got up, pretty good size and everything, then my folks split up. 00:10:53.874 --> 00:11:05.389 So I know what it is to come from a broken home and so the best thing that happened to me is when I met Ollie Pearl and everything and she went through the same thing I did. 00:11:05.389 --> 00:11:06.851 She is when I met ollie pearl and everything and she went through the same thing I did. 00:11:06.851 --> 00:11:12.297 She come from from a broken home and stuff, and a lot of my folks they were. 00:11:12.297 --> 00:11:16.107 They were alcoholics and stuff like that and everything. 00:11:16.107 --> 00:11:20.823 And so we decided, well, we're gonna, we're gonna do something different. 00:11:20.823 --> 00:11:24.591 My kids ain't gonna do that, we're gonna do something nice. 00:11:25.153 --> 00:11:28.024 And we were real young when we got married and everything. 00:11:28.024 --> 00:11:30.269 I didn't think I'd ever live to be 21. 00:11:30.269 --> 00:11:35.148 Everybody treated me like a kid, but I had to work like a man and everything. 00:11:35.148 --> 00:11:39.864 And I finally got to be 21 so they got to treat me like a man and everything. 00:11:39.864 --> 00:11:49.370 But uh, you know the thing of it is, you know we got away from her folks and my folks and we depended on one another and everything. 00:11:49.370 --> 00:11:51.368 And so we made it work. 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:58.974 And so we come to Amarillo and I had all kinds of jobs. 00:11:58.974 --> 00:12:03.812 I worked in the oil field, on our cowboy-owned ranches and done this and that and all that. 00:12:03.812 --> 00:12:15.842 I always had two jobs and everything and uh, but most important thing to me was, you know, my kids and everything, because I wanted my kids to. 00:12:15.842 --> 00:12:18.428 I didn't want them to go through what I did. 00:12:18.428 --> 00:12:21.183 You know it's just like the kids I raised at boys ranch. 00:12:21.183 --> 00:12:27.202 You know them kids, they come from all walks of life and stuff and everything and uh. 00:12:27.202 --> 00:12:32.971 But uh, I was the youngest dorm parent ever hardly boys ranch. 00:12:32.971 --> 00:12:41.750 I was five, 25 years old, 25 years old and I wasn't too much older than the seniors and everything. 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:46.250 But you know, uh, you know boys ranch was a working ranch and everything then and everything, and. 00:12:46.250 --> 00:12:52.505 But you know, boys Ranch was a working ranch and everything then and everything, and we took a lot of kids right off the streets and right out of jail. 00:12:52.505 --> 00:12:56.210 If they didn't make it at Boys Ranch they went to Gatesville. 00:12:56.210 --> 00:12:59.628 Then none of my kids go to Gatesville. 00:12:59.628 --> 00:13:02.259 I kept all of mine and everything. 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:07.868 And the most important thing to me was you know them kids just needed a chance. 00:13:07.868 --> 00:13:12.279 You know, somebody had a gill crap about them and everything. 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:16.831 And so me and Ollie worked hard at it and everything. 00:13:17.461 --> 00:13:40.256 And so I know you and Jerry Grooms, you know you all recognize us at rodeo one time back and I think it was 95, and you give us a plaque and everything and I was working at the rodeo grounds doing getting ready for rodeo and ollie was selling tickets at uh, the barbecue place and everything. 00:13:40.256 --> 00:13:43.005 They said they need y'all at the dining hall. 00:13:43.005 --> 00:13:46.423 I said, well, I got two months to do to go to the dining hall. 00:13:46.423 --> 00:13:49.513 So anyway, they said, no, you need to get there. 00:13:49.513 --> 00:13:51.539 So anyway, I got out and we went there. 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:58.592 Well, you and jerry, you know, gives that and all the exes there and all that kind of stuff. 00:13:58.592 --> 00:14:09.563 It was a that was a big day for us and everything and so uh, uh, but you know, it wasn't I don't think it was really the things that me and ollie did. 00:14:09.563 --> 00:14:18.792 You know, I just had a lot of help with the lord helped us, you know, to try to do the right thing with the kids and and stuff and uh. 00:14:19.052 --> 00:14:24.826 But you know you know your kids, just like you you're, you're one of my kids. 00:14:24.826 --> 00:14:35.221 You know, you're no different than you know my own kids and stuff, y'all are all the same to me and everything. 00:14:35.221 --> 00:14:41.505 And so you know, now I'm an old guy now and so you know all the kids I raised at Boy's Ranch. 00:14:41.505 --> 00:14:45.749 They're all grandparents now, just like kids are and everything. 00:14:45.749 --> 00:14:49.412 But you know my immediate family. 00:14:49.412 --> 00:14:52.614 I got 12 great-grandbabies. 00:14:52.614 --> 00:14:53.914 I'll soon have 12. 00:14:53.914 --> 00:14:58.037 Wow, well, that's just part of the family. 00:14:58.037 --> 00:15:04.354 The rest of the family is the Boyer's Ranch, kids are got and everything. 00:15:04.354 --> 00:15:07.567 I have a whole bunch of grandkids, great grandkids, and everything. 00:15:07.567 --> 00:15:09.567 They're family too, you know. 00:15:09.567 --> 00:15:15.330 And so you know I probably got more kids and grandkids than anybody in the country and everything. 00:15:15.330 --> 00:15:20.620 And I'm proud of that and everything because you know it makes you feel good when you. 00:15:21.143 --> 00:15:24.947 You know you help kids and you see how they turn out. 00:15:24.947 --> 00:15:29.828 And you know they're good family men, they're good fathers, they're good husbands. 00:15:29.828 --> 00:15:34.188 They work hard and they play hard and that's what I tried to teach at Boys' Range. 00:15:34.188 --> 00:15:36.047 You know we play to win. 00:15:36.047 --> 00:15:37.926 You know you never quit. 00:15:37.926 --> 00:15:41.943 You know don't ever give up and there's always a better. 00:15:41.943 --> 00:15:47.715 You know it's better tomorrow be a lot better, you know, than today and everything. 00:15:47.715 --> 00:15:50.208 And so you have to work hard and you have to play hard. 00:15:51.160 --> 00:16:04.547 And so you know at my age I'm nearly 82 and everything I still cowboy on the ranch, help feed cows, I detail cars, I make pens and rings, I do woodworking stuff. 00:16:04.547 --> 00:16:08.322 I stay busy all the time doing something you can't quit. 00:16:08.322 --> 00:16:13.379 You got to keep your mind working in your body, working all time and everything. 00:16:13.379 --> 00:16:19.913 And so you know whether you're good at sports or whatever you're good at and everything. 00:16:19.913 --> 00:16:26.052 You know your handshake and when you tell somebody something it's got to mean something. 00:16:26.052 --> 00:16:37.753 You got to mean what you say and say what you mean, and I always said about raising kids, you know you can give out but you can't never give up because you never know what you're going to say or do. 00:16:37.753 --> 00:16:38.975 That will change that kid. 00:16:38.975 --> 00:16:46.019 You know he may be a bad kid one day, but tomorrow he'll be a better kid or he'll be a different kid and everything. 00:16:46.421 --> 00:17:05.449 And so and I took all kinds of kids and it's hard to raise somebody else's kids and fill shoes for somebody else and everything, but you know it's, that's just, that's part of it and everything, and so I just always felt like I needed to. 00:17:05.449 --> 00:17:09.943 You know, do that and my kids was the first ones to. 00:17:09.943 --> 00:17:16.056 You know they ever have a vehicle, ever have a job or a place to live. 00:17:16.056 --> 00:17:21.791 When they graduated, they went to college or they went to the military. 00:17:21.791 --> 00:17:26.819 Or they give them their suitcase and talk call them to the town office. 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:29.730 Well, I told the board one day. 00:17:29.730 --> 00:17:38.666 I was in there on the grocery run on Friday, on the grocery run on friday. 00:17:38.666 --> 00:17:42.459 I said you know, if a kid had a job and a place to live and a way to get there, his chances is making it is a whole lot better than the kids. 00:17:42.459 --> 00:17:45.469 You haul the town with his suitcase and say there it is. 00:17:45.469 --> 00:17:50.038 And so, anyway, I got that changed and everything. 00:17:50.057 --> 00:18:00.694 So my kids the first ones to do that, and then the kids that stayed there and didn't have nowhere to go at christmas I took the you know, I took them bird hunting and everything it's. 00:18:00.694 --> 00:18:03.990 Oh no, you can't give them kids, a gun, you'll kill somebody. 00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:08.287 I said the most dangerous thing they'll ever do is drive automobile. 00:18:08.287 --> 00:18:09.670 It won't be shooting a gun. 00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:16.049 And we had game wardens there and everything where they could take the safety course and all of that and everything. 00:18:16.049 --> 00:18:21.806 And I was proud of that because my kids got to do a lot more than other kids, you know, and everything. 00:18:21.806 --> 00:18:29.626 And so, uh, you know, it's all a learning process, everything's a learning process so, mr chandler, let's real quick. 00:18:29.747 --> 00:18:31.049 So where, where was? 00:18:31.049 --> 00:18:32.551 Where were you originally from? 00:18:32.551 --> 00:18:33.634 Where was home for you? 00:18:34.214 --> 00:18:36.078 Plains, texas Plains. 00:18:36.318 --> 00:18:36.759 Texas. 00:18:37.846 --> 00:18:45.914 We lived about three miles from the New Mexico line, a little place called Bronco, and my dad farmed and ranched there and everything. 00:18:45.914 --> 00:19:03.875 And when I went to school I was the first to know and the last to know and in the wintertime it was dark when I went to school and it was dark when I got off and I still had to milk and I still had to gather eggs and feed the stock and all that stuff in the dark with a lantern. 00:19:04.244 --> 00:19:05.431 We're going to come back to that. 00:19:05.431 --> 00:19:11.913 So you and Ollie, you said y'all, what year did you move to Amarillo? 00:19:11.932 --> 00:19:14.709 you said oh, I moved here in 1964. 00:19:14.709 --> 00:19:14.950 64. 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:15.751 And then, when did you go to Amarillo? 00:19:15.751 --> 00:19:17.577 You said oh, I moved here in 1964, 64. 00:19:17.597 --> 00:19:19.445 And then, when did you go to work for the ranch? 00:19:19.465 --> 00:19:22.993 1968 when I first came back. 00:19:23.013 --> 00:19:34.553 Well, I worked for cookbook bread and so you and Ollie were at the y'all were dorm parents, what we used to call dorm parents, and how many years were y'all dorm parents? 00:19:34.553 --> 00:19:40.579 27 27 years yeah was yeah. 00:19:41.161 --> 00:19:51.867 We lived in the dorm longer than anybody's ever been there and I've raised more kids than anybody's ever been there so let's talk about that real quick because we've got a lot of viewers, a lot of folks that'll be listening. 00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:57.888 So when we say a dormitory, when I was out at Cal Farley's Boys Ranch there were 16 dorms. 00:19:57.888 --> 00:20:06.755 There were eight dorms in what we called the valley, down in the valley, and then there were eight dorms up on top we called Hilltop, or up on the hill. 00:20:06.755 --> 00:20:09.146 There were 16 dorms. 00:20:09.146 --> 00:20:12.291 There were 24 boys to a dorm. 00:20:12.291 --> 00:20:14.276 So think about this. 00:20:14.276 --> 00:20:26.973 You would walk into the front of the dorm and we had what we called the big room, so you had a big room, and then on each side of the big room there was staff housing, so there were staff apartments on the sides. 00:20:26.973 --> 00:20:40.147 And then as you went into the back of the dorm, there was a long hallway and back there in the back there were six rooms, six rooms, and every two rooms were connected by a bathroom. 00:20:40.147 --> 00:20:43.535 So you had six rooms connected by the bathroom. 00:20:43.535 --> 00:20:46.125 Every room had four boys. 00:20:46.125 --> 00:20:56.516 So every room you went in there were four beds, a study desk and then each of us had our own individual closets that we were allowed to keep our stuff in. 00:20:56.516 --> 00:21:05.145 So imagine this dormitory setting and the big room and the staff, housing and then each individual room. 00:21:05.145 --> 00:21:12.769 A normal day for us would look like this we would get up in the morning and everybody in the dorm we would clean the dorm. 00:21:12.769 --> 00:21:20.335 So everybody in the dorm would work on some type of job clean dorm unless you had after-school activities. 00:21:20.335 --> 00:21:27.778 If you were an athlete or you had after-school activities, you would normally get up and you would go to your job on the ranch. 00:21:27.778 --> 00:21:31.875 You would have to go take a job on the ranch If you stayed at the dorm. 00:21:31.875 --> 00:21:35.788 You'd finish cleaning the dorm, get ready for school and then we would walk to school. 00:21:35.788 --> 00:21:40.635 The boys that were out working they would do their jobs and then they would walk to school. 00:21:40.635 --> 00:21:42.980 We'd go to school all day long. 00:21:42.980 --> 00:21:52.823 At the end of the school day, if you were an athlete or involved in school activities, you would go to the school and you would do your practices or whatever that may be. 00:21:52.823 --> 00:21:55.584 If you didn't, then you had an afternoon job. 00:21:55.584 --> 00:22:04.517 So then we're either at school or we're working and then from there we would go from there to the dining room for dinner that evening. 00:22:04.517 --> 00:22:12.159 After the dining room we would come back to the dorms and study or hang out. 00:22:13.805 --> 00:22:19.645 Now times have changed, but back in our day we didn't watch TV during the week. 00:22:19.645 --> 00:22:22.593 The only time we watched TV was on the weekends. 00:22:22.593 --> 00:22:28.713 Everything in the middle of the week was about studying and being productive and being brothers to one another. 00:22:28.713 --> 00:22:35.334 And then on the weekends, the weekends were good because sometimes we got to go to town. 00:22:35.334 --> 00:22:37.728 You got to go to town once every three weeks. 00:22:37.728 --> 00:22:40.337 If you're good, you have to earn your privileges. 00:22:40.337 --> 00:22:42.847 At Boys Ranch everything is earned. 00:22:42.847 --> 00:22:44.132 It's based on incentive. 00:22:44.132 --> 00:23:00.315 So we would earn our privileges and if our privileges were good, we got to go get a Coke or an ice cream or something sweet, and then we would go to church, we'd go to chapel and we would dress up, we'd have chapel dress, we'd go to chapel and then, like I said, we'd get to go. 00:23:00.315 --> 00:23:09.090 On occasion We'd get to go to town and in town we could go to a movie or roller skating or go to the mall and just do the normal things that teenagers would do. 00:23:10.212 --> 00:23:19.617 But Mr Chandler I hope everybody caught that he operated in that facility, in that dormitory setting, for 27 years. 00:23:19.617 --> 00:23:22.209 That means 27 years. 00:23:22.209 --> 00:23:26.979 He raised his family in that little apartment right there next to the boys. 00:23:26.979 --> 00:23:29.529 That means for 27 years. 00:23:29.529 --> 00:23:32.857 He saw kids coming in and out of his dorm. 00:23:32.857 --> 00:23:44.317 And I remember when I went there I went to I was in Bridwell dorm and you know there were kids that had been out there. 00:23:44.356 --> 00:23:55.316 There would have been some kids that had been there for a long time They'd been there since they were little kids and there were some kids that weren't there maybe a year before me and they came from all over the country. 00:23:55.316 --> 00:23:57.199 So it's kind of like going to college. 00:23:57.199 --> 00:24:03.432 You know, one of the benefits, I think, of going to college is you get to meet people from all over and so you get to learn different perspectives. 00:24:03.432 --> 00:24:05.240 Well, the dorm was the same way. 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:13.771 We had people from all over the state, all over the United States, that came from different backgrounds, and so we got to learn from one another about life. 00:24:13.771 --> 00:24:15.836 And this is the guy that led us. 00:24:15.836 --> 00:24:17.109 This is Mr Chandler. 00:24:17.109 --> 00:24:21.469 He led us, he led me for four years of my life, my high school years. 00:24:21.469 --> 00:24:32.816 Mr Chandler made that possible, and so I wanted to make sure everybody kind of had a reference point of what that looked like to be in the dorm, to understand what he just shared. 00:24:33.605 --> 00:24:38.327 So, mr Chandler, one of the things that I like about this show is. 00:24:38.327 --> 00:24:47.994 I tell people, if you'll just listen, if you'll just listen to somebody's testimony, you're liable to learn something that you can put in place in your life. 00:24:47.994 --> 00:24:51.449 And I've already heard you say a few things loud and clear. 00:24:51.449 --> 00:24:54.413 Number one you better work hard. 00:24:54.413 --> 00:24:59.401 Number two it's okay to relax and play hard. 00:24:59.401 --> 00:25:03.111 Number three you better compete. 00:25:03.111 --> 00:25:05.217 You're going to have to compete. 00:25:05.217 --> 00:25:09.309 Number four you better have faith. 00:25:09.309 --> 00:25:11.556 You better have something that you're grounded in. 00:25:11.556 --> 00:25:16.032 And then, number five life's not a solo project. 00:25:16.032 --> 00:25:20.553 You better have somebody or some things around you to help you get through life. 00:25:20.553 --> 00:25:32.615 And, mr chandler, you've already shared all of those in a very short period of time, and that's, that's powerful stuff well to. 00:25:32.775 --> 00:25:38.121 You know, when I first started boys range, we had 36 kids in the dorm, not 24. 00:25:38.121 --> 00:25:53.291 Oh, wow, wow when I started and everything and everything and so, uh, but you know, the first part of the kids was, you know, they were off the streets and out of jail and stuff like that. 00:25:53.291 --> 00:25:59.221 Well, then later on we went to taking kids from broken homes and stuff like that. 00:25:59.221 --> 00:26:02.595 Mama can't raise the kids and work and all of that. 00:26:02.595 --> 00:26:05.314 That's the reason I wound up with a lot of brothers. 00:26:05.314 --> 00:26:10.765 I raised a lot of brothers and everything, big families and stuff like that and everything. 00:26:10.765 --> 00:26:21.560 And so you know it's one of them things where you know you have to adapt to whatever's coming, you know, and everything. 00:26:21.560 --> 00:26:25.251 But you know it's just, it's one of them things. 00:26:25.251 --> 00:26:31.996 You know you got to have faith in what you're doing and you know you got to have help from other people and everything. 00:26:31.996 --> 00:26:39.407 And you know that's the reason my thing was is you know me, when we played sports, we played to win. 00:26:39.407 --> 00:26:43.978 We didn't play to lose, we played to win, and it's the same way in life. 00:26:43.978 --> 00:26:48.460 You got to play to win and everything, and you got to count for something. 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:51.087 You know your words got to mean something. 00:26:51.087 --> 00:26:55.196 You know you got to mean what you say and say what you mean and everything. 00:26:55.196 --> 00:27:02.048 And so you know it's. 00:27:02.048 --> 00:27:04.025 You know that's just part of life and that's what you have to do and everything. 00:27:04.025 --> 00:27:14.490 And so I tried to teach, you know, all of my kids that and stuff like that and but you know, look at all the kids, Look at what they've done. 00:27:14.490 --> 00:27:18.075 You know they've done better than anybody. 00:27:18.075 --> 00:27:24.336 You know a kid that don't have nothing, Stop it out with flat nothing and everything, and then look at what to do. 00:27:24.336 --> 00:27:25.711 Look at you for a little day. 00:27:25.711 --> 00:27:31.156 You know you were a troubled kid, stuff like that and all that and everything. 00:27:31.156 --> 00:27:32.689 But you know you had to depend on somebody. 00:27:32.689 --> 00:27:33.531 You know you had to believe in something. 00:27:33.531 --> 00:27:33.973 You know you have to. 00:27:33.973 --> 00:27:35.318 You had to depend on somebody. 00:27:35.318 --> 00:27:37.425 You know you had to believe in something. 00:27:37.425 --> 00:27:41.836 You know you had to believe things that I told you and stuff and what you had to do. 00:27:41.836 --> 00:27:45.431 And you know, uh, you know you could learn. 00:27:45.431 --> 00:27:57.065 You know I think it was 13 or 15 vocations at boys ranch and I was a big ag guy because I was in ag when I was in school and stuff and everything. 00:27:57.065 --> 00:28:02.724 And if you taking care of an animal, you know you're taking care of something other than yourself. 00:28:02.724 --> 00:28:04.147 You know it's. 00:28:04.147 --> 00:28:06.192 You know it's like playing sports. 00:28:06.192 --> 00:28:09.258 You learn to play with other kids and stuff. 00:28:09.258 --> 00:28:13.069 That's how you, you know, get friendships and stuff like that. 00:28:13.069 --> 00:28:14.792 You know's a lifetime thing. 00:28:14.874 --> 00:28:18.440 It's not something that's just hit or miss. 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:20.132 Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. 00:28:20.132 --> 00:28:22.148 It does work. 00:28:22.148 --> 00:28:23.192 It works over time. 00:28:23.192 --> 00:28:25.093 You've got to have faith in what you're doing. 00:28:25.093 --> 00:28:28.471 It's not going to be easy. 00:28:28.471 --> 00:28:29.931 Every day is not going to be easy. 00:28:29.931 --> 00:28:46.556 At night, when you go to bed, you thank the Lord for having a good day, whether it was a good day or not, Because tomorrow will be a lot better day and everything, and so you just have to keep plugging along and so, uh, something mr chandler just said. 00:28:46.596 --> 00:28:49.509 I want everybody that to know this, and I know a lot of people. 00:28:49.509 --> 00:28:55.633 Again, mr chandler, there are people from coast to coast that have heard me talk about. 00:28:55.633 --> 00:29:15.951 You have heard me talk about growing up at Boys Ranch and one of the things that I've never forgotten, by the way, you know, I'm very again, I'm blessed and I've been able to pass, you know, I've been able to be in a leadership role to help pass things along for others Millions of dollars, millions of dollars. 00:29:15.951 --> 00:29:22.792 We've raised for the Texas FFA and those dollars started with the story of what you taught me. 00:29:22.792 --> 00:29:36.213 And I've talked to executives of major companies Ford Motor Company, Justin Boot Company, McCoy's, all these major major brands and I love it when they ask me they say, Aaron, what all these major major brands? 00:29:36.213 --> 00:29:39.739 And and I love it when they asked me, they say, Aaron, what separates these FFA kids? 00:29:39.739 --> 00:29:43.586 He said, these ag kids, you act like nobody else does what they do. 00:29:43.586 --> 00:29:45.372 They said, what separates these kids? 00:29:45.372 --> 00:29:51.950 Doesn't athletics teach teamwork, Doesn't speech debate and UIL teach all of those things. 00:29:51.950 --> 00:29:54.933 And and doesn't band teach ensemble? 00:29:54.933 --> 00:30:00.480 And, Aaron, what is it that you think you guys do in ag that nobody else does. 00:30:02.185 --> 00:30:09.234 And I remember one time, Mr Chandler, you gave me a sledgehammer and we used to drive those old yellow power wagons. 00:30:09.234 --> 00:30:16.189 And I remember you gave me a sledgehammer and you told me to drive to the other side of the ranch and bust the water trough for the horses. 00:30:16.189 --> 00:30:19.757 And I pitched a fit and I said, Mr Chandler, I don't want to go. 00:30:19.757 --> 00:30:22.614 It's a blizzard out there that the wind and the snow. 00:30:22.614 --> 00:30:25.183 I said it's five miles to the other side. 00:30:25.183 --> 00:30:29.426 I could get lost and I'm trying to think of every excuse I could think of. 00:30:29.426 --> 00:30:34.190 And I'll never forget Mr Chandler and his old country wisdom. 00:30:34.190 --> 00:30:37.832 He just looked at me and he said, Darling, do you get thirsty when it's cold? 00:30:37.832 --> 00:30:39.833 I said, yes, sir. 00:30:39.833 --> 00:30:43.034 He said Don't you think those horses get thirsty too? 00:30:43.034 --> 00:30:49.438 I said, yes, sir, I drove five miles that day and I busted the water trough for those horses. 00:30:50.679 --> 00:30:58.942 And because of that lesson, to this day I can look at any executive in the United States and I said I'll tell you what separates our kids from everybody else. 00:30:58.942 --> 00:31:05.327 Because in the world of agriculture, if we don't do our job, something dies. 00:31:05.327 --> 00:31:17.964 In the world of agriculture, if we don't feed it and we don't water it and we don't take care of it, it dies, and when it dies, an economy dies, and when an economy dies, a people die. 00:31:17.964 --> 00:31:23.597 And so I'm so grateful that early on, you had us all in your dorm. 00:31:23.684 --> 00:31:30.499 We all had ag jobs, because you told us it was important to learn that something depended on us. 00:31:30.499 --> 00:31:33.574 That means we had to get up and take care of it. 00:31:33.574 --> 00:31:34.607 We had to take care of it. 00:31:34.607 --> 00:31:37.940 At the end of the day, that means we had to get up and take care of it. 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:39.285 We had to take care of it at the end of the day. 00:31:39.285 --> 00:31:42.238 But, Mr Chandler, I want you to know that, not just that lesson of doing that and taking care of it. 00:31:42.238 --> 00:31:43.565 Look at what it's produced. 00:31:43.565 --> 00:31:52.916 It's produced millions of dollars that translate into opportunities for kids because of the way that you raised us at Boys Ranch. 00:31:52.916 --> 00:31:57.068 I just want you to know. 00:31:57.068 --> 00:31:58.513 I appreciate what you taught me. 00:32:00.185 --> 00:32:01.432 Well, you're sure welcome. 00:32:02.645 --> 00:32:05.414 I don't know if I understood it at the time, but I look back on it. 00:32:05.414 --> 00:32:06.830 You said something else a while ago. 00:32:06.830 --> 00:32:15.041 I look back the other day I guess I was 56 when I looked back on it and I said my gosh. 00:32:15.041 --> 00:32:19.420 I said for four years of my life I was doing adult jobs. 00:32:19.420 --> 00:32:22.636 But I didn't know any better. 00:32:23.618 --> 00:32:25.482 We all just tried to get the job done. 00:32:25.482 --> 00:32:36.711 We all whether it was at the dairy barn or at the hog farm or at the feedlot or bucking hay or just it didn't matter what the job was, we just knew we had to get the job done. 00:32:36.711 --> 00:32:40.980 We never looked at it as that was an adult job or that was a kid job. 00:32:40.980 --> 00:32:44.934 It was just a job and we all had to pitch in to get it done. 00:32:44.934 --> 00:32:48.061 And you kind of taught us about that too. 00:32:48.061 --> 00:32:51.816 You said we're going to get these jobs done, and not only are we going to get them done. 00:32:51.816 --> 00:32:53.819 Now I'll tell you one more thing about Mr Channer. 00:32:53.819 --> 00:32:56.364 You heard him say a second ago you're playing to win. 00:32:56.364 --> 00:33:01.121 Well, the other thing that he taught me is you don't do it halfway. 00:33:01.121 --> 00:33:05.957 You always taught us if you're going to do a job, you do it right. 00:33:05.957 --> 00:33:07.059 Is that correct? 00:33:08.281 --> 00:33:08.864 That's right. 00:33:08.864 --> 00:33:18.579 Whether you're playing or whether you're working, you got to do the best job you can Because somewhere down the line somebody's depending on you. 00:33:18.579 --> 00:33:20.935 You know it's not just you. 00:33:20.935 --> 00:33:33.922 You know there's always somebody depending on you for something, whether it's something you said, something you've done or you know, or something you showed them or something like that and everything. 00:33:33.922 --> 00:33:37.291 And so you, you know that's part of life. 00:33:37.772 --> 00:33:47.654 You know you gotta, everybody needs somebody and and a lot of times you need somebody, a lot of the times and everything. 00:33:47.654 --> 00:33:53.056 And you need somebody you got you can depend on and stuff like that and everything. 00:33:53.056 --> 00:33:59.602 And that's the reason you got to keep your faith in the lord and everything, because he's the one that made you and everything. 00:33:59.602 --> 00:34:03.972 And so you want to make him proud of you, just like everybody else. 00:34:03.972 --> 00:34:06.659 And so you know you gotta. 00:34:07.820 --> 00:34:10.411 You know you gotta mean what you say and say what you mean. 00:34:10.411 --> 00:34:12.356 You know you want to be a good person. 00:34:12.356 --> 00:34:17.715 You know, and you know if you can help somebody, you know that does you more good. 00:34:17.715 --> 00:34:22.650 Then it's better to give a present than to receive a present. 00:34:22.650 --> 00:34:28.543 And so you know a lot of stuff I make, you know I give it away. 00:34:28.543 --> 00:34:30.367 And my son wes. 00:34:30.367 --> 00:34:32.693 He said, dad, you give away too much stuff. 00:34:32.693 --> 00:34:39.134 And I said well, for me, for me it's just advertisement, you know, somebody want to know. 00:34:39.134 --> 00:34:40.539 Well, where do you get that? 00:34:40.539 --> 00:34:51.139 He said well, I know the guy that makes it, you know, and so that's just part of life, you know, you just have to keep plugging along and everything. 00:34:53.771 --> 00:34:59.878 One of my good friends I shouldn't say he's a good friend, he's become a friend but he's an incredible speaker. 00:34:59.878 --> 00:35:02.012 By the way, he's going to be up in Canadian next week. 00:35:02.012 --> 00:35:09.452 His name is Dan Owellabi and Dan is from Worcester, ohio and he's just got an incredible story. 00:35:09.452 --> 00:35:16.023 But Dan was talking to a group and he he said a lot of times people ask the question what is my legacy? 00:35:16.023 --> 00:35:17.916 What is my legacy? 00:35:17.916 --> 00:35:23.181