Eva Mae Wilkin Holleyman

Barrel Racer & Ranch Glamour Girl
1922-2018

One of the pioneers of the women’s barrel race was Eva Mae Wilken, a Texas cowgirl. Born in 1922 in Valentine, Texas, to Karl and Kate Wilken, she grew up on a farm in Socorro, Texas where her folks raised cotton and alfalfa. Horses came early into Eva Mae’s life through her older brother Lefty. Eva Mae’s first competition horse was a black horse called Barney. She rode him when she began competing at the El Paso Herald-Post Kids Rodeo in 1935. Eva Mae started competing at the age of 12 at the kids’ rodeo.

In the early 1940s, they started to have the cloverleaf barrel race. She remembers that it was always a right-handed pattern. On a sorrel horse with a streaked face, she began to run barrels. Chief and Eva Mae were a winning combination in the barrel race at Midland. She continued to enter the few rodeos in the area that sponsored a barrel racing event.

Eva Mae was part of the Ranch Glamour Girls that traveled to New York to promote the rodeo with five other young cowgirls. The Ranch Glamour Girls wore western clothes and did publicity for the rodeo. She did an act with Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers at each performance. The girls would ride into the arena driving a herd of longhorn cattle and gather around a campfire. They held the cattle while Gene Autry sang for the crowd. After the concert, the Ranch Glamour Girls would drive the longhorns out of the arena. She participated in 52 performances at the 1946 National Finals Rodeo at Madison Square Garden. From New York, the Ranch Girls went on to Boston and performed 52 more performances at Boston Gardens.

Eva Mae continued to be a part of rodeo after she married John D. Holleyman, a professional calf roper and 2009 Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductee. Together they traveled all over the United States to rodeo events. Although she never competed on the professional level, her early participation in the first barrel racing events opened the door for women to be a part of rodeo on the professional level.

In 1948, Eva Mae rode in the First Barrel Race here in the Buck Jackson Arena for the West of the Pecos Rodeo. Eva Mae’s final barrel run was at Eagle Pass, Texas, in the 40-and–over Women’s Barrel Race. She won her last gold buckle in the barrel race at the age of 46.

Eva Mae and John D had three children—Lois Ann, Karen, and Lon, six grandchildren—Kasi, J.D., Jodi, Karen, Heather, and Meriah and six great-grandchildren—Jordan, Derrick, Holland, Baylor, Devin, and Kamden. Family member’s involvement in rodeo includes Eva Mae’s brother, Lefty Wilken, John D. Holleyman her husband, J.D. Kibbe her grandson, Carl & John Wilken, Eva Mae’s nephews, and a niece, Donna Wilken McArthur. Eva Mae Wilken Holleyman passed away on May 10, 2018, in Portales, New Mexico at the age of 95.