Who Is This Wordy Waddie Anyhow?
I am R.W. “Doc” Boyle, self appointed Head Word Wrangler and Trail Boss of The Old West Daily Reader. I live in New Castle, a tiny town on Colorado’s Western Slope. I have been interested in the history of the West since I was a pup. Nowadays, I’m a performing historian and western entertainer ~ a Historical Portrayalist, having presented my one man show, “Doc Holliday Live: How It Was!” in well over a thousand performances over the last eighteen years in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Old Mexico, Arizona and other points west. (see www.dochollidaylive.biz)
Find me on summertime weekends roaming the plaza at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park (Glenwood Springs, CO) with my partner, Mike Miller as the outlaw Kid Curry, taking photos with the visitors and regaling them with stories from the lives of the deadly dentist and one of the real bad men of the Old West. It’s a hoot!
I’m “The Father of the Feast” of the Ghost Walk, an annual fundraiser presented each year by the Glenwood Springs (CO) Frontier Historical Society. Now in its twelfth year of escorting visitors to Linwood Pioneer Cemetery on October evenings prior to Halloween for a visit with the historical figures resident therein. You can meet Doc, Kid Curry, Jasper Ward, Black Bill Smith and others to hear their tales of frontier Colorado (website listed on Links page).
Also a member of The Shootists; an NRA and SASS life member and a founding member of the Friends of Billy Dixon, an educational, shooting organization devoted to teaching marksmen to shoot accurately at ultra long distances with traditional and modern rifles and learn some history while they do it.
My self published (first and maybe only?) children’s book from last year is called The Great Galomp, check it out: available in hardcover at www.greatgalomp.com also the eBook version at Amazon, Lulu and Kobo, etc.
Other (unpublished) writings include cowboy and railroad poetry and I am always working on several science fiction novels and short stories. I do have a poem, “Wild Horses” up on the wonderful Bar D poetry site (website listed on Links page).
I’m a meat hunter of Colorado elk and mule deer but I’m getting a little too old to handle an elk by myself (my preferred way to hunt) so I’m probably going on a venison diet this year. (Hey, I take care of and cut and wrap my own kill. Its right and its yummy. This year it’s been teriyaki and fajitas.) Oh, yes! Thank you, brother deer. May your herd continue to prosper!
Further interests include gardening, reading, and playing 12-string guitar. I still ride a bit and shoot, but never did rope worth a hoot (apologies to Bee Ho Gray and Will Rogers).
I’ve done a little bit of professional gun fighting on and off (since 14 years old) and pushed a cow or two through the juniper and oak brush of these marvelous mountains; but as noted above, I’m mostly pushin’ or spoutin’ words at this point in life.
Is He Qualified to Ramrod This Outfit?
What you see here is what there is. Not being a trained historical researcher, archeologist, or any flavor of professional – aside from being a self trained actor, researcher and a writer – I claim no academic credentials in the field of historical research. Some credit is probably due for the time I’ve been involved with historical preservation and the presentation of historical information to the public, but OWDR subscribers will likely end up the judge of that issue.
I am and have been more of an appreciator, a student, a wielder, even a bit of a shaper of historical perspective for others through performance and other interests pertaining to Western History. It was some combination of practical necessity for my Doc Performance and constantly musing on different aspects of Western History that became the genesis of The Old West Daily Reader. I am an Associate Member of Western Writers of America.
Now, I’m 70 years old and was having a fantasy on a lazy retirement until I assigned myself this OWDR project: my first venture into publishing anything to do with Western History. It has been fun and very interesting so far but I’m exploring new territory so it’s hard to say where it goes from here…
Doc
