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Lowell Thomas Hataway is a life-long Montgomery County cattle farmer. Although he has several "aliases," including Lowell and LT, (and in true Southern tradition. his family called him by his full name, Lowell Thomas) he is usually called "Tom" in the livestock circles. In 1932, he was born in the same Bethlehem Community house where his mother had been born some 36 years earlier.
Tom grew up working on the family farm. Probably his most memorable trip as a teenager was visiting the King Ranch in Texas with a group of Montgomery County cattlemen. Tom loved to hunt, fish, and ride Daisy, his pony, but he reluctantly attended school at Pintlala and Ramer.
When he was about ten, he got his own "big" horse, Berry, a tall, muscular. dappled gray McCurdy gelding. The pair spent countless hours together. Although the pastures were several miles away, Berry's ground-covering "pitchy-patchy" gait seemed to shorten the distance. They checked fences, worked cattle, and when critters needed to be doctored, Tom roped them and Berry stoutly held them.
Besides his family's cattle, most all the neighbors' cattle suffered during the screw worm epidemic, and Tom, on Berry, was in constant demand to treat them. Tom got in so much practice doctoring cattle that he became a pretty consistent calf roper at local jackpots and rodeos. In October 1953, completion of the Montgomery Coliseum was celebrated with a formal dedication and a three-day rodeo. Although he never won a first place in any go-round, Tom won the three calf roping average.
Also, at that event (although they didn't discover it until many years after their marriage) Tom met his future wife, Julianne Clark, "trying to steal his horse!" Alabama rodeo pioneers Mary and Emmett Taylor were eating Thanksgiving dinner with all the Hataways at Tom's mother's house when she asked, "Remember that little WILD horse that Lowell Thomas had? He took that colt to a rodeo one time, and some little CRAZY girl was trying to put a saddle on him!" Mrs. Taylor let out a loud "WHOOOOPEEE," stabbed Julianne in the side with her bony little elbow, and exclaimed, "That was Julianne!" That incident had been a case of mistaken identity: Julianne had thought that the acrobatic animal she was struggling to saddle was the horse a friend had offered to let her to ride in the barrel race until Tom arrived and sharply announced that the horse was not only his, it was also unbroken! In fact, although he was a full brother to Tom's best roping horse, that colt was NEVER trained and ended up in a bucking string!
The Taylors later "properly introduced" Tom and Julianne. They had mostly rodeo dates (he broke their first date to compete in a north Alabama rodeo) and were married in 1957.The couple had three children, Clark, Anita, and Andrea, but Tom was not much help with the babies, before they became "housebroken." However, he proved to be a terrific teacher, coach, and general encourager when they were a little older.
Tom taught the children to drive trucks in the pasture before he let them travel public roads, and he always tried to instill in them the value of hard work. He took them and their friends camping, fishing, to ball games, rodeos and horse shows. He especially encouraged them to prepare for and pursue their special interests. Tom's family were staunch hardshell Baptists, yet he strongly supported their older daughter in her call to the ministry at a time when few women served. When Anita became an ordained minister, she baptized her father, and he joined the Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church.
Clark and his wife Cindy live in LaFayette, LA, and he works in Houston as a petroleum engineer. Nicole, their daughter, attends Louisiana Tech at Rushton, and Andrew, their son, plans to attend LSU next fall. Anita Green and her husband David are both United Methodist ministers and live in Bridge City, Texas, with grand puppy, Hunter. Andrea Thompson and her husband, Bill, both MDs, live in Eagle, ID, with their three daughters Amanda, Briana and Mary Catherine, all avid animal lovers.
At 75, Tom now checks his cows mostly on "Emma" his little green mule named after a little gaited sorrel mule from his childhood. He is trying to "gear down" and enjoy more of his family's activities. He thanks our good Lord for having given him the opportunity to grow up, raise a family, and continue to live on a Montgomery County cattle farm!
Thank you for giving our father, grandfather and husband this significant honor!
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