Long before Sheb Wooley was an American music and film icon, he was Beckham County’s native son. He grew up in the rough-and-tumble Dust Bowl era.
If the Dirty 30s weren’t bad enough, the Great Depression jumped in to create a hardknock childhood for Wooley and his fellow Erick classmates.
Biographer Suzanne Gould spent years researching Wooley’s remarkable journey from poor farm kid to pop star to Nashville legend.
Gould will soon hold multiple book signings in the area to share her book with area residents. She recently shared an email questions and answer session with the Beckham County Record related to her upcoming events.
1) What are your feelings/excitement about doing your book signing in the home areas of Sheb Wooley? I am thrilled to head back to Greer and Beckham Counties! This is my only book tour so far, and SW Oklahoma is definitely the most important part of the country for the book. I’ve been here twice for research for this project, and the people in Mangum and Erick have been so welcoming and engaged and provided invaluable information.
2) How long will you be in the area? I’ll be in the area for 4 days, and I have programs scheduled for Altus, Mangum, Sayre, and Erick.
3) How long did you spend writing the book? It took me seven years to conduct research and interviews and then write the book. For five of those years, I was working full-time so I wasn’t able to devote all of my attention to the book. Once I retired, I had the opportunity to finish it.
4) What do you feel are the main takeaways from your research on Sheb Wooley? Sheb’s daughter, Chrystie, impressed upon me the fact that, first and foremost, Sheb was a very spiritual person. He was religious, but non-denominational. He attended the Erick Church of Christ when he was in town, and in the several decades he lived in California, he went to the Ventura Church of God in Christ. He also meditated daily, and he liked to watch The Wisdom Channel on tv, especially after his leukemia diagnosis in the 1990s. Additionally, and connected to that, every person in the music and movie industries who I interviewed stressed that he was equally respectful of everyone, from the janitor on up. Chrystie attributes that to the childhood influence of his mother, Ora.
I also learned that Sheb was very dedicated to AA after he became sober in 1970, and he remained sober for the rest of his life. Several people that I know of say that Sheb saved their life with his mentoring, both in and outside of AA. He is credited with saving at least 7 lives, some through his mentoring, and 3 in the 1940s when the school bus he was driving ran off the road during a blizzard in the Breaks.
