By Den Ardinger 32° KCCH

Orvon Grover “Gene” Autry, best remembered as “the singing cowboy”, was born near Tioga, Grayson County, Texas on September 29, 1907.  During his lifetime he became one of the most influential entertainers in American history and is the only entertainer to have five stars on Hollywood’s “Walk of Fame”.  The stars were for live performances, radio, records, movies, and theater performances.

Autry became a Master Mason in 1927 in Catoosa Lodge No. 185 in Catoosa, Oklahoma.  He was later coronated a 33rd Degree Inspector General Honorary in the Scottish Rite which is engraved on his headstone.

In 1932, at the age of 25, Autry married Ina Mae Spivey.  After her death in 1980, he married Jacqueline Ellam in 1981.

His fame began in his mid-twenties when he began acting in movies.  Movies with sound had just begun and his soft style of singing was very popular in middle America.  From 1934 to 1953, he appeared in 93 motion pictures, mostly westerns.  Among his most famous recordings are “Back in the Saddle Again” in 1939, “Here Comes Santa Claus” in 1948, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in 1949 and “Frosty the Snowman” in 1950.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a technical sergeant in the Army Air Corps.  Already being a private pilot, he then became a Service Pilot in June 1944.  He became a flight officer and served as a transport pilot on C-109s flying dangerous missions over the Himalayas between India and China, often referred to as “flying the Hump”.

Between 1950 and 1956 he hosted “The Gene Autry Show” on television appearing in 91 episodes.  His horse, Champion, often appeared with him.

In the 1950s, Autry had been part owner of a minor league baseball team called the Hollywood Stars.  As baseball franchises expanded to the west coast, he took the opportunity to be part of it.  From 1961 to 1997, he founded and supported the California Angels Major League Baseball team.

He retired from show business in 1964 after having starred in 93 films and after producing 640 records.  He invested widely in real estate, radio and television and owned many millions of dollars of property in retirement.

Gene Autry died October 2, 1998, at the age of 91 in Studio City, California.  He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.  His epitaph read, “America’s Favorite Cowboy…American Hero, Philanthropist, Patriot and Veteran, Movie Star, Singer, Composer, Baseball Fan and Owner, 33rd Degree Mason, Media Entrepreneur, Loving Husband, Gentleman.”

His legacy includes a wide list of honors including the town of Berwyn, Oklahoma being renamed Gene Autry.  In 1972 he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers and in 1977 he was awarded the American Patriots Medal. In 1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Statues were erected to him in Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Palm Springs, California. The Hollywood Hall of Fame has five stars for five different categories for him on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame” and the Autry Museum of the American West was founded to hold his personal collections.

Gene Autry, more than a man, a Mason.