‘Cowboy Bob’: Meet the Chambers County poet, wrangler, horse trainer and substitute teacher

STOWELL — Bob Kahla speaks in stanzas.

INTRODUCING MISTER BOB

by Céilí Doyle

With a harmonica in hand

And 200 poems at the ready,

He pulls out a 3-hole punch sheet

And keeps his voice steady.

A fourth-generation ranch hand,

A substitute teacher,

A horse trainer and Saddle Bronc champ

fixin’ to be a preacher.

What does it mean to be a poet

With stallions at your beck and call?

It means you can rodeo with the best of ‘em

While placin’ kindness, compassion and God above all

He draws one, and then many —

From the Astrodome crowd in ‘74,

To last week’s Sunday school attendees

There’s hardly ever a bore.

Who is this fella with five books to his name?

A Chambers County pillar with a permanent grin,

There goes Cowboy Bob,

Always quick to ask: “Pardon, how ya been?”

He often breaks into song.

He’ll rhyme with abandon.

And soon you’ll be playing along.

Kahla is known as the cowboy poet — recognized for his dedication to the craft all the way from Chambers County to the Texas legislature.

Whether he’s reciting a poem for Chambers County’s Youth Project Show and Ranch Rodeo last month, or, appearing in a 25-year-old TV ad for Mattress Mack’s Gallery Furniture with his trademark lyricism, the 76-year-old has captivated southeast Texans for decades with his Western-inspired verses.

As a fourth-generation cowboy with roots in rodeo and storytelling, Kahla said the inspiration for his poetry came when he wrote “What It Takes To Be A Cowboy” for his father, Herndon Cecil “Bill” Kahla, who died in 1992.

It was Bill who inspired the younger Kahla to tap into his sensitive nature and express that being a cowboy doesn’t mean being a rough-and-tumble jerk. He encouraged Kahla to show Texans that embodying the manners of a true cowboy means being gracious, kind and righteous.

When asked what it means to be a cowboy in the modern era, the Stowell native paused.

“I mean, what is the important thing about breathin’?” he said. “What’s the important thing about eatin’ and drinkin’? When it’s your life, you grow up with it.”

Dressed the part — from belt buckle to boots and snap button corduroy — Kahla admitted: “I couldn’t imagine anything else.”

‘Makin’s of a cowboy’: A family legacy

Kahla grew up in the southeast Texas saltgrass, taking cues from his father, grandfather, Robert Louis “Pa Louie,” and the legacy of his great-grandfather, Charles William, who arrived to the Bolivar Peninsula from Germany as a newborn in 1847.

William grew up to become a rancher and a boat captain, but the Galveston flood of 1900 wiped out his herd of 1,500 cattle, which left an impression on future generations.

Kahla’s grandfather, tired of flooding, settled in Stowell as a young man but would steer his herd of 400 to 500 cows, bulls, oxen or calves some 30-odd miles all the way back to Bolivar Peninsula in the winter.

“My first memory of my grandpa was him putting me on his old paint horse out in front of the house,” Kahla said.

For decades, the family ran a boarding house in Stowell known as the Kahla Hotel where Kahla grew up learning how to manage a ranch and ride horses, bulls and broncos, eventually earning him a spot on the Sam Houston State University rodeo team.

In college, Kahla qualified for rodeo nationals twice and placed fourth in the country in 1971 for “Saddle Bronc” riding.

He tried his hand in construction after graduation, became a supervisor and was earning serious cash, he said, but the saltgrass kept calling him back.

“I quit that and went to work on a ranch on 7,000 acres,” Kahla said. “But I started making more training horses, so I came back down to (Stowell).”

From saddle to stanza

In the Monday evening twilight in early April, Kahla strokes the mane of Sela, his 10-year-old mule, while reminiscing about the sixth grade teacher who forced him to recite works by late Victorian author Rudyard Kipling in grade school.

“She coached me and embarrassed me,” he said with a laugh. “She’d make me go around to every classroom at the school and recite poetry, and I’d practice and practice and practice.”

Kahla’s knack for the written word took a backseat to his rodeoing and then ranching, especially after he moved back home and began training horses on his family’s property.

One day, he got his saddle on a horse and rode down to the old railroad tracks that used to cut through Stowell and fashioned together the lines for three poems in his head.

“The three first poems I made up while I was riding down to the end of the track,” Kahla said. “I memorized ‘em. I’ve memorized 200 poems.”

After the success of “What It Takes To Be A Cowboy,” Kahla continued to write, perform and penned an ode to home, “Chambers County, that he read aloud to the Texas House of Representatives during Chambers County Day in February 1997.

The legislature later honored Kahla with a resolution commending him for introducing the “legend and lore of the Texas cowboy to a vast and appreciative audience.”

Teaching in retirement

Over the years, Kahla has published five books of poetry and short stories full of “Errors and Hard Earned Wisdom” — the title of his most recent work.

But his first love has always been Evette, his wife of 36 years.

In their golden years, Kahla and Evette have bought new property in Winnie, where they hope to move their remaining horses from the old property in Stowell.

The couple’s children: Terri, Shelly and Luke, and now, of course, their three grandchildren, are also always close to Kahla’s heart.

Kids have always been a guiding light for the retired cowboy, who is a longtime Sunday school teacher at the First United Methodist Church and a substitute teacher in East Chambers ISD.

On most weekdays you can usually find “Cowboy Bob,” a moniker bestowed by generations of Chambers County kids, in the classroom.

While Kahla wrangles third graders instead of broncos, there’s never a dull day for this retired cowboy and the beloved traditions he hopes will live on in his poetry and family:

SOME PEOPLE SAY ALL THE COWBOYS ARE GONE

by Bob Kahla

Some people say all the cowboys are gone,

The west is now tame; but they are all wrong,

For deep in my heart I still hear their song.

I show it so others will know it.

Now Popeye don’t have to be out on the sea,

A-ridin’ the waves for a sailor to be.

He’s still an old salt, and a sailor he be.

He shows it so others will know it.

So Christians we are and Christians we’ll be,

A-riding the range or out on the sea.

Our Lord will be with us wherever we be,

So show it so others will know it!