Arthur William Wight

Arthur William Wight, 92, of Goldsmith, passed away at home on Sunday, January 29, 2023. He was born April 21, 1930, in Odessa, to Schuyler and Moselle Wight. He graduated from Odessa High School in 1947, and from Texas A&M University in 1951. He was a rancher. He married Carl on June 11, 1951, in Odessa, and they moved into a small unused house on the YT Ranch. They were married for 61 years until Carl’s death in 2013 and were members of Antioch Christian Church.

Arthur was a man of few words and many talents. His cowboy skills were sharpened in the early 1950’s when he spent most of each summer doctoring calves for screwworms. Screwworms attacked any open wound on cattle and had to be treated before the wound could heal. This required day after day, searching for, roping, tying down, treating, and releasing each infected calf. All of this had to be done without “stirring up” the rest of the herd, so they could be inspected for additional cases. Screwworms were finally eradicated from West Texas in the late 1950’s, freeing up cowboys to do other things during the summer.

Meanwhile, Arthur spent his “spare” time, mostly at night, using another of his talents to fix up, remodel, customize, and add to his house. In the 1930’s, there was no money to buy new materials and in the 1940’s, all new materials went to fight The War. When he and Carl moved in, their house consisted of several small one room houses that had been moved together and built into a larger house. Carpentry involved finding and repurposing old materials to build cabinets, dress up walls, and smooth out transitions to make a more livable space. By the early 1960’s, there was enough money and materials to add on to the house. In the new addition, Arthur built cabinets in the kitchen, den, and closet, all with brand new lumber. When he heard that they were tearing down the Pliska blacksmith building in Midland, he got a pickup load of the shop’s wall boards that Mr. Pliska had used to try out the branding irons he made over the years. Arthur sorted through and cleaned up enough of these boards to make a valance in the den. It is covered with brands, each carefully highlighted and positioned, many of which are still used by ranches in the Midland and Odessa areas.

Arthur and his brother, Bud, were builders. They built pipe windmill towers to replace the wooden ones that were on the ranch. They bought the first gooseneck stock trailer they ever saw, then used it as a pattern to build one from scratch and another from an old bumper pull trailer. Arthur did most of the cutting out and Bud did most of the welding. From time to time, Bud would point out that some of the pieces didn’t exactly fit together, to which Arthur would reply that any good welder should be able to close that up.

In the 1970’s, Arthur built some corrals to replace the old ones at his house. He used ideas he had seen in other corrals plus innovations that he thought might work to design a set of pens that utilize cattle’s natural tendencies to make them easy to move from pen to pen for sorting, processing, and feeding. He also designed gate latches, a ratchet gate, and other fine touches that are still working after 50 years. Over the years, he also designed wire gate latches, barbed wire stretchers, and flexible bump gates. He loved to work with leather but saw the benefits of newer materials. He made latigos out of seat belt straps and incorporated rubber straps into halters and headbands. When he needed something, he would look around the barn or the tool section of Harbor Freight for something he could modify.

He loved to work cattle and preferred to do it while horseback. He was always available to work his own cattle or to help a neighbor work theirs. Over the years, he acquired the nickname “Boss.” It wasn’t that he gave many orders, but that when he decided how things should be done, everyone fell in and helped him do it that way. He received several awards over the years, including the Heritage of Odessa Foundation’s Award for Excellence in Community Service for Ranching in 1989, the Haley Library and Historic Center’s Foy Proctor Memorial Cowman’s Award of Honor in 2010, and the Parker House Ranching Museum’s West Texas Ranching Pioneer Award in 2010.

He learned to play the harmonica while riding the school bus. Over the years, he developed a technique of accompanying himself that sounded like there were two harmonicas playing. He used his hands or homemade resonance chambers that he made from hollowed out cow horns to create a “wa wa” sound. He kept “French harps” in his pickups and near his lazy boy chair so he could play along with songs he liked when they came on the radio or TV. When “Hee Haw” started its run on TV, he bought a cheap guitar, cut a hole in the back so he could hang it on a nail over the kitchen table, and taught himself to play along with the songs. He loved music.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, his brother, and his cousin Ed “Early” Reiser. He is survived by his sister, Sarah Schaper of Seattle WA, his son, Bill Wight, (2) daughters Judy Jordan & husband Don of Goldsmith, Susie Wight of Ft. Worth, (2) grandchildren, Jason Wight & wife Amanda, Jessica Washington & husband Tyler, (4) great-grandchildren, Bailey Wight, Colton Wight, Arthur Braydon Washington, and Rebecca Washington.

There will be a visitation on Thursday, February 2, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, February 3, at Odessa First Nazarene Church with Rev. Mark McCuistion and Rev. Jeff Sedberry officiating. Interment will follow at Ector County Cemetery. George Hennig, Mike Moore, Brandon Barrow, Joe Hurt, Ron Riley, Steven Womochel and Robert Reiser will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Buzz Hurt, Angelo McAnally, Charlie Lowe, Dub Riley, Dan Womochel and Bill Waddell.

Memorials may be made to Guadalupe Christian Camp, 56 Christian Camp Road, Carlsbad, NM 88220, or to your favorite charity.