Letters About Kelley

Energy. Compassion. Generosity. Passion. These four words don’t begin to describe Kelley Bartlett as I knew her, but they probably come the closest to any of beginning to explain one of the most complex people I’ve ever known. I often think of her constant drive and her unquenchable thirst for life, and I wonder if she somehow knew she had only a short time to do many of the things she wanted to do here on earth.

I am honored to play even a small part in the Kelley Bartlett Conservancy, because for the last several years she lived, Kelley already had started this project. She often was obsessed with how best to create something for future generations that could impart her values and love for animals and the environment and teach people, especially children, how those values could peacefully coexist with the ranching lifestyle. Although she never had one of her own, she had a special place in her heart for children. And she adopted many of us older “kids” as her friends, enlisting us to help in her many endeavors. Some of my fondest memories of Kelley include last minute trips to Texas and to Mexico to find her latest treasure - an old door, a branding iron or a light fixture that would become part of her latest remodeling masterpiece. More often than not her shopping excursions were for friends and family and not for herself. She delighted in being able to give back something to her friends, and often it was in the form of a gift we probably wouldn’t or couldn’t have bought for ourselves. In my case the first gift she ever gave me was a ranch-raised quarter horse. I cried for two weeks at the generosity and thoughtfulness of that gift because I already was in love with him, and she knew it. He’s too old to ride now, but I still visit him often at the Ranch in Pike Road and treat him with horse cookies and belly scratches.

Most of all Kelley never forgot where she came from, and she treasured every day and every task, delighting in the details. Every time I walk into a room - whether it’s Cantina de los Cielos at the Ranch in Pike Road, or especially the living room of the Texas ranch, I see many of the details she lovingly placed there, and I don’t even have to close my eyes to see her “tweaking” that latest detail, as she liked to say.She was never satisfied with the status quo. One of the most creative people I will ever encounter, Kelley always could find something to do that would improve things for her and for Woody. She didn’t like to travel much, but loved entertaining at home and working in her gardens, feeding the birds and sketching out her next project in order to elicit comments and suggestions from all of us. I often try and imagine how things would look today if she’d had the last two years to continue her creations.

The last night we spent together she was coming down with the respiratory illness that would put her in the hospital. We held hands and looked out at the beautiful full moon rising just behind the Cantina, where she spent her last nights at home. She was as proud of that place, where she transformed an old cow pasture into an elaborate garden with waterfalls and a lake, as anything she had ever created. I often work up there alone helping Woody with the flowers or the latest gathering of family and friends and I always remember that night and try to do things I think she would have done there were she still alive. Sometimes I feel like she’s looking over my shoulder and giving me ideas on where to place a pot or a rock or a rusty old branding iron.

Kelley’s physical presence is missed every day by all of us who knew and loved her but I will always believe that as long as we keep her dreams alive her spirit will never die.

Carol Brown

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