Leon “Cowboy” Webster, stooping at 6′6″ tall with a worn denim shirt, jeans and a cowboy hat, has been a native of Smithville since he can remember.

When he was a baby, his mother brought him to town so he could live with his grandmother and grandfather, who raised him.

Over the years, Webster has made a life for himself as a soldier, mechanic, horse trader, bar owner, fence builder and horse breeder.

His nickname “Cowboy”, which is how most people refer to him, came from when he was trading horses 32 years ago in Houston. People he worked with just started calling him “Cowboy” one day and it stuck.

“It’s funny because I have never thrown a rope or ridden a bull,” Webster said.

Webster, now 63, began his career-filled journey as a soldier in Vietnam in 1965. For four years, he served in the Gator Navy in Coronado, Calif.

“My father was a registered male nurse for the V.A. (Veteran’s Affairs) – a surgical nurse in fact,” Webster said.

He then went to school at College of Alameda, Napa Junior College and San Francisco State University on the GI Bill, where he got his degree as a diesel and gas mechanic.

“I don’t really like to work on cars though – it was just the thing at the time,” Webster said. “I don’t like getting my hands dirty.”

Webster’s true love is horses, which he started working with 30 years ago. Unlike most things in his life, he has never grown tired of being around the peaceful creatures.

“A horse has a personality,” Webster said. “If you get to know them, they understand a lot of English.”

Webster said being around horses is his therapy and he enjoys watching them being themselves, running free through the pasture.

“The difference between a boy and a man is the price of his toys,” he said.

He explained that he always kept a good horse, but when he got tired of trading them, he decided to move on and open a bar.

“Me and my buddies liked to play dominoes and drink whiskey often,” Webster said. “One night, my girlfriend said she was tired of cleaning up after us and that we needed to find another place to play.”

With that, Webster and his buddies had the idea of starting a bar.

“It was all of our idea – I just put it into action,” he said.

About 18 years ago, Webster opened up his own bar called Cowboy’s Place in the structure that was his grandfather’s house, which is where he grew up.

“For the first 10 years or so, I enjoyed it,” he said. “But I thought the crowd started getting a little too young for me. The younger crowd has less respect, which I blame on how their parents raise them.”

After providing good drinks and entertainment to the town for 12 years, Webster decided to close his bar down for good. He said there are times he misses it, but he still talks to his old customers now and then.

While he owned the bar, Webster said he also started to take after his grandfather’s trade of fence building.

“My grandpa was a fence builder,” he said. “He cut his own cedar and firewood. He was a self-made man and I decided I wanted to continue his tradition.”

Webster’s company, Leon’s Custom Fence, serves all of Bastrop County, with most of his business coming from ranches in the area.

Recently, he has also started working with horses again, breeding them in open pastures in Upton.

“I lease some property out there, where I have horses and a few cows,” Webster said.

Webster said he attributes much of his success in life to his grandfather, who always pushed him to work hard.

“He played a big father figure in my life,” Webster said. “He was a good advisor and my best friend.”

Because of his grandfather, Webster said he is awake by 6 a.m. every morning and works until dark every night.

“I automatically wake up at that time – there is not a clock in my house,” he said.

Webster said he pushed his own five children to work just a hard so they would be successful and disciplined like him, which he believes has paid off.

“My motto was A’s,” Webster said. “If they got a B, they were looking at boys too much. B stood for boys. They would get five dollars for each A that they made.”

According to Webster, the current generation sleeps too much and has little respect for other people, but he said it’s their parents’ fault for not disciplining them.

“The future of the world depends on education and hard work,” he said. “I would like to see the state or even the government create a program that offers kids discipline and education – like a boot camp. Jails and penitentiaries are not going to do it. I think this would give them a better opportunity at getting a job in the future.”

In the free time that he does have, Webster enjoys fishing, as well as hunting for deer and squirrels.

He also has seven grandchildren who he spends time with often, which he says is just a part of life.

This is the first in a four-part series highlighting the contributions and achievements of members of Smithville’s African-American community.