Cowboy poet to entertain at banquet
Ron Wilson, popular Kansas cowboy poet who calls himself "poet lariat," will be the guest speaker Feb. 22 at the Marion County Conservation District banquet at Hillsboro.
Wilson writes and performs original cowboy poetry in costume.
He grew up on a place called the Lazy T Ranch in Riley County. The Wilsons raised cattle, horses, hogs, wheat, corn, milo, and hay.
Wilson served as Kansas FFA president and national FFA vice president. He has a BS degree in agricultural education with an animal science specialty and a master's in mass communications from Kansas State University.
He was legislative assistant for agriculture to Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum in Washington, D.C., and also worked for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee of Farmer Cooperatives. In addition, he served as vice president of public affairs for the Farm Credit Bank of Wichita.
Since 1990, Ron has been director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at K-State. Each week he is heard on Kansas Profile radio programs on KKSU, AM 580, and a network of stations around the state.
Wilson and wife Chris and family live in rural Wamego.
He began writing cowboy poetry as a hobby. He continues to write and now performs it around the region. He has published two copyrighted poetry books, Wagon Tongue and Poet Lariat, and a CD titled, "Cowboy Collection."
