Robert DeLaney, DeLaney's Rafter 4D Ranch, Ragistered Polled Herefords, Texas

Robert LeRoy DeLaney

Robert LeRoy DeLaney was born on Dec. 6, 1915, in

Houston.

He was

preceded in

death by his parents,

Henrietta Mae

and

James Cecil

DeLaney, by his older

brother,

Cecil

DeLaney, and

his baby sister, Nellie

Mae

DeLaney. He

was also preceded in

death by his beloved

wife of fifty-

seven years, Sybil Campbell

DeLaney.

After graduating from Jefferson Davis High School, Robert

chose

Southwest Texas

State Teachers College over

other

schools because

they offered him a $.12 per hour

employment

stipend. This proved to be

a fortuitous choice

because in one of

his

classes sat Sybil Campbell.

Upon

graduation, Robert

became a teacher at Marrs

High

School in

Aldine, Texas, while

continuing to work on his

Masters Degree at

Southwest Texas

State College.

With the clouds of war looming, he enlisted in the Navy.

He was

chosen to

attend

Officer Candidate’s School at

Northwestern

University in Chicago,

Illinois. Ensign

Robert

DeLaney graduated

with honors and began

serving on

the U.S.S. Moore DE

240 in

World War II.

Home on leave, he married his college sweetheart on Jan.

1943. After

distinguished career in the Navy, Robert

left as a

Lieutenant. Robert

returned to

Houston where he

joined his

daddy and brother, Cecil, in their

steel

fabricating

business, The

DeLaney Company.

For the next twenty years, from 1944-1964, Robert served

the Vice

President and

Director of Purchasing and

Personnel.

During those years,

he watched his company

grow into the

supplier of fabricated steel for Dow

Chemical

Company in

Freeport,

Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande,

the

plate girders for

Houston’s Loop 610, and others.

Their family grew with the births of Bobbie Gayle and

James

Cullen.

Robert was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church

and

grandson of a

Methodist

minister. As a young adult,

belonged to the Reid Memorial

United Methodist

Church. He and

Sybil then helped establish Memorial

Drive United Methodist

Church

where they and their

children were charter

members and

Robert served as the

first

Chairman of the Administrative

Board.

He was also

very active in Boy Scouts of

America and Indian

Guides,

serving in various capacities, including Scout Master for

the past

forty years, Robert and Sybil participated in

every role

in and deeply

loved the

Lamkin United

Methodist Church.

In 1962, Robert and Sybil, along with their two children,

left

Houston for

Guam where

Robert taught Mathematics

at the

College of Guam and

Sybil taught 1st grade.

After a three year stint in Guam, Robert and Sybil

purchased

Sybil’s

family’s land in

Lamkin, Texas, and

began the Rafter 4D

Ranch. Robert

initially bred horned

Herefords, but Sybil’s

tenderness over the de-

horning

process led him to a

successful

Polled Hereford business.

Always eager to learn new technologies to improve his

herd, he

served

as Past

President of Cross Timbers

Polled Hereford

Association. He was

also a lifetime

member of the American

Polled Hereford Association.

Robert was a true Renaissance man. He was a life-long

learner

who

taught himself

everything from pecan grafting

to animal

husbandry to

crop rotation to indulging his

love

of investing in

the stock market. He

never met an

unknown word he did not

look

up. His enduring goal was

complete A Son of a

Blacksmith, a tribute to his father.

He accomplished

this goal and

his book was published in

the summer of 2004.

He and his wife Sybil adored their five granddaughters

and

instilled in

them a spirit of

adventure and love of

travel. As a

proponent of self

improvement through

education

he was so

proud of his granddaughters’

accomplishments, which include

pursuit of

graduate

education by all five

of them.

301 CR 286 Lamkin Community Gustine, Texas 76455

DeLaney's Rafter 4D Ranch
Registered Polled Herefords

Robert DeLaney