Today, the wonderful Reba McEntire is 69 years old, and she has certainly earned all the praise that comes her way. Personally, it feels as though she has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I still find myself listening to her music several times a week.<\/p>\n
But Reba\u2019s life hasn\u2019t always been milk and honey.<\/p>\n
Reba McEntire wasn\u2019t simply born into country life \u2014 she grew up living it.<\/p>\n
The legendary country queen was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1955. However, she spent her childhood on her family\u2019s enormous 8,000-acre ranch in the small community of Chockie in Atoka County. Her early years were shaped by hard work, determination, and Western traditions.<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t much time for relaxing on the ranch, and even as a young girl, Reba was expected to do her part.<\/p>\n
When she was only five years old, Reba was already driving her father\u2019s truck through the cattle fields. Well, steering may be the more accurate description, since she was too short to reach the pedals. Her father, Clark McEntire, would lift her up with a 50-pound feed sack, put the truck into \u201cgranny gear,\u201d and allow her to steer. And it wasn\u2019t simply something that happened once for fun \u2014 it was part of her everyday childhood.<\/p>\n
The legendary country singer also grew up surrounded by rodeo tradition. Her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, had been a world-champion steer roper in 1934, while her father, Clark, followed his example and won the title three times.<\/p>\n
Clark McEntire wasn\u2019t only a celebrated rodeo competitor \u2014 he was also very traditional when it came to raising his children. Reba\u2019s father wasn\u2019t the type to frequently hug his kids or tell them he loved them. Instead, he showed his affection through high expectations and by teaching them the importance of working hard.<\/p>\n
Reba later reflected on this in her autobiography,\u00a0For My Broken Heart<\/em>: \u201cWhen we were growing up, I used to regret that Daddy never told us he loved us.\u201d<\/p>\n Her childhood was far from glamorous. The McEntire children \u2014 Alice, Pake, Reba, and Susie \u2014 lived in a simple gray house that had only one bathroom for the family of six.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t no wealthy West Texas people or nothin\u2019. It\u2019s mostly rocky, mountain country, but enough to run a few steers on,\u201d Reba recalled.<\/p>\n Although Reba learned to appreciate and handle ranch life from an early age, another dream was always pulling at her \u2014 singing. Her mother, Jacqueline McEntire, had once hoped to become a country singer herself. Instead, she devoted her life to working as a public school teacher, librarian, and secretary.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mama, they used to say she coulda been as big as Patsy Cline if she\u2019d had any breaks, but she was teaching\u2019 school by the time she was 16 or 17,\u201d Reba once said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, the wonderful Reba McEntire is 69 years old, and she has certainly earned all the praise that comes her way. Personally, it feels as though she has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I still find myself listening to her music several times a week. But Reba\u2019s…<\/p>\n