Gary Standard

I am the great-grandson of Jim Standard. His older brother Jess Standard, his wife’s uncles, Bob Mitchell, Alonzo Mitchell, and Alonson Mitchell all worked for “Pink” Higgins, the rancher in Lampasas County that was in a feud with the Horrel family. That story, the famous “Higgins – Horrel feud, is in all the Texas Ranger books along with the picture of all of them. J. Frank Dobie was a friend of Alonzo Mitchell and interviewed him a few times in the 1930s and 40s for stories. My father also listened to stories from Alonzo Mitchell when he was a teenage boy in the 1930s.

I was born in Ft. Benning, GA, in 1948, while my father, Byron L. Standard was in the military. He was a veteran of WWll and the Korean conflict. After Korea, he left the military and moved us to Central Texas in 1953 near Standard family land on the Lampasas River. He tried farming and ranching in Coryell and Lampasas counties, but the 7-year drought of the fifties took its toll and forced him to find work at Ft. Hood in civil service. He still farmed and ranched on nights and weekends, which required all the kids to pitch in and share the farming and chores.

I graduated from Evant High School, north of Lampasas, in 1966. I immediately went to work as a lineman trainee for Texas Power and Light Company. I married the love of my life that same year. We have two sons, three grandsons, two granddaughters, and three great-granddaughters.

I worked for three years as a lineman but was allergic to the creosote on new poles. I switched professions and went to work at Freeport for BASF Chemical company in 1969. I worked my way up to Mechanical Engineer and retired in 2005. Then had my own mechanical consulting business for another seven years. My wife and I moved back to the Hill Country in 2019. We’re in partnership with our oldest son on 50 acres with a 5-acre vineyard.

I have always had way more hobbies than time to do them all. I read Texas Ranger and other Texas history books. I build wooden boats - I’ve built 34 boats in my life, which includes two before I got out of high school. I rebuild old tractors, old outboard motors, and old pickups/cars. I cut up slabs of oak and walnut to build tables and benches. I build furniture from driftwood for our fishing camp house on Galveston Bay. My wife and I are enjoying retirement.