Voices of the
BIG BEND
Jim Glendinning: The Galloping Scot, Author, World Traveler and tour operator to Copper Canyon, Mexico.
Story and photographs by Jim Glendinning
MARCI ROBERTS
Marci Roberts was born at
Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in
Aurora, CO in 1960, the older of two
daughters to Robert Johnson, then
serving in the army, and his wife
Ruby. After her father died in a road
accident in 1962 her mother moved
to Dallas, working hard to bring up
two daughters. She subsequently mar-
ried Larry Roberts, a salesman, and
the family moved frequently.
High school was Chapel Hill High
School in Tyler, TX. A shy girl,
Roberts excelled at school, gaining
straight A’s. She graduated in 1978
and moved on to North Texas State
University, now the University of
North Texas. Working several jobs to
pay for tuition, she again excelled,
graduating cum laude in 1984 with a
BA in Fine Arts.
The Texas economy was in bad
shape in the mid-‘80s, so Roberts
found work over the next five years in
commercial design in Santa Fe,
Connecticut and New York City. In
1993, she moved to Austin where,
curious about new computer-generat-
ed design models, she laboriously
taught herself from manuals how to
use them, and worked for several
architectural firms there.
She started to work for herself.
However, the years 2000-2003 were
physically and mentally challenging.
She prospered on her own but also
worked with a local firm for the sake
of the camaraderie of team work,
which she needed.
Roberts met James Evans in 2003
in Austin at a book signing for his
book Big Bend Pictures. They hit it off
and took to visiting over the next few
years. It was in 2004, while sleeping
on top of Evans’ truck in Big Bend
24
MARCI ROBERTS
Marathon
National Park under endless stars,
that she felt she “was finally home.”
The next year she moved to
Marathon.
Always driven by curiosity,
Roberts launched into local projects.
She re-designed the Evans Gallery,
and embarked on an entrepreneurial
project by buying the French
Company Grocer in Marathon, pop-
ulation 430. The store prospered, but
not before she learned a difficult les-
son about people management.
In 2011, the organization and pro-
motion of the Marathon 2 Marathon,
for which she had been a volunteer,
landed in her lap. She switched the
route and recruited 100 volunteers.
The number of runners grew to 502
in 2015 from less than 100. “It’s a
kick,” she said.
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2017
ELLEN LARGENT BAIZE
Fort Davis
The Marathon Independent
School District was suffering from low
morale, poor image and budget prob-
lems around 2010. Roberts started a
newsletter shining a light on the
achievements of the school. This gar-
nered financial support from local
ranchers, resulting in the Marathon
Foundation that provides grants to
MISD and other local non-profits,
granting $250,000 since it started.
Roberts married Evans in
Terlingua on April 22, 2016, 10 years
to the day since he first proposed.
They are presently building a new
home in Marathon, designed by
Roberts.
In 2017 she was appointed by the
Governor to the Texas Commission
on the Arts, the only commissioner
from the tri-county region ever so
PILAR PEDERSEN
Presidio
appointed. New challenges now con-
front this able and forthright woman.
ELLEN LARGENT BAIZE
Located just west of Bloys
Encampment near Fort Davis is a
beautiful, capacious stone-built house
surrounded by grazing pasture.
Inside are the paintings of celebrated
cowboy artist Wayne Baize. Outside
in a pasture is a flock of rare Shetland
sheep, guarded by white Great
Pyrenees sheepdogs. This is the
domain of innovative sheep breeder
Ellen Baize, Wayne’s wife.
Ellen Largent was born in Merkel,
TX near Abilene in 1950 to Jane and
Rust Largent, a rancher. She preced-
ed a sister, Linda, and a brother, Roy.
Schooling was initially in Alpine, fol-
lowed by high school in Fort Davis, “a