The Story Behind the Drawing: “The Bob Whalley Bull and his Demise”

A couple years ago a sweet man from my church gave me the opportunity to begin creating illustrations for him. He has some really amazing stories about his ancestors that he writes up and gives to his children for their posterity, and he wanted some visuals to go with those stories. So now we collaborate to create some pretty fun pieces! He comes up with some really great scenes, and I know my skills as an artist have improved from working with him to bring his vision to life.

This illustration is one of my favorites, so I thought I’d share it along with the accompanying story 🙂

The Bob Whalley Bull and His Demise by Myron Lee

When my dad was young, his uncle, Bob Whalley, purchased a very expensive young prize bull. He arranged to keep this bull at my grandpa’s ranch. Dad remembers this bull escaping often. He was so strong and obstinate there just didn’t seem to be a way to keep him penned in.

Next to the ranch ran some railroad tracks. There was no reason for the train to stop so it never blew its whistle as it went by. However, one day my dad and grandpa were out working on the ranch when they heard the train blow its whistle and its brakes screeching. Surprised, they both looked up just in time to see that the Bob Whalley bull had once again broken free from his pen and was on the railroad tracks. The train, unable to stop, was bearing down on him continuing to blow its whistle loudly in warning.

Did the Bob Whalley bull heed the warning?

No!

Instead, he bowed his head and charged the oncoming locomotive.

That was the end of the Bob Whalley bull.

There are myriads of ways to apply this story and change our individual lives.

Let us do so, as all of us at times, are just as obstinate and about as smart as the Bob Whalley bull.