Charles "Kale" Stevens
Year Inducted: 2005
Parker Ranch | Hawai'i
There was no early sign of the strength and endurance he was later to personify, when at the tender age of four, Kale contracted tuberculosis and was sent away to the Pu`u Maile Sanitarium, some 60 miles from home. It was almost five years before he returned to the cool uplands of Waimea where he was born, and where he confronted the loss of his father and sister to the same disease of which he had been cured. Adversity and hardship no strangers in his young life, Kale dropped out of school in the ninth grade to help the family make ends meet.
He went to work for Parker Ranch at age 15 as part of the fence gang, doing the rigorous work of repairing fencing across thousands of acres of rugged terrain. Only a year later he was moved to the breaking pen area where he was mentored by Roughrider Foreman George Purdy, Sr. When he was only 18 years old, kale was selected to join the legendary Parker Ranch Cowboy Gang. This was quite an honor for such a young person, but only the first of his many achievements. He was to become Assistant Breeding Foreman, Purebred Foreman, Cowboy Gang Foreman, Superintendent of Mana Division and instrumental in the Ranch’s Animal Health Program during his 41- year career at Parker Ranch. He was noted for keeping meticulous records of the animals, and for a neat appearance, even as he rode in the saddle, which was the unwritten standard for a Parker Ranch cowboy.
After retiring in 1985, Kale built up his own 70-head herd. Quiet and stoic in nature, Kale was a humble man who would not take to having himself recognized for anything. His last journey was to his ranch for one last look at the animals and the life he loved.