WILLCOX Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees

WILL DE BORDE (4)
1890-1968
1991 COWBOY HALL OF FAME POSTHUMOUS AWARD

William Isaac DeBorde was born March 7, 1890. There is a dispute about his birthplace, but it was either Turkey Creek or Globe, Arizona. DeBorde spent his childhood in Turkey Creek where his father was a freighter between Pearce and Globe. His mother died while he was young, leaving his father to resort to neighbors for Will's and his brother Ed's care by way of the boys' labor. DeBorde also spent some of his younger years working for the Chiricahua Cattle Company and for a man by the last name of Shaw.

DeBorde married Berta Baker on February 10, 1914 and moved her to his newly homesteaded ranch in Dos Cabezas. In the early 1930's he worked for both the Central Copper Company and the Consolidated Gold Mine for extra income. His heart remained in ranching, however.

He ranched all of his adult life in the Dos Cabezas area. He was a member of the Willcox Elks Lodge No. 2131 and the Pioneer Cowboy Association. John Klump, also a Dos Cabezas rancher, once described Will DeBorde as a "Cowboy's Cowboy," the highest compliment that one can extend to another.

A lasting reminder of Will and Berta DeBorde is seen in the Willcox Community Hospital in the collection of mineral rocks, petrified wood and Indian artifacts, a lifelong project which was presented to the Hospital by Will in 1968 after Berta's death. DeBorde's estate was left jointly to the Willcox Community Hospital and the Willcox Elks Lodge No. 2131.