Stan Paregien Sr was born in Wapanucka (Johnston County), Oklahoma to Harold and Evelyn (Cauthen) Paregien. The family moved west the year after his birth and he grew up on ranches and farms where his father worked in southern California.
One of those places where Harold Paregien worked was the Newhall Ranch, a corporate ranching and farming operation that stretched for miles either side of the highway from the towns of Newhall (now Santa Clarita) to Piru. Stan was already in love with anything cowboy, mostly by watching those great B-Westerns at the local movie theaters. And then on the Newhall Ranch (officially known as the Newhall Land & Farming Company) he and his sister Roberta acquired horses and rode happy trails all over the ranch.
Paregien graduated from high school in 1959 at Fillmore, Calif. He married Peggy Ruth Allen from nearby Ventura, Calif., in 1962. They immediately moved to Nashville, Tennessee for Stan to study Speech Communication (and history and Bible) at Lipscomb University. He graduated in 1965. In 1968, he received his master’s degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Then he completed all 60-hours of the classwork toward a Ph.D. in Speech Communication at the University of Oklahoma (but did not complete his other requirements). He has taken and is still taking continuing education courses in Life Skills through the University of Hard Knocks.
He is a former full-time minister, a newspaper reporter and editor, a radio talk show host, a director of mental health facilities in both Texas and Oklahoma, and a salesman of various products. His hobby since 1990 has been writing and performing cowboy poetry and stories. He performed at the annual National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas for a total of some 25 years. Through it all, he has been and is a freelance writer and author.
He prefers just calling himself a "storyteller" in the tradition of Mark Twain, Louis L'Amour, Elmer Kelton, Garrison Keillor, Ansel Adams, Norman Rockwell, J. Frank Dobie, Agatha Christie and others. Sometimes he tells stories through narration, sometimes through poetry and often through photography.
Stan and Peggy have two adult children, Stan Paregien Jr who lives with his family in the St. Louis area; and Stacy Magness who lives with her family near College Station, Texas. They also have four grandchildren (going on five, with an adoption in progress) and two great-grandchildren. The Paregiens lived in Edmond, Oklahoma for some 20 years before moving to Bradenton, Florida in June of 2013.
Be sure to take a look at his other e-books which are also available online, including:
S. Omar Barker: Las Vegas New Mexico's Legendary Cowboy Poet
His biography and 50 of his poems.
The Cajun Cowdog: 15 Cowboy Stories for Adults*
*Just that people under age 13 probably can't appreciate it.
Cowboy Earmuffs: 15 Cowboy Stories for Adults
A Rainy Day Reader: 100 Poems for Your Enjoyment
Woody Guthrie: His Life, Music & Myth
Oklahoma Almanac of Facts & Humor, (Parts 1& 2)
The Austin Chronicles, Book 1: Boggy Depot Shootout (a Western novel with adult themes)
The Austin Chronicles, Book 2: The Abilene Trail (a Western novel with adult themes)
The Day Jesus Died
Rootin’ Tootin’ Cowboy Poetry (Stan's original poems)
Guy Logsdon: Award-winning Folklorist
Jim Shoulders: King of the Rodeo Cowboys
Clara Luper: Civil Rights Pioneer
Thoughts on Unity
He also recently published two paperback books through Amazon.com's KDP "Print-on-demand" process. Those two books are:
S. Omar Barker: Las Vegas New Mexico's Legendary Cowboy Poet
The Day Jesus Died: Revised Version
Or just Google "books by Stan Paregien."
