Jerry Ann Portwood Taylor

Jerry Ann Portwood Taylor, 81, one of the most glamorous and skilled cowgirls passed away Wednesday, February 29, at her home in Graham, TX.

Funeral will be held at 10 A.M. Saturday, March 3, 2012 at Morrison Funeral Home in Graham, with Rev. Randy Branson officiating. A crypt side service will follow at 3 P.M. Saturday, March 3, 2012 at Greenwood Mausoleum, 3100 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76107.
Jerry was born July 26, 1930, in Seymour, TX to Jozelle Prichard Portwood and Bill Portwood, members of a well-known North Texas ranching family. At the age of five, she fell in love with horses while "assisting" the ranch-hands on the Portwood Ranch.
At the age of twelve, she and her mother moved to Fort Worth. She graduated from Paschal High School in 1948 and then continued her education at Texas Christian University.
At age 15, in 1945, Jerry was the youngest woman ever selected to work as an official "ranch girl" for Gene Autry and Evert Colborn at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo in New York City.
For the next 20 years, she participated in rodeos across the United States and Europe as a trick rider, worked in Hollywood as a stunt rider and traveled the U.S. to promote movies such as "Red River." Her glamour and glittery western wardrobes coupled with her fearless skills in horsemanship awed the audiences. She was one of the first trick riders to coordinate her costumes with her horse's gear, their saddle blankets and bridles beaded to match her Hollywood-type attire. She was sought for magazine covers and graced the Pangburn candy boxes for many years.
In 1952, one of the greatest skills was performing as a trick rider in the stage production "Texas" at the London Palladium. The show ran four months, with performances twice daily, and starred Tex Ritter and Buck Brady. It was during this time that Jerry worked with fellow Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductees, such as Fern Sawyer, Tad Lucas, and daughter Mitzi Riley, a talented group of cowgirls slated to become lifelong friends. In the mid-1950s, Jerry became active in showing cutting horses. Riding her great gelding, Kip Mac, she won the first National Cutting Horse Association Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious cutting horse event of its day, held in Weatherford, Texas.
Jerry was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in 1986.
She was preceded in death by her father, Bill Portwood and step-father Judge Byron Matthews.

Survivors include husband, Dutch Taylor; mother, Jozelle Matthews, both of Graham; half-brother Harley Portwood and wife Babe of Seymour; cousins Danny Marie Shawver, Sammie Morris and husband Bobby, Margaret Bond, Nancy Gill and husband Stan, as well as best friend, her beloved Schnauzer Tootie Taylor.

The family will be Morrison Funeral Home Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. to greet friends.

Memorials may be sent to The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, 1720 Gendy St., Fort Worth, Texas 76107; The Humane Society of Young County, 120 Craig St., Graham, TX 76450; or First Presbyterian Church, 1400 Randy Dr., Graham, 76450.