The daughter of legendary saddle maker Monroe Veach, Imogene Veach was born in July of 1921 at Trenton, Missouri. She spent her childhood years at the bench, learning much of the saddler’s trade by tooling leather elements and stitching boot tops for the family shop.
In 1939, Imogene Veach met cowboy and rough-stock contender Charley Beals at the Sidney Iowa, rodeo. The couple married the following year and Charley became an apprentice saddler at the original Veach shop. Following World War II, they established Veach Saddlery Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an enterprise that flourished for 40 years. While Charley built saddles, bare-back riggings and chaps, Imogene fashioned western shirts for men and complete western outfits for women.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Imogene Veach Beals also wrote a monthly column for Hoofs and Horns magazine, as well as for the Ranchman magazine. She and Charley became well-know figures throughout the rodeo world both for their products and their abiding interest in the sport and its people. For her many contributions to rodeo, Imogene Veach Beals received the Tad Lucas Memorial Award in 2001.
