To MID board, hat tree isn’t just part of the furniture

This is a story about a cowboy and his hat, sort of.

It’s also about a man who knows what a cowboy’s hat means to that cowboy, and what happened when the man saw a little problem and reckoned he might do something nice to fix it.

And it just so happens that the fix can be seen in public, albeit in the background, every other Tuesday morning in board meetings of the Modesto Irrigation District.

Those who pay attention to MID goings-on may already have guessed that the cowboy is Larry Byrd. He is chairman of the board; before he was elected in 2011, Byrd had a long career working for MID and he loves telling people how much he loves MID. But being a cowboy goes far deeper than mere affection.

“That’s me. It’s what I am,” Byrd said. “Whether here, Washington, D.C., a funeral, a wedding – what you see me wear at board meetings is what you’ll see me wear anywhere.”

The other man in this story is fellow board member Nick Blom. He’s as much a hard-core, lifelong farmer as Byrd is a dyed-in-the-wool cowboy, but don’t expect any buckaroo-vs.-sod-buster conflict in this tale.

Blom joined the board in the same election as Byrd, at a time of turmoil, and together they’ve weathered significant turnover touching all three of the other board seats as well as top MID management. These days, things are much calmer, and both were reseated this year when no candidate came forward to challenge either on the November ballot.

But we need to go back a bit to tell this story properly.

Byrd’s former MID career paid the bills but always played second fiddle to running cattle in the hills east of Modesto. After retiring from the MID job, he made time from cowboying to attend MID board meetings where he – and his cowboy hat, of course – became a fixture on the front row of the audience.

“One day, somebody said it was impolite to wear a cowboy hat in a public setting like that,” Byrd recalled. “Actually, it’s not. The cowboy code says it’s to be worn in public buildings. But I said I would take it off if there’s a hall tree to set it on.”

The cowboy code isn’t exactly like the Ten Commandments, as far as being chiseled in stone, but to a cowboy it’s every bit as sacred. It’s based on honor and unflinching respect. Unwritten rules, such as never touch a cowboy’s hat or don’t set it on a bed, are important parts of the culture.

“The next thing I know,” Byrd said, “a little hall tree was setting there by the door.” It sported his cowboy hat during meetings before and after he and Blom ascended to the dais, “but Nick never did like it,” Byrd continued. “It was kind of a modern hall tree: aluminum, with a Mediterranean look. It wasn’t a cowboy look.”

About Christmastime last year, Blom, who has no experience making fine furniture, pondered on that flimsy hat tree. He mentioned to Byrd that his brother teaches a 4-H welding class, which is true, and asked if there might be a few horseshoes lying about the ranch. Byrd, with no idea what Blom had cooking, brought him a boxful.

Next, Blom acquired a 4-by-4 redwood post – from fellow board member John Mensinger’s American Lumber Co., of course. With help from Blom’s 13-year-old son, who is learning to weld, they bent five horseshoes to act as coat or hat hooks. They formed metal rods into letter shapes, making initials representing all five board members, including Jake Wenger and Paul Campbell, and heated the metal.

“We basically branded the initials into the wood,” Blom said, evoking the image of a cowboy tradition, “except what you’re branding doesn’t move.”

When the board gathered in January, two days after Byrd’s 64th birthday, the new hat tree stood on the dais behind Byrd’s chair, where it remains today for all to see, though few knew the backstory. Until now.

“It’s the real deal,” Byrd said. “It’s beautiful. I was pretty touched by that. It almost made me cry.”

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 3:52 PM with the headline "To MID board, hat tree isn’t just part of the furniture."