Triston’s Legend of the Cowboy Foundation
North Texas local Amber Gibson says she will never forget the day she found out her only son Triston Russell Bailey had been killed in a motorcycle accident near the City of Crowley in January of 2022. Since then, Gibson says she has been doing her best to rebuild her life while still honoring the memory of her late son. One such way she’s been able to bring a bit of closure to her son’s passing was by creating the newly established non-profit titled “Triston’s Legend of the Cowboy Foundation.” This foundation is set up to give scholarships to qualifying cowboys and cowgirls to help pay for things like equine camps, rodeo sports, ranching, and much more.
Triston’s Legend of the Cowboy Foundation
Although this new nonprofit is doing goodwill in her late son’s name, Gibson says getting over this tragedy has been anything but easy.
“I knew after Triston had passed, that there were going to be some dates on the calendar that would almost be impossible for me to deal with,” she says solemnly. “This is, in part, how this nonprofit got started.”
What Gibson is referring to is a party she hosted on her late son’s birthday in that would spark the idea to create a nonprofit in his name. “I thought, ‘What would Triston do,’… I knew he would host a party, so that’s exactly what I did.”
According to Gibson, she and her son “grew up together” since she was very young when she had him. Triston was born ten days late on August 1st of 2000 just a few months after the change in the millennium.
Triston’s Legend of the Cowboy Foundation
“He was actually a very shy kid,” Gibson says. “He did, however, play every sport he could. We had every kind of bat, helmet, and ball you can think of at one time.”
Gibson added that her son was a very likable kid, who made friends easily. “He might not have been the best student, but he did what I made him do,” she says with a smile.
After Triston – who was named after Brad Pitt’s character in “Legends of the Fall” – hit his teen years, Gibson says he seemed a bit lost until he found and became involved with a local riding club called the Horse House in Fort Worth.
“After high school, he was just kind of working some jobs until he found this group of folks that were a horse-riding club,” she says. “It totally changed him. He went from a lost adolescent to a young man in the course of the time he was part of this group.”
Gibson verified that he found his purpose on the back of a horse. His plan was to eventually teach horseback lessons after joining the military.
“He finally had a vision and a plan and then the motorcycle accident happened,” she says with a sad tone.
As she made her rounds at the party she threw on honor of Triston over a year later, she overheard several of her son’s friends reminisce about things they had done with him over the years. One such story came from a mom who mentioned that Triston had helped her child learn how to ride when he was working at the Horse House in Fort Worth.
Triston’s Legend of the Cowboy Foundation
“After I heard this, I said, ‘That’s it,’ we will continue to help kids and young adults experience the cowboy life,” Gibson says. From there, Gibson and her team of friends and family helped create this newly formed 501 (c) 3 over the next year. Earlier this month, she verified that TLCF raised nearly $20 grand in scholarship funds that will go to qualifying students looking to continue a Western way of life.
“We had a great turnout at the Ridglea Theater of around 300 people,” she says. “We heard music from local Fort Worth artist Josh Weathers and had a blast. I know we came up at this quickly, but I wasn’t sure how else to handle this date other than doing something positive.”
