Late ‘Rawhide’ actor’s wife surprised at local festival for TV series

With a bit of deception, luck and help from his cousins, Mark Brinegar, son of the late “Rawhide” actor Paul Brinegar, turned Friday’s seemingly impromptu trip to Tucumcari into a memory his mother will treasure for years to come. As Mark and his cousins, Steve Brinegar and Paul Brinegar, neared Tucumcari, they began to point out various signs to Mark’s mother, Shirley Brinegar. Shirley’s late husband was cast as George Washington Wishbone in the western TV series “Rawhide.” She said she had not visited Tucumcari since a cross-country trip with her late husband in 1964 and was not prepared for what she discovered upon her return. “I pointed at a billboard and said ‘Auntie, look!’ and as she read the sign I could see her excitement,” said Paul Brinegar. The billboard was an advertisement for Tucumcari Rawhide Days, a two-day festival honoring the series at the Tucumcari Convention Center. “My mom began to tremble as we pulled into town and began to tear up when we were greeted at the event,” Mark Brinegar said. Mark said the people of the festival greeted his mother as a celebrity. He said it was an amazing feeling to see his mother so happy as she shook hands and spoke with people about her memories of his late father and of “Rawhide,” a TV western that was filmed near Tucumcari from 1959 until 1965. “I am flabbergasted and I’m still not sure all this is actually happening,” said Shirley Brinegar. “I am so grateful to know that so many people still care about ‘Rawhide.’” Shirley Brinegar spent time visiting with the daughters of her late husband’s co-stars, Clint Eastwood and Sheb Wooley. Kimber Eastwood, Chrystie Wooley and Mark Brinegar talked about memories before attending Friday night’s concert...more