The Beutlers met the Beutlers recently at an event held at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame/ Gaylord-Pickens Museum in Oklahoma City.

Cashion natives Mark Beutler and his cousin, Trey, attended a book signing ceremony hosted by Elk City natives and distant relatives, Randy and Bennie Beutler.

Randy Beutler is a former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and recently retired as president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford.

His new book, Impresarios of the Rodeo Arena, details the story of the Beutler stock contractors, dating back to the 1920s.

“I met Randy when he was in the House and I was state Capitol reporter for OETA,” said Mark Beutler. “We talked about how we were related and traced it back several generations. My father explained the relationship between the two Beutler families before he passed in 2010.”

Brothers Elra, Jake and Lynn Beutler started the company in 1929 and through the years it grew into one of the largest stock contractors in the country.

They provided stock to some of the biggest rodeos across the United States, and to popular television shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza.

At their museum in Elk City, the brothers have a photo with actress Marilyn Monroe when they provided livestock for her 1956 film Bus Stop.

The Beutler Brothers evolved into Elra Beutler and Sons, Beutler and Morgan, Beutler and Gaylord, and now Beutler and Son, led by Bennie Beutler and son Rhett.

The Cashion side of the family kept the original German pronunciation, while the Elk City side kept the spelling, but during World War II, opted for a simpler “Butler” pronunciation.

“When I was a DJ at KXY, I met Reba McEntire for the first time in Nashville,” Beutler said. “She saw my name tag and said, ‘What did you say your name is? Because I pronounce it Butler.’ Apparently during her rodeo days, she had worked a lot with the Beutler Brothers.”

In Cashion, the Beutler family has been a community staple since the Land Run.

Patriarch Peter and his wife Kate homesteaded a farm four miles south of Cashion in what was then known as Lockridge.

They had children Rachael, Noah, Herman, Harvey, Conrad and Minnie.

According to written family history, the farm was on the Chisholm Trail and was one Native Americans took going to and from their winter and summer homes.

Legendary lawman Wyatt Earp stayed overnight in the home several times.

Peter and Kate moved to Cashion in 1915 while their son Herman and his wife Alice remained on the farm.

Peter was chairman of the Board of Elders at the Cashion Christian Church, a member of the town board and director of the First National Bank of Cashion.

“I love family history, researching and learning new stories,” Mark Beutler said. “Mom will be 93 this summer and knows so much about my dad’s side of the family. She’s the only one left with that knowledge. Now this new book by Randy sheds light on the other side we never knew much about.”

Impresarios of the Rodeo Arena is available at beutlerandsonrodeoco. com.