For over eight decades, members of the Silver Spurs Riding Club have worked year-round to coordinate rodeos to positively impact the community, alongside several generations of their family. The Clubs' foundation is built on horsemanship, fellowship, volunteerism and giving back to its community. As a thank you for years of service, the Silver Spurs Riding Club Board of Directors celebrates long-time volunteers with the Coca-Cola Cowboy award and Women's Lifetime Achievement award each year. Honored as the 2021 Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Clemie Jo Lamb poured her heart and soul into the Club for many decades before passing away in December 2020.
Clemie Jo was born in Wauchula, Florida, on December 26, 1948. A resident of Hardee County for most of her life, Clemie Jo’s grandma, Clemons, nominated her to join the Silver Spurs Riding Club in 1994. She began serving the Club in the ticket booth selling pre-sale tickets leading up to the day of the performance. She also sat on the Miss Silver Spurs pageant committee where she would select the judges for the pageant each February. Deb Dilley, a former Miss Silver Spurs judge, and Clemie Jo became friends while she was in Florida to judge the pageant. Deb invited Clemie Jo to Las Vegas for the Miss Rodeo America Pageant, where she chaperoned for 15 years. While she served on many committees and was always willing to lend a helping hand, she’s most known for her time in the hospitality room, preparing meals and desserts for rodeo contestants. Along with several other ladies, Debora Whaley worked with Clemie Jo in the outdoor arena hospitality room and for several years after moving into the indoor arena. Together, they sought out separate sponsorships to serve fresh, hot meals for contestants and their families. Clemie Jo was a fine cook and spoiled contestants, members, and volunteers with mushroom rice, cowboy caviar, strawberry pie, and the best sweet tea. In addition, she’s known far and wide for delicious banana pudding that once sold for $7,400 in an auction. Here's the recipe for the dish you can cook up at your next get-together:
NOT YO' MAMA'S BANANA PUDDING INGREDIENTS:
Instructions:
You will need a 9 x 13 in baking dish, a whisk, and a mixing bowl
As if serving on the hospitality room, tickets, and Miss Silver Spurs pageant committee wasn’t enough, Clemie Jo also sat on the rodeo committee. As secretary, she kept meeting minutes for the committee chairman, Kevin Whaley, as they met year-round to assemble a plan in producing the largest rodeo east of the Mississippi at the time. As the Silver Spurs Riding Club welcomes visitors from all over for action-packed events, it’s important to remember the members and volunteers that dedicate their lives to making Osceola County’s long-standing tradition happen year after year. Clemie Jo, as a valuable member of the Club, and as her service to the sport of rodeo, was boundless during her time here on this earth. We’re honored to recognize a very deserving noblewoman with the 2021 Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
