With roots in Jacksboro, Texas, Joyce Gibson Roach was an author and lecturer of the Southwest. She published countless articles and short stories and authored the foundational text The Cowgirls, which was published in 1990. Roach received three Western Writers of America Spur Awards for both fiction and non-fiction. She was a columnist for the Star-Telegram, a professor at Texas Christian University, was a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association, and Fellow of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. Passionate about Western heritage, Roach cemented her place as a historical preservationist in cowgirl culture.
