LIVING HISTORY
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2006 at the age of
87 and Betty died in
2012 at the age of
85. Their son, Buddy
Mills, followed his father
into the cowboy
life, working as a day
cowboy in his early
years and competing
in rodeo events.
He worked for the
Florida Department of
Agriculture and later
was an agriculture
teacher for 21 years
at Yearling Middle
School in Okeechobee and rodeo coach for the middle school
and high school. He lives in Okeechobee County. Brother Kent
Mills also followed his father into the cowboy life, working as
a cowboy at Arrow B Ranch in Highlands County from 1979 to
1980. Trained to operate heavy equipment under Cow Creek
grove manager Curtis Arnold at the Cow Creek grove, Kent
began working as a heavy equipment operator with the South
Florida Water Management District, retiring in 2014. He now
runs a u-pick farm in Oxford, Florida. Junior and Betty’s daughters,
Marge Chandler and Marty Mills, live in Okeechobee, and
daughter Cheryl Woodson lives in French Camp, Mississippi.
Daughter Ernestine Caldwell of Reedsville, Georgia, died last
summer in a car crash.
George Harrison “Junior’’
Mills worked as a cowboy
at Cow Creek from 1970
until it was sold in 1976
and continued working
for the new owner Charles
Vavrus one more year.
He continued working
as a day cowboy into his
80s. His wife, Betty Mills,
known as “Miss Betty,’’
was a cook at Cow Creek
during the same period.
After leaving Cow Creek,
she returned to school
and became a licensed
practical nurse, working
at Raulerson Hospital
and later the Okeechobee
County Jail. Junior died in
Joan and Earl Story
Cowboy Earl Story worked
at Cow Creek from the early
1960s to the mid-1970s.
After leaving Cow Creek,
he was a tractor operator
for Agri-gators. He died
in 2011 at the age of 70.
Wife, Joan Story, died in
1998 at the age of 57. They
were the parents of three
children. Son Mordie Story
and daughter Nancy Sparkman
live in Okeechobee.
Son Earl Story Jr., who was
mentally disabled and one
of the best-loved children
at Cow Creek, died in
2018 at the age of 54.
Aubrey Arnold worked at
Cow Creek from the late
1950s and was foreman
when he left the ranch
in the late 1960s. Wife,
Ethel, was a cook at the
ranch in those years.
They divorced in 1974.
Aubrey died in 1984
at the age of 54. Ethel
remarried and was a
longtime tractor driver
for Osceola County.
Their son, Steve Arnold,
followed his dad into
the cowboy life and
has worked at Perry
Smith and Sons farms
of Okeechobee for the
past 37 years. Daughter
Patty Boney lives
in Okeechobee.
Betty and Junior Mills
Kent Mills
Howard ‘Sport’ Pickering Jr.
Cowboy Howard Pickering Sr. and his family lived at Cow
Creek from 1960 to 1965. Pickering’s father-in-law, Sherrod
Evers, owned and operated two sawmills at Cow Creek.
Howard Pickering Sr.’s son, Howard “Sport” Pickering Jr.,
was a summer cowboy at Cow Creek and later worked at
the successor ranch, V Bar 2, as a day cowboy. He now
is a detective for the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office.
Howard Pickering Sr., who also worked at the Okeechobee
Sheriff’s Office, died in 1987 at the age of 50. Besides Sport
Pickering, two more of Howard Pickering’s sons also work
in law enforcement: James Pickering is a detective for the
Okeechobee City Police Department and Kenneth Pickering,
Ethel Arnold Durden
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