Today, the wonderful Reba McEntire is 69 years old and she truly deserves all the praise she can get. Personally, it feels like she has been around all my life and I still listen to her, several times a week.
But everything hasn’t been milk and honey in Reba’s life.
Born to ride and work the land
Reba McEntire wasn’t just born country — she lived it.
The legendary country queen was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1955. But she grew up on her family’s massive 8,000-acre ranch in tiny Chockie, Atoka County. Reba’s childhood was all about hard work, determination, and western traditions.
Life on the ranch didn’t allow for much downtime, and even as a little girl, Reba was expected to pull her weight.
By the time she was just five years old, Reba was already driving her dad’s truck through fields of cattle. Well, steering might be the better word since she was too small to reach the pedals. Her dad, Clark McEntire, would prop her up with a 50-pound feed sack, shift the truck into ”granny gear,” and let her take the wheel. And this wasn’t just a fun one-off moment — it was part of daily life.
The legendary country singer grew up in a family steeped in rodeo history. Her granddad, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934, and her dad, Clark, followed in his footsteps, winning the title three times.
Her childhood wasn’t glamorous
But Clark McEntire wasn’t just a rodeo legend — he was old-school when it came to parenting. Reba’s father didn’t believe in handing out hugs or saying “I love you” to his kids. His way of showing love was through high expectations and teaching them the value of hard work.
Reba later admitted in her autobiography, For My Broken Heart, “When we were growing up, I used to regret that Daddy never told us he loved us.”
Her childhood wasn’t glamorous. The McEntire children — Alice, Pake, Reba, and Susie — grew up in a modest gray house with just one bathroom for all six family members.
”We weren’t no wealthy West Texas people or nothin’. It’s mostly rocky, mountain country, but enough to run a few steers on,” Reba recalled.
Even though Reba mastered and appreciated farm life from an early age, she always had another dream tugging at her heart — she loved to sing. Her mother, Jacqueline McEntire, had once dreamed of becoming a country singer herself but instead dedicated her life to being a public school teacher, librarian, and secretary.
”My mama, they used to say she coulda been as big as Patsy Cline if she’d had any breaks, but she was teaching’ school by the time she was 16 or 17,” Reba once said.
She got her big voice from her dad
When Reba’s father struggled to show affection, Jacqueline was warm and nurturing. Music became a family bond, much thanks to their mother’s encouragement. On long car rides to her father’s rodeo events, Jacqueline would teach her kids to sing in harmony, turning the backseat into a mini choir.
It was during these moments that Reba’s passion for singing truly blossomed.
Reba always said her mama taught her to sing, and all her music roots come from her. As for the big voice, she got that from her dad. Growing up on a ranch, he had to shout across the fields to call the cattle, and that power in his voice passed down to Reba.
