Bobby McNellis went to TWC (now UTEP) after graduation from high school and I have a large newspaper article from his college days, about his fascination with old firearms and their connection with historical nineteenth-century events in El Paso and northern Mexico.  In the 1970s when the S. D. Myers Saddlery company moved away from El Paso, Bobby purchased the old "El Paso Saddlery" portion of that company.  Soon the name El Paso Saddlery was again famous for making leather holsters and belts, this time for the growing "cowboy shooting" crowd.  Here is something Bobby wrote to promote sales:

"In 1889, El Paso, Texas, was the most notorious town in the West. Gunfighters, gamblers and outlaws alike found this border town an ideal haven. Its wide-open atmosphere gave rise to such popular pastimes as gambling and prostitution.  In those early days the Saddlery's customers ranged from professional gunmen who needed sturdy holsters to house the tools of their trade, to cowboys seeking rugged saddles for their ponies. Average citizens, requiring nothing more than quality belts and leather goods, were also customers. While among those customers numbered such men as John Wesley Hardin, John Selman, John Milton, Captain John R. Hughes of the Texas Rangers, Bat Masterson, Killing Jim Miller, George Scarborough and Pat Garrett, you also may be assured of receiving the same individual attention and guaranteed satisfaction that has distinguished the El Paso Saddlery Tradition."

Bobby was well known in the El Paso community for helping to preserve the local history.  After his passing, Bobby's son Ryan took over the operation of El Paso Saddlery.

--Terry Henderson

P.S. Regrettably, I did not know Bobby at Austin High and never got to meet him, even though I eventually developed a similar strong interest in old guns and their history, and then discovered that we had mutual friends, from whom I heard of his passing.