He was born in Philadelphia as Alonzo Megarge III in 1883. Inspired by a Buffalo Bill Cody performance, Alonzo moved to Arizona at age 13 and sought out the cowboy life, eventually earning his spurs as foreman of Billy Cook’s T.T. Ranch near New River. After investing in a ranch and going bust, he decided to become an artist.
At some point, he added an extra “e” to his last name and shortened his first name to Lon. His bio was mostly BS, but as one wag put it, “Lon Megargee was exactly what an Easterner thought a Westerner should be.” In 1948, he created what some believe is his masterpiece, “The Cowboy’s Dream,” for A-1 Beer.
He died of a heart attack in Sedona in 1960, and his ashes were scattered across the T.T. Ranch, thus fulfilling this cowboy’s dream.
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