COMMUNITY
For them, rodeo is more than competition. It’s more than shiny buckles, armfuls of ribbons, gifted saddles and expensive horses. It is family structure, therapy session, classroom and never-ending reunion rolled into one dusty arena just off Warren Road. “This is just what we do,” Phylliss said. “We Long before R.J. and Delilah started collecting buckles, Alexis and Phylliss were the little girls following Ree through arenas and ranches across Arizona with their brother, J.R. Dees. “I was pretty much the [other] boy he had but didn’t have,” Alexis said with a laugh. She learned to ride young and spent years training under her father, eventually following in his footsteps to Central Arizona College, where she competed on the rodeo team. live every day like this.” Raised in the arena “I wanted to experience what he experienced,” Alexis said. “College rodeo was my thing.” The family’s rodeo roots stretch back generations. Ree first learned to ride on his father’s cattle ranch in Yuma, where rounding up cattle naturally led him into rodeo. “My dad, he built an arena on the [Yuma] ranch. We started roping at home there,” Ree said. “Then I started high school rodeoing, college rodeoing and pro-rodeoing. Now I’m here and my grandson rodeos. My son is one of the top ropers in the world.” His son, J.R. Dees, is a professional team roper and two-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo. It’s all a stark contrast to the prediction Ree’s father, Alex, made years ago. “There’s an interview he did and the very last words he gave were, ‘Nobody in my family will ever continue this legacy,’” Phylliss said. “I thought, ‘Oh, really? I got you.’ In this family, the tradition’s not going away.” Now Ree spends his evenings teaching his grandchildren the same lessons once passed down to him, almost always on horseback. During practice, he moves between roles seamlessly, helping saddle horses one minute before stepping into the arena himself the next. “He wakes up every morning and has purpose,” Phylliss said. “There’s people out there that need him and believe in him.” That work ethic became part of daily life for the entire family. Horses need consistency. Riders need repetition. Some nights, practice stretches long after sunset. “You’ll ride every day, and then out of nowhere the horse forgets everything,” Phylliss said. “So, it teaches you patience and hustle.”
R.J. Ruiz and his father, Ricardo, practice team roping.
A legacy multiplied At 61, Ree Dees still ropes alongside his children and grandchildren, helping carry a family tradition into another generation.
T
HE HEAT FROM THE YEAR’S first 100-degree day still clung to the air well after sunset. Inside the arena, dust rose
with each horse’s trot as a 10-year-old, his grandfather and aunt rushed after a steer. A rope whooshed through the air and hooked the back legs. Someone yelled from the arena’s edge to keep their eyes open. At the center of the organized chaos was Elvenee “Ree” Dees, sitting tall atop his horse. At 61, Ree still does nearly all of it himself. He moves cattle, coaches riders, breaks and trains horses and ropes alongside his children and grandchildren, who now carry on the family tradition he first learned growing up in Yuma. Not far away, 10-year-old Ricardo “R.J.” Ruiz Jr. sat on his horse and adjusted his rope before another practice run. His younger sister, 7-year-old Delilah, tied up her pony after running through several barrel patterns. Their aunt, Alexis Dees, prepared for another team roping drill with R.J. Their mother, Phylliss Ruiz, watched from the gate, keeping an eye on the horses and talking rodeo with the same lifelong familiarity she grew up with.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MONICA D. SPENCER
The Dees and Ruiz family stands for a photo on their Hidden Valley ranch.
InMaricopa.com | June 2026
June 2026 | InMaricopa.com
20
21
Powered by FlippingBook