A former chief of the Kamloops Indian Band was inducted into the B.C. Cowboy Hall of Fame Friday night under the category of working cowboy.

Contacted earlier in the day, Clarence Jules, a lifelong resident of Tk'emlups band, was looking forward to the event.

“I think it's a great honour,” he said, although he downplayed his life as a cowboy.

“I think I was more of a chief and a councillor than a cowboy.”

He reflected on his working days as an enjoyable time of his life. He said he worked for many years for the Palmer family on the Seven-O ranch at Heffley Creek. Later he was a range rider for the band.

“It was great. The hours were kind of rough on my wife, though. I often had to get up at two and three in the morning.”

Bill Palmer described Jules as an all-round cowboy. He did whatever was asked of him — from working in the hay fields to rounding up cattle.

“He was a darn good man,” he said.

Jules, 83, was raised on his parents' farm near Kamloops, which is where he got his love of working with animals. He attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School and part of his tasks included milking the cows and tending the horses.

The Cowboy Hall of Fame submission on Jules notes that as a range rider, his responsibilities included developing water holes for cattle and improving grazing land. “He maintained his own hay lands and cattle and always had a nice string of horses.”

Jules served as band chief from 1962 to 1971. He later served as a band councillor and was on council in 1999 when the band's purchase of Harper Ranch was finalized.

Frank Gleeson, Williams Lake's poet laureate, was also inducted into the B.C. Cowboy Hall of Fame at Friday's night's ceremony, which was held at Calvary Community Church. The event is part of the Kamloops Cowboy Festival, on until March 14.