Photos by Lisa Dahm

William Andrade with his horse in Ahualoa on the Big Island. Notice the cross on the saddle.

A cross on the saddle

William Andrade, an old time Big Island cowboy, handcrafts a symbol of faith for his fellow horse riders

By Lisa Dahm | Herald Catholic Herald

Cutting out the cross.   Stamping a border.   A cross on a saddle.   A collection of Andrade’s finished leather crosses.

AHUALOA, Hawaii -- Attend any Big Island rodeo and you will see small leather crosses attached to the saddles of many of the riders.

Each cross — a simple, durable profession of faith in God’s protection in a rough and sometimes dangerous occupation — is a gift from a Catholic man who himself has spent many years in the saddle.

Eighty-three-year-old William Andrade, a lifelong Big Island cowboy, hand-crafts the crosses and has them blessed by a friend of his who is a deacon. He has given away more than 300 of them over the past year at ropings throughout the island.

The robust outdoorsman, who is a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Honokaa, first made the leather symbols for his family.

“What happened was I started making some for my grandchildren and children,” he said. “Then I started giving them to friends. All of a sudden — ho! — more and more people just kept asking for them.”

Andrade started giving away the crosses to cowboys of all beliefs — Christian and non-Christian.

“When I give it to them, I say, ‘This thing is blessed — take care of it,’” he said. “’Respect it and it will take care of you.’”

The Big Island of Hawaii is known for its cowboys, or “paniolos,” a name derived from the Spanish “espanol” in the early 1800s, when the first Spanish-speaking Latin Americans arrived to work on ranches. Ranching led to rodeos, with its cattle roping, bull riding and barrel racing.

“In the state of Hawaii, there is roping on Maui, Molokai, Kauai and Oahu,” Andrade said. “There is roping all over and there are rodeos all over.”

Andrade grew up on a ranch in verdant Ahualoa, about 15 miles from Waimea on the Big Island, with his parents and six brothers and sisters. He learned leatherwork while repairing his own saddle and the saddles of friends and family.

Making each cross takes about 20 minutes. In his workshop in the back of his garage, Andrade cuts the cross shape from a scrap piece of leather with a knife. He then squares it off on a grinder. He oils the leather with a special wax, stamps and colors a border design, and rubs it again with a leather finish.

“It takes time, but on a rainy day, with nothing else to do, I come up and do it,” he said.

Andrade builds up a collection of about 50 crosses before he invites Deacon Larry Ignacio of Honokaa over to bless them. Andrade and Deacon Ignacio, who are both retired firefighters, worked together in the same station for more than 15 years and have remained close since then.

“He is touching so many hearts with those crosses,” Deacon Ignacio said.

The deacon said that Andrade’s hand-made evangelization shows a care and concern for others that he’s displayed as long as the two have been friends.

“This man will give you the shirt off his back,” Deacon Ignacio said. “He is always willing to help. He is very positive.”

Andrade now also makes a smaller version of the cross that fits on a keychain. It has also become a favorite.

Andrade and his wife, Frances, have been married for 46 years. He has five children, four of whom live close by, and nine grandchildren. When he turned 80, he divided most of his land among his sons, but still keeps active with daily work.

His daughter, Patricia Andrade Stout, said that while growing up, ranching was always a family affair.

“It is still happening,” she said.

Stout said that while Andrade’s children and grandchildren all perform in rodeos and equestrian events, ranching is much more difficult and demanding work. It requires riding early in the morning, often in cold and rainy weather.

“When we drive cattle, we ride hard for hours,” she said.

She said, for her parents, the family was “always the number one priority.”

They taught her and her siblings the importance of their faith and their community.

“He and my mother are very firm in their Catholic faith,” said Stout. “They make a great pair. They were a very good example for us kids when we were growing up.”

Stout said that she is happy that her father is making and giving away the crosses.

“It’s nice to have a little part of him — a little touch of his faith everywhere,” Stout said.

Andrade’s children and grandchildren all proudly display their crosses on their saddles.

“They go to these keiki rodeos and high school rodeos, and they all have crosses on their saddles,” Andrade said.

Andrade’s 10-year-old grandson, Cullen, said he likes having the cross on his saddle “because it is cool.” Seven-year-old granddaughter Abbie said that she liked it because “it was blessed.”

Ho‘olaea Andrade, William’s daughter-in-law, agreed that the blessing is why the crosses are special to her too.

“It makes us feel like we have someone watching over us during our events or if we are just working on the ranch or out in the pastures,” Ho‘olaea said.

Andrade said that he has given out more than 50 crosses at keiki rodeos alone.

“I try and give the younger boys and girls a belief in God,” he said. “(I hope that in) making these crosses, it will help some of them.”

“When you see them out there riding with their crosses, that is something that makes me feel good,” the old cowboy said. “And they feel good, too, because they have a cross. If they didn’t want them, they wouldn’t put them on their saddles.”

Though he turns 84 in March, Andrade still rides at least two or three times a week and he still “does a little roping” in competition.

“Faith takes me a long way,” he said.

“God has been really good to me condition wise,” he said. “A few aches and pains, here and there, but other than that, I can ride a horse, work out with my sons. I’m enjoying my life.”

“I like the sport,” he said of roping. “As long as I can keep on a horse, I will keep on doing it.”

Off the horse, Andrade’s talent in leatherwork enables him to rope a few souls by passing on a tangible reminder of faith to his family, and to his cowboy community as well.

“I hope that giving them the cross gives them some kind of belief in God in whatever religion they are in,” Andrade said.

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