New Foundation Honors Founder’s Late Son

Since the day Amber Gibson found out her only son Triston Russell Bailey had been killed in a motorcycle accident near Crowley in January 2022, she has been doing her best to rebuild her life while honoring the memory of her late son.

One way she’s been able to bring a bit of closure to her son’s passing was by creating the Triston’s Legend of the Cowboy Foundation, a newly established nonprofit set up to give scholarships to qualifying cowboys and cowgirls to help pay for things like equine camps, rodeo sports, ranching, and much more.

Gibson said recently that the nonprofit had raised nearly $20,000 in scholarship funds that will help qualifying students looking to continue a Western way of life.

Last month, a party in Triston’s honor at Ridglea Theater drew around 300 guests. Fort Worth musician Josh Weathers was on stage doing great Josh Weathers things.

“I knew after Triston had passed, that there were going to be some dates on the calendar that would almost be impossible for me to deal with,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how else to handle this date other than doing something positive.

“This is, in part, how this nonprofit got started.”

Gibson likes to say that she and her son “grew up together” since she was very young when she had him. Triston was born 10 days late on Aug. 1, 2000. She described him as a shy but likable child who made friends easily. He also played every sport he could.

“We had every kind of bat, helmet, and ball you can think of at one time,” she said.

After graduating high school, Triston, who was named after Brad Pitt’s character in “Legends of the Fall,” found his purpose after joining up with a local riding club, Horse House in Fort Worth.

“After high school, he was just kind of working some jobs until he found this group of folks that were a horse-riding club,” she said. “It totally changed him. He went from a lost adolescent to a young man. In the course of the time he was part of this group.”

Gibson said that he found his purpose on the back of a horse. He planned to eventually teach horseback lessons after joining the military, Gibson said.

“He finally had a vision and a plan and then the motorcycle accident happened,” she said.

As she made her rounds at the party she threw in honor of Triston over a year later, she overheard several of her son’s friends reminisce about things they had done with him over the years. One guest mentioned that Triston had helped her child learn how to ride a horse.

“After I heard this, I said, ‘That’s it,’ we will continue to help kids and young adults experience the cowboy life."