Roll Call Tribute

Eugene Hey "Gene" Zesch 

January 9, 1932 - February 28, 2026 

Nationally renowned woodcarver and caricature artist Gene Zesch died at his home in Mason, Texas on February 28, 2026. He was 94.

A memorial will be held at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mason on Saturday, March 14, 2026. Gene’s ashes will be interred in the Gooch Cemetery.

Eugene Hey Zesch was born in the Grossville community of Mason County on January 9, 1932, to Kurt and Benellen (Hey) Zesch. He grew up on his parents’ ranch on R.R. 1871 and rode his horse four miles to Mason to attend school. Expecting to become a rancher like his forefathers, Gene received a degree in animal husbandry from Texas A&M in 1953. He then served three years in the Army and trained as a pilot before returning to Mason County late in 1956.

Gene married Patsy Underwood in Mason on September 4, 1954. On a hunting trip that fall, they saw an artist on the Santa Fe plaza working on a woodcarving of Dwight Eisenhower. Gene told Patsy, “I think I can do that.” After that trip, he started carving humorous figures of cowboys and camp cooks in his spare time. A few of his pieces sold in gift shops for eight dollars.

Meanwhile, Gene struggled to make a living doing day work and raising his own livestock. In 1960, he and his friend Tom Harrison leased a remote ranch called El Tullio in the Sierra Madre Mountains near Peñón Blanco, Durango, Mexico, where Gene and Patsy and their two young sons camped in a tent while their Angora goats were giving birth. This adventure yielded many treasured memories but little profit.

Gene was thrilled when one of his woodcarvings sold for $35 in 1960, but his mother, Bennie, believed he could do better. In 1963, she took several of his pieces to the Country Store in Austin, which became the first fine art gallery to accept his work. After that, it became easier for him to get into other galleries and shows.

In the fall of 1965, he carved a caricature of President Lyndon Johnson seated at his desk, signing a stack of bills. Gene and Patsy drove to the Johnson ranch near Stonewall and handed the woodcarving to a guard through the gate. That piece was later displayed at the LBJ Library and was eventually featured in special exhibits at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (1993) and the National Archives (1996).

The gift also gained Gene some prominent new collectors. During a thunderstorm in 1967, Lady Bird Johnson asked the Country Store to put together an impromptu art exhibit to entertain a houseful of guests at the Johnsons’ Texas ranch. Mrs. Johnson specifically asked the gallery to include several of Gene’s pieces in this private show. The president’s family ended up buying all five of them. In addition, Lynda Johnson Robb commissioned Gene to carve her father playing dominos with some Hill Country characters.

In November 1967, Gene was honored with his first solo show at the Witte Memorial Museum in San Antonio. He recalled, “I was so naïve about art, I spent the entire opening being disappointed that nothing was selling rather than being pleased at the honor of having a one-man show in a museum.” The following year, one of his pieces was featured at the Humble Oil Pavilion at HemisFair 68.

By 1970, Gene was working full time as an artist. Patsy acted as his agent and business manager. Some of Gene’s collectors purchased twenty to thirty pieces. When galleries began demanding more work than he could produce, he started having some of his pieces cast into bronze in 1972. Images of his woodcarvings were also licensed for calendars, posters, greeting cards, T-shirts and mugs, which introduced his work to a large and appreciative audience worldwide.

At first, Gene created a few Old West pieces, but he soon realized that his true subject matter was the hardships facing the small-time working rancher of his generation. He always managed to find the humor in their predicaments. “Cowboys need a sense of humor,” he once pointed out. “Without laughter, they would hang up their saddles for good.”

Gene focused on facial features, and his characters’ trademark expression was eye-rolling resignation. Almost all of his figures were weathered cowboys; he never felt he was good at carving women. Gene used bold knife cuts to produce a rough look. As he explained, “I don’t want it to look like a man. I want it to look like a carving of a man.” He worked in basswood, fashioning his own knives from straight razors.

Gene’s work was sold at numerous galleries throughout the western United States, including Forrest Fenn-Nedra Matteucci Galleries in Santa Fe (where his pieces were featured in shows in 2015 and 2022), Trailside Galleries in Scottsdale and Jackson (which gave him a gallery show in 1986), Lee Youngman Galleries in Napa Valley, and Texas Art Gallery in Dallas. Among his collectors were Leon Panetta, John and Nellie Connally, actor John Ritter, record producer Snuff Garrett, publisher Roscoe Fawcett, 20th Century Fox CEO Alan Hirschfield, Sen. Alan Simpson, Rep. Frank Ikard, NBA player and coach Dave Cowens, Alabama lead singer Randy Owen, and many gallery owners and accomplished fellow artists.

In later years, Gene received single-artist shows at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio (1988; the most popular art exhibit the museum had hosted), the Forsyth Gallery at his alma mater, Texas A&M University (1997), and the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville (2020; also, a two-artist exhibit with Ace Reid in 2004). The highlight of his career was a solo show at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in 2005. The opening was the best-attended of any art exhibit in the museum’s history. His collectors donated pieces to the permanent collections of the American University Museum in Washington, D.C., the National Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech University, the Booth Western Art Museum in Georgia, and several other museums across the nation.

When arthritis limited his ability to work with his hands, Gene turned his attention to his other passions: motorcycling and preserving Mason County’s history. He went on motorcycle trips in Europe, South America and New Zealand. Gene was instrumental in founding the Mason Square Museum in 2002, helped map the Pinta Trail through Mason County, and set up the Wilburn Shearer artifacts exhibit at Fort Mason in 2013. He also took a lead role in saving the Runge House from demolition in 1998. Gene continued to enjoy fishing trips with his fellow James River Cowboys, a group of lifelong friends that he had helped start in 1945. In 2020, he was inducted into the Mason Chamber of Commerce’s Hall of Fame.

Throughout his career as an artist, Gene still played an active role in running his grandparents’ James River Ranch. No doubt that experience inspired the title of one of his pieces: “If someone gave me a million dollars, I’d just keep right on ranching till it was all gone.”

Gene’s only sibling, Peggy Laverty, died in 2021. He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Patsy, sons Casey (Lucinda) and Scott (Amelia), grandsons Zach (Nicki) and Ben (Raquel), great-granddaughters Harper and Lily Grace, step-grandchildren Augusta, Myles and Matt (Molly) Banner, and step-great-grandchildren Eric, Larissa, Andy and Izak Call. On Patsy’s side, he is survived by sister-in-law Karen Underwood. He also leaves seven nieces and nephews and their families.