About the ranch
Two Family Lines.
One Piece of Texas Dirt.
Sharpe Diamond Cattle Co. LLC is built on service, sacrifice, and the long view, rooted in Simsboro, just outside Teague in Freestone County, Texas.
USMC 1984–1989 · US Army, 1st Cavalry Division, Iraq
The founder
Robert P. Sharpe
Robert P. Sharpe is a retired combat veteran, lifelong Texan, and the founder of Sharpe Diamond Cattle Company in Simsboro, just outside Teague in Freestone County, Texas.
A native Houstonian and graduate of Jersey Village High School, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1984 and served as an 0351 Anti-Tank Assaultman with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 1st Marine Division. His service took him to Japan, California, and North Carolina. After an honorable discharge he returned to Houston and spent 19 years in litigation support, including running the family’s own litigation support firm, Sharpe Impressions Inc., with Guinn.
In 2008 he returned to active duty with the United States Army, serving two combat deployments in Iraq with 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division at JSS Ur in Sadr City and COS Kalsu in Babil Province. He retired from the Army as a sergeant.
Robert met his late wife, Guinndolyn “Guinn” Sharpe, in 1990 in the copy room at the American Productivity & Quality Center in Houston. They married in 1991 and built their life together around faith, family, and the land.
In her memory
Guinndolyn Harris Sharpe
1959–2022
Guinn was an accomplished harpist who studied under the renowned Marie-Claire Jamet at the Paris Conservatory. She graduated from Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart at age 16, earned a double major in French and Music at Houston Baptist University, and later completed her master’s degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Teaching was her true love. She began at the American Productivity & Quality Center in Houston, then worked in organizational development for Brown & Root and Halliburton, where she built the Project Management Development Program. Its training materials won first place in the United States and second internationally in the Society for Technical Communication’s competitions. As a consultant she designed Total Quality Management training for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and she finished her career at College of the Mainland in Texas City, retiring as an instructor in continuous process improvement. As a harpist she performed for film stars and for Queen Elizabeth II.
A premature baby who overcame significant early health challenges, Guinn carried a quiet determination throughout her life. She was a gifted horsewoman, a professional harpist, and the heart of their family until her passing on January 24, 2022.
Guinn was a member of the Alexander Love Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Robert and Guinndolyn
A life built together
Family and roots
Deep roots in Texas soil
Together, Robert and Guinn formed Sharpe Diamond Cattle Company, LLC before she passed. The ranch carries deep Texas and Freestone County roots. Guinn’s maternal grandmother, Alta Senter, was born and raised in Teague. She married Temple Abernathy and later wrote the book Bud & Me, the true story of the cross-country rides of Temple and his brother Louis (“Bud”) Abernathy, sons of the famous “Catch-’em-Alive” Jack Abernathy. Guinn’s father, Ted Guinn Harris, purchased the property that is now home to Sharpe Diamond Cattle Company.
Robert’s own family traces back through the Sharpe and Brunson lines: hard-working Texans, sharecroppers, railroad men, and veterans who served in World War I, World War II, and beyond.
Together, Robert and Guinn raised three sons, Christopher, Perry, and Samuel, on this land. The boys learned to work cattle, ride horses, shoot, and take responsibility. Today the ranch continues as a multigenerational effort rooted in stewardship, integrity, and the belief that each day is an opportunity to lean forward and do better than the day before.
The name
How the name became Sharpe
On my side, the Sharp line, originally spelled without the “e,” came into Texas through earlier generations who settled in the Fort Worth and Waco areas. When my grandfather was born in Waco, the nurse who filled out the birth certificate added an “e” by mistake. It was never corrected, and from that day forward our family has carried the name Sharpe.
My great-grandfather Willie Sharp was active in the Scottish Rite in Houston. My grandfather Willie Sharpe Jr. and my father Robert Edward Sharpe were both heavily involved in the Arabia Shrine in Houston. That tradition of service and fraternity ran deep in the family.
On my wife’s side, her lineage includes the Abernathy line: Temple and Louis Abernathy, sons of “Catch-’em-Alive” Jack Abernathy, appointed U.S. Marshal of the Oklahoma Territory by President Theodore Roosevelt. Her great-great-grandfather, Guinn Terrell Williams of Decatur, Texas, served as a U.S. Congressman from 1922 to 1933, was Chairman of the House Committee on Territories, and in 1925 served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas. Both family lines trace back to the Revolutionary War.
“Catch-’em-Alive” Jack Abernathy and Teddy Roosevelt, Frederick, Oklahoma Territory, April 8–13, 1905.
A lineage of service
The Brunson, Gordon, and Tanner lines
On my mother’s side, the Brunson, Gordon, and Tanner lines carry a long record of service across the major conflicts of this nation. From the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, through the wars of the twentieth century, and into the Global War on Terrorism, successive generations stepped forward when their country called. That same spirit of duty, hard work, and quiet resolve traveled west with the family, took root in Texas soil, and continues to this day.
My grandfather, Perry Brunson, was raised in a large sharecropping family near Mason, Texas. He later moved to New Mexico, where he rounded up wild burros in the Sacramento Mountains and worked for the railroad, an essential job during the war years, before serving in the Philippines at the close of World War II. The values of perseverance, faith, and responsibility he carried were passed down through my mother and into our generation.
That lineage of service did not end with earlier wars. It continued through my own years in the United States Marine Corps and later in the United States Army during two deployments to Iraq in support of the Global War on Terrorism. The thread remains the same: ordinary Americans who answered the call and did their duty.
God bless the United States of America and the great state of Texas.
The operation
Built with purpose
Sharpe Diamond Cattle Company exists to raise good cattle with honest documentation, strong genetics, and careful attention to the land, so that what is built here can be passed on with confidence.
Every animal we raise carries the Sharpe Diamond brand, registered in Freestone County. When our brand is on a cow, steer, or bull, our name and our reputation are on it too. That brand is our promise of quality and integrity.
Every animal also carries a permanent number and a lifetime record. The operation runs on 44 acres of Coastal Bermuda and Bahia pasture with two tanks, working pens, and good fencing.
- Two tanks on property
- Working pens and good fencing
- Permanent animal tracking system
- Lifetime records on every head
- Disciplined herd management
Guinn, as comfortable in the saddle as she was on stage.
The next generation
The heirs to the Diamond
This land, this herd, and everything built here is for them. The grandchildren of Sharpe Diamond Cattle Co. are the reason we do this work, so they inherit not just acres but a name, a legacy, and a way of life worth keeping and defending.
Our motto
“Integrity Is Our Brand.”
Sharpe Diamond Cattle Co. is more than a business. It is the place where two long American and Texas family lines met the land, and where I intend to leave something solid and honest for our sons, grandchildren, and the generations that follow.