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The daughter of T. Hillman Smith and the former Bettie Sue Wood, Rogers was born '''Lucille Wood Smith''' in Uvalde, some eighty miles west of [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], but her name was soon changed to '''Frances Octavia Smith'''. Long after she lived elsewhere, Evans Rogers visited her grandparents' family homestead in Uvalde. She recalled in 1996 that as a child she had slept on the since-removed back porch during hot summer nights and hearing nearby [[Mexican]] families singing in the dark. The property was placed on the market in 2018, with an asking price of $149,500, but a buyer will need more money to bring the house up to standards. Or the property could be subdivided into eight lots that would sell for nearly $40,000 each. None of the original furnishings remain, and various owners altered the dwelling over the years.<ref name=rmarini>Richard A. Marini, "Uvalde fixer-upper once Dale Evans' home", ''The San Antonio Express-News'', April 27, 2018, pp. 1, A11.</ref>

The daughter of T. Hillman Smith and the former Bettie Sue Wood, Rogers was born '''Lucille Wood Smith''' in Uvalde, some eighty miles west of [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], but her name was soon changed to '''Frances Octavia Smith'''. Long after she lived elsewhere, Evans Rogers visited her grandparents' family homestead in Uvalde. She recalled in 1996 that as a child she had slept on the since-removed back porch during hot summer nights and hearing nearby [[Mexican]] families singing in the dark. The property was placed on the market in 2018, with an asking price of $149,500, but a buyer will need more money to bring the house up to standards. Or the property could be subdivided into eight lots that would sell for nearly $40,000 each. None of the original furnishings remain, and various owners altered the dwelling over the years.<ref name=rmarini>Richard A. Marini, "Uvalde fixer-upper once Dale Evans' home", ''The San Antonio Express-News'', April 27, 2018, pp. 1, A11.</ref>

She lived at times in Italy, Texas, north of [[Waco, Texas|Waco]] and in Osceola in eastern [[Arkansas]], there with her physician-uncle. At the age of fourteen, she eloped with and wed Thomas Frederick  Fox, with whom she had one son, Thomas, Jr., a year after the marriage. After a year, Fox abandoned her, and she was a single mother in [[Memphis]] [[Tennessee]], soon singing jazz, big band, and swing and playing the piano on local radio.<ref>Elise Miller Davis, ''The Answer Is God'', [[New York City]]: McGraw-Hill, 1955, pp. 59-62.</ref> After the first divorce, she assumed the show business name '''Dale Evans'''. Two more failed marriages followed, but no children were born from those unions. During her time at [[20th Century Fox]], the studio cast her as a sister of her teenage "brother" Tommy, her son Tom Fox, Jr. Then the showgirl was cast as co-star to Roy Rogers in the making of thirty-five motion pictures at Republic Studios.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262661/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm|title=Dale Evans Mini-bio|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=April 27, 2018}}</ref>

She lived at times in Italy, Texas, north of [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], and in Osceola in eastern [[Arkansas]], there with her physician-uncle. At the age of fourteen, she eloped with and wed Thomas Frederick  Fox, with whom she had one son, Thomas, Jr., a year after the marriage. After a year, Fox abandoned her, and she was a single mother in [[Memphis]] [[Tennessee]], soon singing jazz, big band, and swing and playing the piano on local radio.<ref>Elise Miller Davis, ''The Answer Is God'', [[New York City]]: McGraw-Hill, 1955, pp. 59-62.</ref> After the first divorce, she assumed the show business name '''Dale Evans'''. Two more failed marriages followed, but no children were born from those unions. During her time at [[20th Century Fox]], the studio cast her as a sister of her teenage "brother" Tommy, her son Tom Fox, Jr. Then the showgirl was cast as co-star to Roy Rogers in the making of thirty-five motion pictures at Republic Studios.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262661/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm|title=Dale Evans Mini-bio|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=April 27, 2018}}</ref>

From 1951 to 1957, Evans and Rogers appeared on [[NBC]]'s ''The Roy Rogers Show'', a family-oriented program in which Roy was a rancher and Dale operated a small restaurant.<ref name=rmarini/> Pat Brady appeared as Roy's sidekick in the series, which aired in reruns in the early 1960s on [[CBS]]. Dale composed the popular western tune, "Happy Trails". In their return to television in the fall of 1962, ''The Roger Rogers-Dale Evans Show'', a musical variety program with the Sons of the Pioneers, aired on [[ABC]] but was cancelled after thirteen episodes because of low ratings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055700/?ref_=_20|title=The Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Show|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=April 27, 2018}}</ref>

From 1951 to 1957, Evans and Rogers appeared on [[NBC]]'s ''The Roy Rogers Show'', a family-oriented program in which Roy was a rancher and Dale operated a small restaurant.<ref name=rmarini/> Pat Brady appeared as Roy's sidekick in the series, which aired in reruns in the early 1960s on [[CBS]]. Dale composed the popular western tune, "Happy Trails". In their return to television in the fall of 1962, ''The Roger Rogers-Dale Evans Show'', a musical variety program with the Sons of the Pioneers, aired on [[ABC]] but was cancelled after thirteen episodes because of low ratings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055700/?ref_=_20|title=The Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Show|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=April 27, 2018}}</ref>