While many in the Big Bend know some of the more famous exploits of Terlingua’s Mimi Webb Miller—a former lover of Mexican drug lord Pablo Acosta—a new book by author Bill Wright puts together a collection of stories that tie the extraordinary woman’s life together, particularly Mimi’s reflections on her days growing up in Wichita Falls and time spent in the Houston art scene.
Wright released the biography, Mimi: The Perilous Journey of a Free-Spirited Texas Woman (TCU Press), on March 31 and held a book signing with Mimi at the Marfa home of attorney Liz Rogers last Thursday.
What emerges in the book is a similar story told before: How did a North Texas debutante and niece of a U.S. senator end up crisscrossing the border and hanging out with outlaws before becoming a mainstay in Terlingua—famous for driving her Checker Cab across the river at the informal border crossing in Lajitas?
The book outlines how Mimi ended up with her own Mexican ranch between Paso Lajitas and San Carlos—and how that eventually entrenched her in the cocaine smuggling world of Acosta in the late 1980s. I was surprised to learn how her trip with the late Gov. Ann Richards and a cadre of politicos led her to be enamored with the Big Bend.
However, most importantly, the book includes Mimi’s own personal reflections on what drew her to the Big Bend. Wright writes, “After trips to Lajitas and nearby Terlingua, Mimi had become consumed by the land. She reveled in the freedom she felt. No bustling traffic, no tall buildings disgorging people morning, noon and night. She had a clear view to absorb the many mountain vistas around here. She decided this was where she wanted to live for a while.”
Wright outlines how cartel threats after Acosta’s assassination by U.S. and Mexican authorities led Mimi to move several times, eventually landing in California as a casting agent for more than 36 years. She moved back to Terlingua for good in 2023 and runs the La Posada Milagro accommodations and taqueria and Espresso y Poco Mas cafe.
Originally from Abilene, Wright has written or done photography for 13 books, including a treasured one I have: Portraits from the Desert: Bill Wright’s Big Bend. His decades-long friendship with Mimi gave him the foundation to finally try to capture her life.
At the book signing at Rogers’ house, most had known Mimi—as Rogers had––for decades but still were happy to get a chance to sit down with her and Wright for a book signing. Mimi, at age 87, was open about her battles with memory loss, but she still delighted in telling a tale or two to those who would sit with her in the packed house.
I have interviewed Mimi several times, including a lengthy session at her Terlingua home, for research on my podcast about the Presidio County cocaine smuggling duo of Sheriff Rick Thompson and outlaw Robert Chambers—who Mimi had been romantically involved with to some extent. When I casually mentioned a meeting with Chambers, her eyes widened, and she stared at me strangely. “You met Robert Chambers?” she asked. I had told her this before, but that was long ago. I merely replied, “Of course. It was a bit unsettling.”
Many who read about Mimi, or who watched her fictionalized character on the Netflix series Narcos, recognize she had an adventurous spirit, as the book’s title implies. But Wright gives you the sense that she was just doing what she loved—experiencing the rough beauty of life in the Big Bend.