Jock Ewing beside Miss Ellie's headstone and grave. In a storyline during the 1986–87 season of the show, a man named Wes Parmalee (portrayed by Steve Forrest) came to Dallas, where Clayton and Ray hired him as ranch foreman on Southfork. One day, Miss Ellie found Jock's belt buckle, knife, letters, and photo of a young Miss Ellie in Parmalee's room. Wes then claimed to be Jock Ewing, and that he had survived the helicopter accident, which necessitated plastic surgery and rehab in a South American hospital. After passing a series of tests set by J.R. and Bobby, including X-ray tests, a
Jock Ewing polygraph test and knowledge about the Ewing family, including Jock's first wife Amanda and Ray being Jock's son, Wes convinced many in Dallas, in addition to Miss Ellie, Ray, and several other members of the Ewing family, that he could be Jock. However, Clayton, Bobby and J.R. utterly refused to believe any suggestion that Wes was Jock. Bobby flew down and talked with the doctor who had treated Jock for a severe fever while he was in South America. Bobby returned to Southfork and revealed this information at a Ewing barbecue, where Jock's best friend Punk Anderson said that while