It's been a wild ride the last few months... but I finally have the pictures from the Memorial Party. If you missed it, you missed a great one! Eventhough the downpours were plenty, it didn't stop Herman and his crew from preparing a luscious Argentina Feast!
There were plenty of stories and plenty of tears... family and friends gathered from across the country to pay respects to Bill and Ethel.
I can't thank Dwayne Dickerson enough for the fabulous pictures. I'm including a link to the Picassa Website which hosts the pictures. Please click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/billethelmundy/BillEthelMundyMemorialParty#
Everyone was generous with their contributions to the Ethel I. Mundy Memorial Scholarship Fund. I will post the final tally here, soon!
Chama Days happens this weekend. A good time to curl up with a good book and stay home!
Take care all,
Suze
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Rocks and Pine Stumps
We grew wheat and oats for many years and while I was not in sheep camp, one of my main jobs from 7-16 years old was to keep the granter's cattle off the crops and remove all the rocks and pine stumps from the fields. When we finally finished the fence to keep the cattle out, Bill placed Emitt and Joe Morrow behind a couple of the many piles of pine stumps with rifles while Bill & I herded the cattle off our pastures. We were confronted by over a dozen armed granters, led by Jose Maria Martinez. Bill grabbed Jose Maria by the collar and jerked him up on his horse with his back on the saddle horn. He loudly explained in spanish, so all could hear that there were men with rifles behind many of the piles of stumps and that if anyone shot Bill, all of the dozen or so granters would be killed. We then proceeded to push all of the tresspasser's cattle out and not a shot was fired!
Many other incidents like this happened but the logging and incident and moving the cattle off remain most printable in my mind.
Also the threatening phone calls which Ethel constantly received, kept us on our guard. Bill put a dozer blade under the dining room window so we would have some protection if we needed to have a gun battle to protect us and the home we built to replace the one that the granters burnt along with 6 others after Bill won the first quiet title suit in the 500,000 acre Tierra Amarilla Land Grant in 1960.
Almost every fence that Bill had built was cut, 12 registered Hereford cows were poisoned with strychnine grain, many horses were gut shot and one of our barns full of hay was burned. Bill never considered giving up. Ethyl was one of the toughest ranch wives imaginable and fed hundreds of Bill's friends, hired hands many of who lived with us and she did their laundry as well.
Jim
Many other incidents like this happened but the logging and incident and moving the cattle off remain most printable in my mind.
Also the threatening phone calls which Ethel constantly received, kept us on our guard. Bill put a dozer blade under the dining room window so we would have some protection if we needed to have a gun battle to protect us and the home we built to replace the one that the granters burnt along with 6 others after Bill won the first quiet title suit in the 500,000 acre Tierra Amarilla Land Grant in 1960.
Almost every fence that Bill had built was cut, 12 registered Hereford cows were poisoned with strychnine grain, many horses were gut shot and one of our barns full of hay was burned. Bill never considered giving up. Ethyl was one of the toughest ranch wives imaginable and fed hundreds of Bill's friends, hired hands many of who lived with us and she did their laundry as well.
Jim
Ethel and Chipmunks
Ethel happily put up with all of my pets. At one time I had 23 pet chipmunks that had run of the house.
They would run up my leg and jump on the table and eat with me. Their favorite thing was butter and velveeta cheese which we always had an ample supply of since the local welfare recipients would trade it to Bill for wheat. The worst thing Ethel ever did to me was to make me get rid of most of my chipmunks because they ate all of her begonias. That was not so bad though, because I needed food for my 3 pet alligators that enjoyed taking baths with me. Wow what a fantastic mother. She was always there when I needed her, I'm proud to say vice-versa. The only punishment was to say" Jim if you don’t correct your behavior, I'm going to have to tell Bill".
A great and facinating book could be written about Bill's hired hands that Ethel housed, fed and cared for. Loyal Jackson was my favorite. He was a true alcoholic and jack of all trades- a logger, miner, cowboy, mechanic, war hero and you name it …Jackson could do it.
Ethel sponsored square dances every Friday night for the local kids-we usually had 4 squares with Henry McKinley doing the calling. On one of those evenings, Jackson had been on a royal drunk and was upstairs having a bad case of D.T.s. All of the local "bridge club" ladies were sitting in a row watching their children dance. Jackson pissed a bucket full and it ran down a crack in the ceiling and it poured down onto the watching ladies- this was the foulest, stinkiest piss imaginable- oh well- I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
Jim
They would run up my leg and jump on the table and eat with me. Their favorite thing was butter and velveeta cheese which we always had an ample supply of since the local welfare recipients would trade it to Bill for wheat. The worst thing Ethel ever did to me was to make me get rid of most of my chipmunks because they ate all of her begonias. That was not so bad though, because I needed food for my 3 pet alligators that enjoyed taking baths with me. Wow what a fantastic mother. She was always there when I needed her, I'm proud to say vice-versa. The only punishment was to say" Jim if you don’t correct your behavior, I'm going to have to tell Bill".
A great and facinating book could be written about Bill's hired hands that Ethel housed, fed and cared for. Loyal Jackson was my favorite. He was a true alcoholic and jack of all trades- a logger, miner, cowboy, mechanic, war hero and you name it …Jackson could do it.
Ethel sponsored square dances every Friday night for the local kids-we usually had 4 squares with Henry McKinley doing the calling. On one of those evenings, Jackson had been on a royal drunk and was upstairs having a bad case of D.T.s. All of the local "bridge club" ladies were sitting in a row watching their children dance. Jackson pissed a bucket full and it ran down a crack in the ceiling and it poured down onto the watching ladies- this was the foulest, stinkiest piss imaginable- oh well- I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
Jim
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Song to Wild Bill From Old Friends
Jim , I have the sincerest sire to be there on the 20th , but my physical condition won't allow it at this time, As you know I had known Bill for some 79 years before his demise and consider him one of my dearest friends if not the dearest an certainly the most loyal.
Every word in your recent letter exemplifies him 100 percent, it could'nt have been more perfect. I have followed him in my mind thru just about every course of action written in your letter, some I could tell about and some that I would'nt tell about. He and Old White Rock made a top roper out of me in my early years and though we had been separated geographically in our later years we had continued to stay in touch as time rolled by. I remember one time , when I was10 years old , Grandad Isaacks and I drove to Walt Mossmans ranch down by Bishops gap south of Cruces, they were branding calves that day and at lunch time , being somewhat of a guitar player, I sang a song "I've got no use for Women" and Bill who was a couple of years older than I , said "You just aren't old enough yet". Old Man Mossman had more cats than he had use for and Bill and Jeff caught all the "Tom"cats and stuffed them head first in a boot and castrated them.
Bill was a great friend and we held Him and Ethel as two of those that it was must to visit each year.
I'm sure there will be many friends at Chama on the 20th but I don't believe there will be any one there who knew Wild Bill any longer than I, or have any more affection for him than this writer.
Hoping to get back to Chama one of these days , With sincerest Regards
Pat and Betty Patterson
Every word in your recent letter exemplifies him 100 percent, it could'nt have been more perfect. I have followed him in my mind thru just about every course of action written in your letter, some I could tell about and some that I would'nt tell about. He and Old White Rock made a top roper out of me in my early years and though we had been separated geographically in our later years we had continued to stay in touch as time rolled by. I remember one time , when I was10 years old , Grandad Isaacks and I drove to Walt Mossmans ranch down by Bishops gap south of Cruces, they were branding calves that day and at lunch time , being somewhat of a guitar player, I sang a song "I've got no use for Women" and Bill who was a couple of years older than I , said "You just aren't old enough yet". Old Man Mossman had more cats than he had use for and Bill and Jeff caught all the "Tom"cats and stuffed them head first in a boot and castrated them.
Bill was a great friend and we held Him and Ethel as two of those that it was must to visit each year.
I'm sure there will be many friends at Chama on the 20th but I don't believe there will be any one there who knew Wild Bill any longer than I, or have any more affection for him than this writer.
Hoping to get back to Chama one of these days , With sincerest Regards
Pat and Betty Patterson
Musings from Jim Mundy
I hope to find time to get many Bill & Ethel stories in this blog but time is crowding me, so who knows?
Bill played polo at New Mexico Military Institute on a scholarship with Jack Smith; who became a wool trader in the Chama Valley. Around 1950, Jack called Bill & told him that there was a hell of a deal to be had 11’000 acre ranch in the Chama area. Bill took a look & decided to buy it if there was any way to raise the down Payment. Luckily, Bill had a rich aunt (Aunt Nell) (kin to Huey Long!) who loaned the $10,000 down payment to her bro. Pop (Bill’s dad) & him .
8 different families had made similar attempts to buy the land from Arlington land Company but the local neighboring land grant claimants (GRANTERS)., had ran them off by cutting fences, burnings, killing livestock & other acts of terrorism.
This only lowered the price & excited Bill , who was always looking for a fight.
A few years later, after Bill had purchased the land, a group of granters were logging the huge , beautiful Ponderosa pine from along the Brazos River in what is now known as the Millstone Acres subdivision.
Many truckloads of logs had been cut, piled, & skidded by the granters using horses to skid the logs through the snow .
Bill hired Shorty Buckman, who owned the sawmill in Chama, to load & haul the logs to the mill.
Knowing there might be trouble, Bill asked Jack Smith to fight with him while also notifying the State Police, who, of course , being politicians, were on the granter’s side & failed to show up; but Bill & Jack, knowing this would happen, built a bunker of logs near the iced over Brazos River crossing from which Bill told the granters in perfect Spanish, that the” 1st one who set foot upon my side of the river had better give his heart to God because his ass belongs to me”.
Throughout the day, as logs were being hauled off, the group of over 20 granters would start across the river with their rifles & pistols , but as they neared Bill’s
side, the leaders would loose nerve & melt back into the crowd with no one brave enough to give his ass to Bill & Jack!
Bill played polo at New Mexico Military Institute on a scholarship with Jack Smith; who became a wool trader in the Chama Valley. Around 1950, Jack called Bill & told him that there was a hell of a deal to be had 11’000 acre ranch in the Chama area. Bill took a look & decided to buy it if there was any way to raise the down Payment. Luckily, Bill had a rich aunt (Aunt Nell) (kin to Huey Long!) who loaned the $10,000 down payment to her bro. Pop (Bill’s dad) & him .
8 different families had made similar attempts to buy the land from Arlington land Company but the local neighboring land grant claimants (GRANTERS)., had ran them off by cutting fences, burnings, killing livestock & other acts of terrorism.
This only lowered the price & excited Bill , who was always looking for a fight.
A few years later, after Bill had purchased the land, a group of granters were logging the huge , beautiful Ponderosa pine from along the Brazos River in what is now known as the Millstone Acres subdivision.
Many truckloads of logs had been cut, piled, & skidded by the granters using horses to skid the logs through the snow .
Bill hired Shorty Buckman, who owned the sawmill in Chama, to load & haul the logs to the mill.
Knowing there might be trouble, Bill asked Jack Smith to fight with him while also notifying the State Police, who, of course , being politicians, were on the granter’s side & failed to show up; but Bill & Jack, knowing this would happen, built a bunker of logs near the iced over Brazos River crossing from which Bill told the granters in perfect Spanish, that the” 1st one who set foot upon my side of the river had better give his heart to God because his ass belongs to me”.
Throughout the day, as logs were being hauled off, the group of over 20 granters would start across the river with their rifles & pistols , but as they neared Bill’s
side, the leaders would loose nerve & melt back into the crowd with no one brave enough to give his ass to Bill & Jack!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
From Pat Patterson on Wild Bill
Jim , I have the sincerest desire to be there on the 20th , but my physical condition won't allow it at this time. As you know I had known Bill for some 79 years before his demise and consider him one of my dearest friends if not the dearest and certainly the most loyal.
Every word in your recent letter (obituary-sic) exemplifies him 100 percent, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I have followed him in my mind thru just about every course of action written in your letter; some I could tell about and some that I wouldn’t tell about. He and Old White Rock made a top roper out of me in my early years and though we had been separated geographically in our later years we had continued to stay in touch as time rolled by. I remember one time, when I was 10 years old, Granddad Isaacks and I drove to Walt Mossman’s ranch down by Bishops gap south of Cruces. They were branding calves that day and at lunch time, being somewhat of a guitar player, I sang a song "I've got no use for Women" and Bill who was a couple of years older than I , said "You just aren't old enough yet".
Old Man Mossman had more cats than he had use for and Bill and Jeff caught all the "Tom" cats and stuffed them head first in a boot and castrated them.
Bill was a great friend and we held Him and Ethel as two of those that it was must to visit each year.
I'm sure there will be many friends at Chama on the 20th but I don't believe there will be any one there who knew Wild Bill any longer than I, or have any more affection for him than this writer.
Hoping to get back to Chama one of these days.,
With sincerest Regards
Pat and Betty Patterson
Every word in your recent letter (obituary-sic) exemplifies him 100 percent, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I have followed him in my mind thru just about every course of action written in your letter; some I could tell about and some that I wouldn’t tell about. He and Old White Rock made a top roper out of me in my early years and though we had been separated geographically in our later years we had continued to stay in touch as time rolled by. I remember one time, when I was 10 years old, Granddad Isaacks and I drove to Walt Mossman’s ranch down by Bishops gap south of Cruces. They were branding calves that day and at lunch time, being somewhat of a guitar player, I sang a song "I've got no use for Women" and Bill who was a couple of years older than I , said "You just aren't old enough yet".
Old Man Mossman had more cats than he had use for and Bill and Jeff caught all the "Tom" cats and stuffed them head first in a boot and castrated them.
Bill was a great friend and we held Him and Ethel as two of those that it was must to visit each year.
I'm sure there will be many friends at Chama on the 20th but I don't believe there will be any one there who knew Wild Bill any longer than I, or have any more affection for him than this writer.
Hoping to get back to Chama one of these days.,
With sincerest Regards
Pat and Betty Patterson
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