Duck hunting with the Rich & Famous
Years ago, in the great Cuyama, Richfield Oil struck a fabulously rich natural gas field that brought Cuyama Valley to the attention of Santa Barbara County. Many employees were imported to build gas pumping plants to get the product to market. My Dad was transferred there in 1949 to do part of that. I was 9 years old but I do remember some of the details of country living.
Dad bought a small property in rural Cuyama near the site of Old Cuyama and moved our family there. He made many improvements to the home to make it livable for Mom, himself & me. There were near-by neighbors that owned and operated large farms growing Alfalfa hay, sweet corn, cattle feed, etc.
Our neighbors to the west were the Phillips family and they were the best neighbors you could find. Jim & Mildred had two sons which I became friends with, and kind of taught me the ropes of country living. Bob & Ronny soon had me swimming in reservoirs of water meant to water agricultural crops, climbing trees, and building forts (kid military huts) and many other activities that kids do in the outback. I was having a blast with those guys, even Cub Scouts were created in our small neighborhood.
One day, Bob came to my house to tell me that Bob & Jane were at his house and their Dad was taking them Duck hunting around to several reservoirs in our area, would I like to tag along? Not having any immediate plans, I said “Sure” and followed him to his house. There, I found one of my football hero’s, Bob Waterfield of the Los Angeles Rams and his wife Jane Russell whom I recognized from movies I had seen at the movie houses. Wow……! This is too good to be true. I get to meet two important people and go duck hunting with them. Little did I know that Bob & I were going to retrieve the ducks that were shot from the cold waters of the reservoirs that the ducks fell into. My friend Bob & I really didn’t feel the cold as we were still reeling from chasing Bob & Jane’s freshly shot ducks and bringing them ashore.
When we got back to Bob’s house, Mr. Waterfield asked if we had a football. Bob went and got his and low & behold he threw us passes for about 10 minutes. My friend Bob & I were both the “talk of the town” for several months having caught passes from a future “Hall of Fame” football player like Bob Waterfield. Yes, we respected his wife Jane Russell, but we absolutely went nuts catching those passes.
John Linder,