Dad in the Navy

Soon after their marriage Dad joined the Navy during World War I. They were stationed in Southern California. after the war was over, Mom and Dad lived in L.A., where Grant was born. Dad was a carpenter there and he worked on a lot of movie stars homes. They lived there several years, but Dad was anxious to return to Arizona and New Mexico, where he was born and grew up. All he could think about was going to the Black Hills and catching those wild horses.

Dad's Birth

Grandpa James Orlando Pace had gone into the Gila Valley of New Mexico, where he owned the Gila River Ranch. He and his wife, Nancy Orpha Boggs had 13 children. Dad was the 9th child. He was born the 19th of January, 1896. Dad's oldest sister was Electa.

Mom & Dad's Marriage

When Mom and Dad got married, Mom was 18 and a telephone operator in Duncan, Arizona. Dad was a 24 year old rancher. They fell in love and got married. I think they met at a dance. Dad bought a new Nash convertible and was teaching Mom how to drive. She rolled the car and Dad's nose went through the convertible's cloth top and broke his nose. That was the only casualty.

He roped a snag on a tree to break it off and when he backed up his horse the snag snapped and came back and hit him in the nose and broke his nose again. He ended up with a big nose.

Owen Lunt on July 4th

When we were living in the Thurgason house, I went to my cousin Clyde's house to play. I was ten or eleven years old. The next house over was the Harris house and across the street was May Lunt (a  widow) and Owen and Tim and Terry's house. It was the 4th of July and every once in a while I could hear firecrackers going off.

Owen, who was about fourteen years old, was using weed burner to burn weeds for Mr. Harris. I heard this big blast and thought it was fireworks, but I looked over and saw flames that went way above the apricot tree. I ran over there. The weed burner had exploded and Owen was just standing there in shock. His shirt was burned off except for his cuffs. His hair was gone. Big pieces of skin were hanging down from his chest. His mother took a blanket and wrapped it around him and put him in the car and took him to Lordsburg, New Mexico, about 40 miles away to the doctors. They later took him to the hospital in El Paso. He was totally scarred and in spite of it he recovered and turned out to be a terrific person.

Chapo

When I was very young, around two years old, my dad broke a horse named Chapo. My brother, Grant, had hit him in the eye and blinded him. Chapo was very smart and gentle. He was very cow wise and kids of any age could ride him. Dad said he was the only horse he could trust with little kids. He would do anything to keep a kid from falling off. When he came to a ditch, he would gently step over it. The twins Tim and Terry Lunt would come over and Dad would tease them by putting them on backwards and hanging them over the side. I used to ride Chapo all the time when I was a kid.

Sling Shots and Rubber Guns

When we were kids we made our own sling shots. We cut the Y out of a branch on the tree. We would use red rubber inner tubes to cut the straps and we would take the leather tongue out of an old shoes for the pocket. At this time during the second world war, synthetic rubber tubes were coming out, but they wouldn't stretch so we had to find real rubber tubes.

We would select rocks or steel ball barrings for our ammunition. We also made rubber guns and we would stretch the rubber tubes from the front of the gun to the clothes pin on the back. When you let the clothes pin open, the rubber strap would shoot forward and hit the other guy. You weren't supposed to shoot anyone in the head, but sometimes it happened and it really hurt.

Swimming and Fishing in the Gilo River

When spring came around we headed straight from school to go skinny dipping in the Gila River. In 1941, when I was 7 years old, the Gila River flooded. It was about three miles wide in some places. I would go with my older cousins to the river as it receeded. We found a hole where the river current would wash me out to a shallow area where I could get out.

When I was older we would climb the narrow, tall willow trees by the river. We would get someone to chop down the trees and we would ride the trees down.

We went to fish for catfish, suckers and carpe in the river. It was fun.

The Lunts

May Lunt was a widow and I played with her twins, Tim and Terry. They were my age. May Lunt was the school teacher for the 4th and 5th grades in Viden. We had a kind of bookcase in the back of the room and I opened the door of it so she couldn't see me and I was making faces at the rest of the class. May Lunt was a big woman, about 6 feet tall and 280 pounds. Next thing I know this fist came around the door and hit me on top of the head and she called me a spoiled brat.

I would go over to play with the twins and May Lunt would take a rolling pin and roll it up and down her stomach to make herself belch. Tim was a great big and tall, and Terry was average size. Terry used to tease Tim. Terry was a lot faster and Tim couldn't catch him. Tim was so mad at Terry that he was chasing him with an axe. Luckily, he couldn't catch him.

We all used to pick cotton to make some extra money. One day Terry took a crap in a paper bag and hit Tim over the head with it. Tim was so mad, but he couldn't catch Terry.

Tim and Terry got a new rope for lassoing. They came over to our place and lassoed a ball in our corral. Then they couldn't get their new rope off the ball to take home. They had to wait for Dad to get home to take it off.