Thursday, August 31, 2017

94 Years Remembered in 94 Days-Post 55 (Article about Joan Scott's Family)

Here is another article I found in the desk in Douglas.   It doesn't have a date on it and I can't find what newspaper it is.   However, it has to probably be one of the local newspapers in our area.

Judy and Ken currently live in Las Sendas which is the area that this article is about.  It is a very beautiful development in east Mesa.  This is about our cousin, Joan Scott.   She was married to John Edward, Johnny's son, for over 50  years.

Blame the horses:  Woman solves Spook Hill mystery

By Rand Kull
Staff writer

MESA--The mystery of the naming of Spook Hill in northeast Mesa is solved.

Joan Scott, 59,  says she recalls growing up near the hill with her five brothers and sisters on the defunct Red Mountain Ranch, a small dude ranch north of McDowell and east of Power Road.

Scott says family members and guests often took horse rides along the trails up the 110-foot-tall hill.

"We used to ride our horses up the hill, and they always did shy or spook," said Scott, now a resident of Leisure World retirement community in east Mesa.

She said there were no cattle or sheep on the desert land.  It was a nonworking ranch, formerly called El Rancho Grande, that catered to the Western image sought by up to 20 tourists at a time.

Scott recalled that in the mid-1940's, shortly after her father and mother, Bob and Nona Beaugureau, moved the family from Chicago and began running the guest ranch, a party of surveyors and topographers stopped by,

"They asked my dad what they called it, " she said.  "He said Spook Hill,"  because of the way the horses acted when they neared it.

"We just thought there were rattlesnakes on the ground that spooked them.  Or maybe gophers." 

City officials for years have tried to determine how the hill got its name.  Checks with the city's library and state historical records offered no clear answer, according to Mesa Parks Director, Joe Holmwood.

Legend was that cattle or sheep became distrubed when they approached the hill, perhaps because of wind noises, he said.

The dude ranch's heyday was from 1946-54.  After that, it became to costly to operate.   Bob Beaugureau, who had operated a trailer-rental business in Illinois, sold the ranch in 1957.   He died four years ago.

Scott said she was saddened to see that hill's current owner, Sonoran Land Development  Co. whose president is developer Roger Steill, was seeking to change the name to Spirit Hill.

Steill said he feared that some people might perceive the name to be a racial slur.   He is developing a golf course-home subdivision around the hill and wanted a name with less controversy.

The city parks board also plans to consider renaming Spook Hill District Park in east Mesa later this month or next, partly because of the name's potential to offend.

However, Soctt said there was never derogatory meant in the naming.   

"It had nothing to do with racial bias," she said.

Scott planned to reister an objection to the name  change with the Arizona Geographic and Names Board, which considers name changes for the state's topographical features.

The board is not expected to meet until September to review the Steills' suggestion, acting board Chairman Tim  Norton said.

"It is kind of special," Scott said.   "it would be kind of sad to have it gone  It was a wonderful period in my memory."

Scott said her parents also were responsible for giving Red Mountain its name by word-of-mouth.  It used to be called Granite Reef.

Ironically, Scott said, many of the old-timers who had lived in the area were upset with the Beaugureaus for changing the mountain's name.  The name Red Mountain since has been picked up and used in the titles of home developments  and several businesses in east Mesa. 

(And on the side in a picture which I will try to post, is a picture of Joan.   It says "Joan Scott has numerous mementos from the days when her parents owned the ranch on which Spook Hill is situated.   Among the items is a photograph of her father, Bob Beaugureau.) 

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

94 Years Rememberered in 94 Days-Post 54 (Our Wonderful Uncle Johnny)



Our uncle Johnny was truly an incredible man who influenced my life (and I know Judy feels the same way).  He was the oldest of the 10 children of E. A. and Katherine Scott.  Seven of the children lived to adulthood.

I remember the day that Kerri was born in 1974. It had been a long labor, but I remember the one thing that I was worried about at that time was not the length of the labor, but the date that she was born.

I wanted it to happen before August 30. You see, that was the date in 1969 that my dear Uncle Johnny died. He meant so much to me and I didn't want the dates to be the same.

He died unexpectedly of an aneurysm on August 30, 1969. He had gone to the mountains to go fishing and had stopped because of some car trouble on the way back. He was transported to the hospital in Douglas where he lived for a very short time. He had a terrible pain in his stomach and it turned out to be an aneurysm.

I still remember the call that we received in the middle of the night to get to the hospital as soon as possible. By the time we got there, he was gone. I remember sitting in the living room with Judy and listening to the phone calls that my mom and Teresa made to the family to tell them about what had happened. I remember thinking that I didn't want to hear it one more time.

Growing up, Johnny was always there for us.   He was a very talented cake decorator and I can't tell you the number of times we "volunteered" him to make a cake for someone.  He had an old fashioned cake decorating box and I was amazed that this man could make such delicate roses and flowers.

One year we had two floats being made in our backyard for homecoming.  We used one of Johnny's trucks.  He put up chicken wire on both of the floats and was there to help us with whatever needed to be done.

I remember the days that I would get out of school and he would be ready to leave for the mountains as the dams had been stocked.   We would drive up to Cave Creek and catch our limit before dark.   I loved that time we spent together.

There was nothing that he couldn't do.   I remember being up on the roof with him helping him repair something or in his old garage when he was working on something.  He always took the time to explain things to me.

When Judy and I saw a pool at a house one day and thought it would be a great idea if he would build one for us, he immediately went up to the house.   I am not sure of the timeline, but we had a pool!

That summer I had worked at the smelter after attending ASU. Johnny was so proud that I was working there to make money for college. He worked in the power plant at the smelter. Earlier that month, my mom, Teresa, and Judy had gone to California for my cousin Jan's wedding. So it was just Johnny and I for about a week. It was a great time because we were able to talk and laugh about many things. I knew how proud he was that I was going to college and that I was working at the smelter.

I remember sitting in the living room with him at the end of July watching the landing on the moon when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Johnny was so excited about this historical event.

That September after he died and I was still working at the smelter in the human resources department as we didn't go back to college until September.   I had to remove his personnel file after died.  It was really hard to do that what should have been a very simple task.   I was only 20 years old at the time and it left a lasting impression on me.

To this day I am so grateful that I had this wonderful man in my life!!! He was just an ordinary man who went to work every day and never drew attention to himself. After he died, we found out about all of the little things that he had done for a lot of elderly people around Douglas. He would go to their houses and change light bulbs or fix things for them, but he never told anyone. It was so touching to find out how many people he had helped over the years in his kind and gentle way.

Johnny was my mom's oldest brother. I have written about him before and I will say again how much he meant to me and to Judy. He was truly a man of character in every sense of the word.

"Those we love are never really gone as long as their stories are told." I tell my own children and Cameron stories about Johnny as often as I can.

John Bernard Scott
Feb. 5, 1903-Aug. 30, 1969


From the Dispatch:

Mr. John B. Scott, 66, of 858 14th Street died at 2:25 a.m. Saturday morning in the Douglas Hospital.

Mr. Scott was born February 5, 1903 in Leadville, Colorado to E. A. Scott and Katherine Roughan Scott.

He moved with his family to Douglas in 1912 then to Fresno, California in 1929.  He returned to Douglas in 1947 and worked for Phelps Dodge until his death.

A graduate of Douglas High School, he was a member of St. Luke's Catholic Church and the Elks Club.

Survivors include his son Major John Edward Scott and daughter Mrs. Lillian Figgi of Huntington Beach, California, three brothers, Matthew Scott of Phoenix, Thomas Scott, Washington, D.C. and Bill Scott of San Francisco, California, three sisters, Mrs. Dorothy Park of Sacramento, Mrs. Margaret Shannon, and Miss Teresa Scott of 858 14th Street and three grand children.

Rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. Monday at the Brown-Page Chapel with funeral services being held at 4:00 p.m.  Tuesday at St. Lukes Church.

From his mass card:

In Memory of
MR. JOHN BERNARD SCOTT

Date of birth
February 5, 1903

Date of Death
August 30, 1969

Time And Place of Services
Rosary, Monday, September 1st at 8:00 p.m
 Brown-Page Chapel

Mass, Tuesday, September 2nd at 4:00 p.m.
St. Luke's Church

Priest Officiating
Father Joel Scott, O.F.M
Lector Paul Huber, Jr.

Final Resting Place
Calvary Cemetery

Pallbearers
George  Brady
Cy Teague
Warren Johnston
Tom Sanders
Joe Roth
Ralph Durnez

Honorary Pallbearers
Paul Huber, Jr.
Dick Forsythe
Bill Franklin
Julian Vargas
Bob Moore
Marshall Foster
Jim Hill
Marvin Follett
Paul Laux
Frank Ruterman
Bill Whitehad
H.W. Bigelow
Ed Park
Ed Fisher
Hank Figgi
Norman Littrell