Representing
the West-End
of the
San Bernardino Mountains from Crestline
to
Running
Springs
the West-End
of the
San Bernardino Mountains from Crestline
to
Running
Springs
Summer
2008
Happy Birthday, Putty
About 90 of “Putty” Henck’s many friends came to a 90th Birthday Party given by the ROWHS on the afternoon of May 4 at Pinecrest Christian Camp. Putty was born May 5, 1918 and he is still going strong. That is pretty good for a man who was told by doctors in 1944 that, because of a physical abnormality, he would not live much past age 45.
The Henck family moved to the Skyforest area in 1922 where his father, along with three other investors, purchased 200 acres of land for development. They purchased an old house the Kuffle family had once lived in, a house that Putty describers as a "board and bat shack."
Putty graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Civil Engineering. After graduation, he went to work for a large construction company working in Panama. Their job was building N.C.O. quarters and enlisted men's barracks at Howard Field, Fort Clayton, and Albrook Field.
Pearl Harbor caused these efforts to intensify and Putty was sent to work on the construction of air bases in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. At age 24, he was the construction superintendent of the job building the air base at Salinas, Ecuador.
After 3-1/2 years, Putty returned to the states, arriving back in Skyforest in January 1944. It was at this time he met a young lady living next door to his sister, Ann and her husband, in Beverly Hills. She was Pamela Wright, an aspiring actress and singer who toured all across the United States entertaining at numerous military U.S.O clubs. Putty served a three-year hitch as an Ensign in the U. S. Navy.
In the late 1940s, Putty secured his General Contractors license and, with a loan from his parents, started his construction business. By 1952, his contracting business had progressed to where he was the contractor for the new library building at U. C. Riverside. With his business now well established, he and Pamela renewed their acquaintance and they were married at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills on Dec. 19, 1953.
Pamela and Putty had three children, David, Peter, and Pamela. Putty continued his successful construction business and Pamela became involved with various local organizations and the Civic Light Opera.
Putty was the contractor for Santa's Village in Skyforest. Construction started in January 1954 and the park opened on Memorial Day in 1955, almost two months before Disneyland. Two other Santa's Village theme parks were subsequently built in Santa Cruz and Dundee, Illinois.
Putty has received many honors in his lifetime. He was winner of the 1997 F. Norman Clark "California Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year" Award. He has been a member of the San Bernardino Rotary Club for almost 50 years. He has been president of the YMCA, Chairman of the Associated General Contractors for the State of California Building Division, Commodore of the Lake Arrowhead Yacht Club, and member of the Board of Directors of the San Bernardino and Lake Arrowhead Chambers of Commerce.
Pamela passed away Feb. 4, 1997. Putty still lives in the home built by his parents in Skyforest so many years ago and is still active in the community.
Happy Birthday, Putty, and many more.
Putty Henck smiles at the card signed by his many friends at his 90th Birthday Party held at Pinecrest on May 4, the day before his actual birthday
Fourth of July Coming Soon
Some of you have volunteered to help at the Fourth of July Old-Fashioned Community Picnic jointly sponsored by the ROWHS and the Lake Gregory Yacht Club. This will be our 5th annual such event.
We expect at least 2500 mountain neighbors to show up on July 4 at the San Moritz little league field on the southeast shore of Lake Gregory for this popular holiday celebration. It takes at least 75 volunteers to make this a success; there is something that every person over age 14 can do.
We need volunteers to operate a children’s game for a two hour shift or to help our with one of the contests such as the cake walk, watermelon-eating contest, etc. Most of the games are not physically strenuous to operate and we try to get two volunteers at each game.
It is rewarding to see the little kids have such a fun time winning their prizes. You would, in turn, also find this a wonderfully-rewarding thing to be involved in. All of our volunteers always seem to have a great time helping wish our nation a Happy Birthday in a way that is reminiscent of celebrations many decades ago.
We can also always use people to help plan the event. Planning will be beginning soon.
This is run revenue-neutral so we can always use small cash contributions to help defray the cost of the game prizes, award ribbons, etc.
To volunteer or for further information, call Jim or Doe Huff at 338-0225.
ROW Historical Society Calendar 2008
We are still “firming up” our calendar of events. All members are welcome to tender some suggestions for various events for the historical society. All suggestions and help are always welcome. Call Lee at 337 - 5850.
May 18: Historian Adam Collings speaks at Fire Station #91 (Lake Arrowhead Village Entrance) at 2:00 pm. Come and hear an interesting talk. Light refreshments.
June 7: Lake Arrowhead Antique Boat Show. We will be there with our information booth.
June 21: Lake Arrowhead Rotary Art & Wine Festival. We will be there with our information booth. Stop by and say hello at any of these types of mountain events.
June 22: Trip to Big Bear Museum. Call Lee or Mary at 337- 5850 for details.
July 4: The 6th annual Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Community Picnic at the San Moritz baseball field in Crestline. This is a popular ever-growing event that requires a lot of volunteers and any financial help is always appreciated. Call Jim or Doe at 338 - 0225 if you would like to help run a kid’s game for this wonderful event or make a cash contribution. We guarantee you will have a lot of fun as will many of your neighboring families.
August: We are going to try and have a membership BBQ at the historic Tudor House. Details will be forthcoming in future newsletters.
Sept 21: Guest speaker yet to be determined.
Oct. 5: We plan to have our annual Apple Festival at a new venue this year as a change-of-pace. This will be held at the Joe Harrich ranch in Running Springs, the site of the long-ago Enchanted Forest amusement park. Details later.
Oct. 24: Our annual Masquerade Ball at the San Moritz Lodge. This will be a masquerade ball from 6:00 until 10:00 pm. Food and entertainment; beer or wine is extra. Start planning your costume now. More details later.
Stan Bellamy Receives Rotary Honor
ROWHS historian and board member, Stan Bellamy, received one of the Crestline Rotary Club’s Certificates of Merit for community service at a banquet on May 1 at Thousand Pines Camp. Several members of ROWHS were in attendance to honor Stan.
Stan attended Long Beach State and graduated in 1962. He majored in Spanish with minors in French and History. In 1966 he came to teach in the mountains at the Rim Junior and Senior schools, starting at Mary Putnam Henck school in 1972. Stan still substitute teaches as needed at the Rim of the World School District.
Stan has been involved with many mountain organizations in addition to the historical society. He was a member of the first Arrowhead Lake Association Board. He has been very supportive of the Boy Scouts in numerous capacities from Cub Master to Eagle Scout mentor and photography counselor at summer camps.
He has been very active in helping preserve our mountain history. He has authored or co-authored several books on this topic. Stan was one of the founding members of the Rim of the World Historical Society and is current a member of the board of directors.
Special Events and Fund Raisers
We are always happy to hear from our members as to how we can make your membership better. We have received a couple comments from folks to the effect that some of our events are too expensive to attend. We do have a couple yearly events that fall into the category of “fund raiser” and membership drive. These include such events as the Halloween Masquerade Ball, the Arrowhead Queen Tour, the Christmas Dinner and similar.
The cost of the Christmas Dinner just covers the price we pay. After all is said and done, we clear about $5/person on the masquerade ball (unless bad weather keeps the attendance down in which case we may even lose a little).
These events are always popular and we try to “give good value” but we cannot afford to lose money. We do have some events such as a membership BBQ in which the society covers the cost. Our membership is still $25 for a family and $15 for an individual which is just about the cheapest of any society in San Bernardino Co. This income covers the cost of printing and mailing the newsletters and other minor incidentals in basic operating expenses.
No society can be totally run by its board of directors. We need input. If you know of any fun and informative function or tour we could organize, please contact Lee at 337-5850 or Jim at 338-0225. Thanks.
FREE MOUNTAIN MOVIES
Come and see free movies that were filmed all or in part in our mountains. “Flick Night” is every Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Lake Arrowhead Resort. “Grab your date and head on down to the flicks” every Tuesday. There will even be free popcorn for the attendees. Second showings are sometimes given on a weekend day.
2nd Showing on Friday night, June 6th at 7:00 PM
3rd Showing on Saturday night, June 7th at 6:00 PM for Boat Show audience. (Fund Raiser so not free)
2nd Showing on Friday night, June 13th at 7:00 PM
2nd Showing on Friday June 20th at 7:00 PM
2nd Showing on Friday night, June 27th at 7:00 PM
Get the new book
by W. Lee Cozad
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