Bill Mundy Memorial

Pictures from the Memorial Party

2009-08-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for the directions to the Party.... scroll down the page... click on Older Posts.

See you Saturday!

Rocks and Pine Stumps

2009-06-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

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

Ethel and Chipmunks

2009-06-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

A Song to Wild Bill From Old Friends

2009-06-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

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

Musings from Jim Mundy

2009-06-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

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!

From Pat Patterson on Wild Bill

2009-06-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Gee, I forgot to mention my Mountain Dream Vacation Rental program! Just go to http://www.mdvrentals.com/ or call 1-800-624-5965 to reserve a fabulous vacation cabin in the Chama River Valley.
Take care, Suze

Available Lodging In the Chama Area

2009-06-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here is the list of motels and Bed and Breakfast in Chama and Dulce.

Branding Iron Motel 575-756-2163 Chama, NM brandingironmotel.com

Best Western Jicarilla Inn 575-759-3663 Dulce, NM apachenugget.com

Cumbres Suites 575-756-9139 Chama, NM

Elk Horn Lodge 575-756-2105 Chama, NM www.ELKHORNLODGE.NET

El Meson Lodge 575-756-2114 Chama, NM

Little Creel Resort 575-756-2382 Chama, NM littlecreelresort.com

Parlor Car Bed & Breakfast 575-756-1946 Chama, NM www.parlorcar.com

River Bend Lodge 575-756-2264 Chama, NM chamariverbendlodge.com

Spruce Lodge 575-756-2593 Chama, NM sprucelodge.com

Trails End Motel 575-756-2156 Chama, NM chamatrailsend.com

Chama Station Inn 575-756-2315 Chama, NM www.chamastationinn.com

Dancing Wolf Resort 575-756-2963 Chama, NM www.dancingwolfresort.com
866-477-9063

Vista Del Rio Lodge 575-756-2138 Chama, NM vistadelriolodge.com

The Timbers at Chama 575-588-7950 Chama, NM

Bill & Ethel's Life Celebration Party!

2009-06-04T06:49:00.001-07:00

Here are the particulars:

Where: Chavez Creek Cabin, Ticonderoga

Mundy Ranch, Chama, NM

Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009

Time: 11 am to 3 pm

Food & Drink provided.

Music by the Mariachi Nuevo Sonido

RSVP PLEASE:

bill@mundyranch.com

or 575-756-2075

The celebration party is an outdoor event so be sure to wear outdoor clothing and sturdy shoes. Don't forget to bring a sweater or light rain jacket since the mountain weather is unpredictable!

Please bring (or send) any memorabilia you may have of Bill & Ethel. There will be a story board for each of them at the cabin.

Directions from ALBUQUERQUE:

Take I-25N to Santa Fe (about 60 miles)

Merge onto US-285 N/US-84 N via EXIT 282B-A toward LOS ALAMOS/TAOS/SANTA FE-PLAZA for 28.5 miles. This will take you into Espanola, NM

In Espanola, turn LEFT onto US-285 N/US-84 N/PASEO DE ONATE. (Follow signs for Chama) Continue to follow US-84 N. 69 mi to Highway 512 (Brazos Lodge Road).

Turn RIGHT on Highway 512 for 4.7 miles to the rock gate (motif of elk and trees on gate).

Turn LEFT at the gate - follow signs to the Cabin.

Directions from CHAMA:

Go South on US 84-64 for 10.6 miles.

Turn LEFT on Highway 512. Continue as posted above.

The Mundy Family looks forward to seeing you!

The memories keep flooding in...

2009-05-06T06:57:00.001-07:00

Wow

I have been wondering what it was that has been bringing up such strong memories, and what it was that drew me to Chama last week …I haven’t been there in quite a few years! Yet last week while spending a couple days in Abiquiu, I felt compelled to drive to Chama and turn in at the barns on the Mundy Ranch. No one was around, and we merely drove in and back out again, but it began a flood of memories that are continuing none-stop with the news that Bill has passed.
I am sure there are thousands of people out there with stories to tell about Bill and Ethel. My particular story began with a phone call from a mutual acquaintance, Bob Massengill. He said a friend of his was there looking for some young, big geldings for his ranch, and Bob thought I might have an idea of what was for sale in the area.
Bill and I spent the day looking at the horses that were available, but only one caught his eye. A big 5yr old that I was hoping to make a jumper out of. “Hank” was young, big , strong, and physically sound, but he had a number of issues, not the least of which was his habit of breaking in two and bucking his heart out with no warning!
The facts didn’t deter Bill in the least…this was the horse he wanted. Hank was big and strong, and had no white feet, which was an important attribute in Bill’s eyes.
We were having a bit of trouble seeing eye to eye on the price. I was hoping to get a show horse price, but Bill was only going to pay the going rate for ranch geldings. So we decided a trade was going to be the way to go. Little did I know what a horse trade with Bill Mundy was going to entail. WHAT A TRIP! The actual business deal started in early summer, but wasn’t finalized til October. The results of this deal have lasted for 25 yrs!
Bill definitely wanted Hank, so I told him to go ahead and take him to the ranch, and he could bring me another horse in trade. So, over a period of time Bill brought me several horses and ponies which didn’t fit my needs. Then one day he showed up with a nice big gelding. The first thing I noticed was that he had 3 white socksJ Bill swore that was why he didn’t want to keep the horse himself. This horse appeared to be what I was looking for, so now we had to finalize the deal. A matter of just signing papers and deciding how much , if any, cash would change hands? HAH! Nope. My fiancé and I loped on up to Bill’s ranch . First we went and had a look at Hank, who Bill swore was now one of his best horses, except that every few weeks he took a bucking fit and had actually pulled off his bridle during one of these fits.
“Look at his eyes”, Bill said. “Notice that they aren’t even, one is lower than the other. Now I don’t know what that means, but it can’t be good!”
In the course of our “trade”, we toured the ranch, saw Bills elk herd, his trees, his new fishing “cabin” on the river, the ski cabin, his hunting lodge high above theranch. We met Ethel, and sat at the house listening to Bills endless, hilarious stories. Saw his pictures and memorabilia from his many trail rides. And of course , we had to go to town for steak before the deal could be finalized.
The terms? I would get the horse with 3 white stockings, some cash, and the use of his incredible hunting lodge above the Brazos for our wedding reception! Bill also offered to marry us.
Are you telling me that you are also a licensed minister?” I asked.
“What license?” he responded. “A ship’s captain can marry people, and this ranch is my ship!”

Yup, we were going to go along with that, but then he remembered that he and Ethel already had plans for that weekend. I believe he said they were going rafting on the San Juan river.
So we settled for the wedding reception and hired our own minsterJ
I have some great pictures of the reception. The only thing missing was Bill!
When we left the ranch after sealing the deal, we stopped at a small bar/café on the way home. Someone asked what had brought us up that way. When I said I was buying a horse from Bill, everyone shook their heads and said, look out, you won’t get the best in a horse trade with Bill Mundy!
I beg to differ…..I had that horse with the 3 white stockings for 25 yrs!He just died about 3 yrs ago at the ripe old age of 35! In that time, that horse and I worked cattle, rode in parades, competed in Dressage, jumping, and 3-day events. When he was too old to compete, he was an excellent lesson horse, and old clients from Michigan even flew West to ride him. I don’t know if Bill got the best of me in that horse deal…maybe….but I will remain forever grateful for it!
Bill Mundy had one of the largest hearts I have ever encountered, and I only wish I could buy another horse from him!

Ann Clemons

Celebration Party of Bill Mundy's Life

2009-04-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Date: June 20, 2009
Time: 11 am- 3 pm
Where: Chavez Creek Cabin in the Ticonderoga.

Wear comfortable outdoor clothing and shoes.

Lunch and Beverages and Music will be provided.

Please bring your BEST MUNDY STORY!

Directions and Accomodation Information to Follow.

Memories of Mr. Mundy

2009-04-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

I first met Mr. Mundy in 1980 or 1981, introductions performed by Mr. Dan Rivera. I had met and had become acquainted with Mr. Rivera several years earlier and always made it a point to visit his establishment when in the area.

On this particular cold late Fall day, I had just finished field dressing and packing out a nice bull elk I had taken on the Sargent after a 3-day hunt. I was dirty, well-grizzled, and had dried blood up to the elbows of the insulated overalls I wore over the usual Wranglers, shirt, longjohns, boots, etc. The only incongruous item was the relatively pristine black and white ball cap with the New Mexico State Police logo over the bill that I had found in the ditch and inexplicably decided to plant on my head.

Let me explain that I was (and still am) the sort of guy that can fill up a door. At the time, I stood 6’5’, weighed about 240 lbs. and was 28-29 years old.

The bar was pretty full when I scrunched my way through the door and greeted Mr. Rivera. While I was placing my package order and fishing through my overalls for my wallet, everybody but Mr. Mundy and the proprietor just sort of stood up and angled out the door.

After the introductions, Mr. Mundy invited me to sit down and have a drink. Mr. Rivera poured and poured and I left 3 hours later, well-lubricated, having been regaled by all sorts of stories and being subjected to Mr. Rivera’s box of photographs of folks meeting one sort of violent demise or another. I will never forget that time and consider myself very privileged to have witnessed the bond between Mr. Mundy and Mr. Rivera.

It was only when I got up to leave that Mr. Mundy suggested that I reconsider my choice of headgear around those parts. I saw Mr. Rivera nodding in silent agreement, but didn’t fully realize what I had done until much later.

Over the next decades, whenever I encountered Mr. Mundy on my increasingly infrequent visits to Chama, he always made a point to call me by my name and shake my hand. I doubt it was because I was memorable. I am pretty well convinced that it was because I was introduced by his good friend Mr. Rivera and was the dumbass who ooched into Mr. Rivera’s establishment wearing a found cop hat.

Mr. Mundy was a profoundly good man and one of the last of his breed. Men like him were rare in his time and probably don’t exist today. Certainly, there are no more like him being born and bred.

--- Darrell Nance

The loss of a legend

2009-04-22T04:18:00.000-07:00

William H. "Billy" Mundy

William H. Mundy, Jr., 91, died peacefully at the Arbors of Del Rey, a Vista Living Community, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on April 6, 2009.

"Billy" Mundy was born in Dona Ana, NM on October 3, 1917 to William H. Mundy and Elizabeth Mundy. Bill attended New Mexico Military Institute in 1937-38 where he was an alternate on the polo team and New Mexico State University. In 1938 -1939 he guided tourists on mules in the Grand Canyon for the Fred Harvey Company. Bill also worked for the infamous Las Cruces Rancher, Emmitt Isaacks, where he met his future bride, Ethel Isaacks. Bill and Ethel were married in Nutt, NM in 1941.

Bill and Ethel moved to Chama, New Mexico in 1949 to settle his dream. Bill and Ethel endured the violence shown against them in the early days of their ranch settlement and continued to persevere through six decades of Rio Arriba County unrest. Bill’s enemies were fierce and his friends the "best a man could have." Bill was called "Mano de Águila" (Eagle Hand) a name bestowed to him when he lost his pinkie and part of the use of his hand in a hunting accident. Bill and Ethel survived a near-fatal car crash on our country’s Bi-Centennial in 1976. He was an active member of the Los Rancheros Vistadores- Bustardos Camp and rode with Ronald Reagan in 1989. The Mundy Ranch is also home to the "Mundy Buck" (pictured) the #1 World Record Mule Deer in the Burkett Scoring System and the widest Buck entered in Boone & Crocket.
Bill Mundy was a hard worker, a hard hitter, a horseman, a hunter, a mountain man, a fence and road builder, a rodeo clown, a rancher, a cowboy, a cowman, a tier of knots, a nail ‘straightener’ and baling wire fanatic, a rock-hound, a land baron, a poet and an artist, a nature conservationist, a comedian, an organizer, a collector of everything, a dad, grandpa and great-grandpa, an uncle, a father-in-law and a part time husband, a full time ladies man and most of all he had a great line of B.S. He never lacked for a first-rate story!

Bill is predeceased by his wife, Ethel and his sister, Florence (Betina). He is survived by his two sons, Emitt W. Mundy and James W. Mundy, grandsons, Print, Cache, Robert and Mark Mundy, and four great-grandchildren, Tyler, Annalee, Aria and Trew Mundy, and his nephew’s, Joe Morrow and William (Bill) Morrow.