The Arizona Historical Society’s Docent Council will sponsor a six-day trek into Mexico from Feb. 20-25, including visits to Mayo and Yaqui folk art collections, Mayo ceremonies as they enter Lent on Ash Wednesday, and Jesuit padre Eusebio Francisco Kino’s burial place.

The trip will include native seasonal activities in Alamos and archaeological elements including petroglyphs at Navojoa.

All meals, lodging and transportation are included. Fee is $1,000 per person, twin occupancy.

Details are available at 579-6934.

A special four-hour program at the Tucson Children’s Museum on Jan. 15 will celebrate the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King.

The 11 a.m.-3 p.m. program will include a presentation and performance by professional southern Arizona drummer and songwriter Khadijah Smith-Osorio on “Significant African-American Inventions.”

Children will be invited to link hands in a “unity chain,” create unity bracelets and color a scroll depicting King’s “dream.”

The program is free with regular admission: $5.50 adults; $4.50 seniors; $3.50 for children 2-16. Children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult while visiting the museum, 200 S. Sixth Ave. Additional information is available at 792-9985 Ext. 112.

While at the controls of an F-16, Paul tried a maneuver called an Immelmann, a dive followed by a rapid climb: "The experience was so beyond words that I didn't even attempt to describe it seriously for my Citizen story."

I’d like to do a bit of personal “lookin’ back” today as I wind down almost four decades as an “accidental” reporter and sometimes editor – nearly 37 years of that with the Tucson Citizen.

Who knew that I’d be asked to pilot an F-16 fighter and the Goodyear blimp, herd longhorn cattle into the mountains and examine 300,000-year-old Neanderthal stone tools and electron microscope images of individual atoms?

Who knew I’d interview astronauts and Apache acorn gatherers, multimillionaires and vagrants, the world’s fastest man, the world’s best pool player and one of the world’s finest gun engravers, have a bull dedicated to me by a matador, chat with a man who had lunch with Wyatt Earp?

And the wonder of it all:

They paid me to do it.

A newspaper is a jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none paradise. You get to dabble in all manner of fascinating things without possessing a whit of expertise.

When the San Angelo (Texas) Standard-Times in my wife’s hometown hired me as a reporter in April 1968, I had gone there to respond to a classified ad for a supervisor for newspaper carriers – which I intended to be a summer job before returning to Purdue University in the fall.

I told the receptionist I was there to apply for “the job.” She asked, “Newsroom, advertising or production?” On a whim, I said, “Newsroom.” (I had taken one journalism course, I reasoned.)

I filled out the application, got the expected “we’ll call you” response – and was stunned when I actually DID get the call three days later. Six months later I was state editor, and a year and a half after that, I was in Tucson as a reporter.

Since that time, a lot of fun things have happened – and a few not so fun. During lapses of judgment, I accepted editing positions – assignments editor, state editor, magazine editor, assistant city editor. Result: anonymity and periods of chained-to-a-desk drudgery.

Other times, like any reporter, I’ve been sent out “unarmed” on nonstories and with no legitimate questions to ask: At the start of the war in Iraq I was dispatched to Sierra Vista to “gauge the mood of the community.” More recently, I was asked to interview returned Iraq war veterans – “So, what’s it like to be back working at a civilian job?”

But memory is kind, bad stuff fades, and good recollections endure. Veteran Citizen news editor Ted Craig liked to remind us whiners: “You get paid every two weeks, and you don’t have to lift nothin’ heavy.”

It isn’t always the big-ticket events or celebrity interviews that stick in one’s brain. Sometimes it’s the colorful asides.

I recall a rancher with a wry sense of humor responding to an out-of-state desert survival instructor who puzzled over the fact that he was wearing work shoes instead of cowboy boots.

“Well,” drawled the fourth-generation Arizona cattleman, “I don’t wear cowboy boots because I don’t want people to mistake me for a truck driver . . .”

The late Roy Drachman and I were chatting one pleasant afternoon in his office, and he commented, “You know, Paul, I may be the only person you know who once had lunch with Wyatt Earp.”

I figured there was a punchline coming and waited. No punchline; he was serious. Turns out Roy’s father, a downtown businessman, had been invited to have lunch with Billy Breakenridge, another denizen of wild and woolly Tombstone who had retired in Tucson, and Earp, who was visiting from California. Breakenridge had described him to Drachman as “kind of an unsavory sort, but interesting.” Roy was asked to join them.

“I just remember Earp being a tall, quiet, white-haired man,” said Drachman. “If I’d know he was going to become so famous, I’d have paid more attention . . .”

The F-16 ride, courtesy of the Air Force Thunderbirds in 1988, was a thrill beyond description, even for a one-time Air Force “back-ender” on C-130 aircraft.

As Capt. Bert Nelson throttled our takeoff, I found myself forced back into my seat, and then the strangest thing happened: The horizon abruptly rotated 90 degrees. We were going straight up.

When we went horizontal again, I still had my lunch, and we were headed to the playa area near Willcox. Capt. Nelson, in front of and somewhat below me in the cockpit, informed me we were at 18,000 feet and asked if I wanted to take control of the hurtling metallic missile that contained us to “see how it handles.”

I reached for the short stub of a control to my right and gave it a gentle twitch to the left.

We were yanked abruptly, and I could see the desert floor out the left side of the canopy. I sucked in my breath, and then VERY gently eased us back into a right-side-up attitude.

“Don’t worry,” reassured the oddly calm voice of Nelson in my headset. “There’s nothing you can do that I can’t get you out of.”

I progressed through increasingly daring, abrupt 90-degree banks, hanging upside down in the seat straps and marveling at the fact that the clear canopy had no visible (and reassuring) struts. There was no real sense that we were traveling at 500-plus mph.

Then I tried a few more maneuvers, ending with an Immelmann, a careening dive toward the desert floor ending with a climb that pulled (Nelson informed me) 6 Gs and inflated the lower extremities of my flight suit to keep the blood from rushing away from my brain.

The experience was so beyond words that I didn’t even attempt to describe it seriously for my Citizen story, instead copping out with an explanation of my own Air Force “record” of most sick bags in a single flight suit.

It was during my two-year stint with the San Angelo Standard-Times in Texas that I spent part of an afternoon with Willie Mosconi, many times the world’s champion pocket billiards player.

When I went with him for an “appearance” at a local billiards parlor after our interview, I asked him whether a trick shot he had performed (ostensibly shot by Paul Newman’s character, “Fast Eddie” Felton) in the movie “The Hustler” was real or a camera trick. He selected a cuestick “off the wall” and made the shot – first try.

Then he did an embellished version that had the cue ball do two swoops up the rail and a sizzling reverse back down it to pocket the ball in the corner pocket. First try. It was at that exact moment that I surrendered any dream of ever being a competent pool player.

The world’s fastest man of his era, Air Force Brig. Gen. Frank “Speedy Pete” Everest, retired in Tucson, discussed piloting the manned rockets in the Air Force’s “X-” series experimental aircraft during the 1950s, and matador Diego O’Bolger, now a Tucsonan, once dedicated a bull to my wife and me and Citizen photo editor P.K. Weis and his wife at the Nogales, Son., bullring.

In recent years, I’ve concentrated on writing about history, prehistory and archaeology and in doing so have come in contact with a wonderful assortment of scientists, scholars, historians and old-timers – most of whom I have pestered shamelessly and repeatedly, in person or in their writings, for background and facts:

Bernard L. “Bunny” Fontana, James Officer, C. Leland Sonnichsen, “Big Jim” Griffith, Tom Peterson, Roger Myers, Cele Peterson, Diana Hadley, William Doelle, Homer Thiel, Jonathan Mabry, Doug Gann, David Faust, Esther Tang, Dorothy Finley, Opha Probasco, Eileen Grade, Virgil Mercer, Lewis Bowman, Ben Traywick, Glenn Boyer, Fred McAninch, Lori Davisson, Ed Kisto, Roy Drachman, Steve Nash, Charlie and Norma Niblett, Sybil Needham, Lewis Hall, Bob Shelton, the wonderful and tireless folks at the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona State Museum – and so many others that space won’t allow me to list.

A newsroom, for those unfamiliar with it, is a crossroads for an assortment of humanity – bright folks, contentious types, skewed and out-of-kilter individuals, drinkers and teetotalers, blasphemers and Bible-beaters, workaholics and layabouts, cranks, curmudgeons, an occasional fresh-faced optimist and a goodly number of the just out-and-out weird.

In other words, it’s a wonderful place to work – more so a couple of decades ago before Political Correctness blunted newspapers’ edge.

I’ve known, worked with, been friends with, learned from, borrowed and pilfered phrases from a number of talented people here over the years; they know who they are – or in growing numbers, were.

To them, and to readers who have taken the time to say kind things about my writing, I say, “Thank you.” It’s been a hoot.

(p.s. Though I won’t be at my Citizen “address” any longer, if you’d like to contact me, I can be reached at eallen10@cox.net and 745-9119.)

Paul rounds up cattle at the Vera Earl Ranch outside Sonoita.

Train enthusiasts are invited to discuss and learn about transportation history from volunteers of the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum’s steam locomotive exhibit on Saturdays.

The opportunity, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., is free.

Volunteers will be at the outdoor exhibit that includes locomotive No. 1673. It operated for a half-century in southern Arizona. The volunteers will explain how a steam locomotive operates and some of the engine’s history.

Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the museum, 414 N. Toole Ave. The engine exhibit is open only on Saturdays, but the museum is open, free of charge, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and on Sundays; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Additional information is available at 623-2223.

Donors must prove items in good shape, working order

Danny Bemis has his hands full hauling a desk he donated to Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona on Tuesday.

There are only three days left this year to make tax-deductible charitable contributions, and the Internal Revenue Service is tightening the rules to eliminate the “fudge factor.”

In other words, the days when one could bag up worn-out clothing and nonfunctioning equipment, and write it off as a “charitable contribution” are no more.

Nancy Hall, certified public accountant and southern Arizona area developer for Liberty Tax Service, said it is surprising how many people having taxes prepared inquire, “How much am I allowed?” when asked if they made charitable contributions during the past year.

“We tell them, ‘Everything you have a receipt for.’ Apparently, a lot of liberties have been taken with charitable donations, but the IRS has been cracking down the last couple of years.” She noted that only people itemizing deductions may deduct charitable donations.

There is a common misconception, Hall said, that those donating vehicles to charity may use Kelley Blue Book values. In fact, she said, donors must use the amount the recipient receives when the vehicle is sold.

Charitable donations of used clothing and used household goods no longer will be deductible unless the donor can prove the items were in good condition or, in the case of equipment, working, Hall said. Just what such “proof” involves has not yet been spelled out by the IRS, she added. The state revenue department typically follows IRS guidelines, she said.

Jim Morton, manager of the H&R Block office at 845 E. Grant Road, suggested taking digital images of donated items and keeping them as proof that donated items were in “good or better” condition.

Items donated before Aug. 17, 2006, fall under previous guidelines; items donated thereafter will be subject to verification.

Cash donations will continue to require proof of the donation in the form of receipts, canceled checks or credit card records. Contributions through payroll deductions will require not only pay stubs, but a copy of the employee’s signed letter of consent, Hall said.

Both the IRS and state revenue department limit charitable contributions to 50 percent of a person’s (or couple’s) total earnings for the calendar year. Stocks and bonds donations are limited to 30 percent of taxpayers’ total earnings, and must be items that have increased in value during the previous year. They are rated at their value on the day of donation.

The amount donated to charity is not deducted from one’s final tax bill, but is subtracted when calculating gross adjusted income.

Susie Huhn, executive director of Casa de los Niños, said donations are “looking pretty positive right now. I think people have been very generous. We’re fortunate to live in a community as generous as Tucson.”

She said donations “had a dip” for a couple of years because of Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami disaster, but that seems to have reversed. She doesn’t believe the tightened IRS guidelines on donated used clothing and household items will hurt.

“I don’t think it will discourage people from donating.” She said Casa de los Niños encourages donation of “gently used” clothing and furniture, but will not accept such things as construction materials and used tires.

Salvation Army spokeswoman Tamara McElwee said, “We don’t have the kettle reports in yet, but overall, we’re not unhappy with the way things are going. We’re stressing cash donations for funding our year-round programs.”

She added, “There is an inclination for people to do their spring cleaning and donate unneeded items. We try to use everything, and have a repair shop to fix things, but it’s more costly to do that. Better-quality items will generate more money.”

Mary Lynn St. Germaine, vice president of development for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Tucson, said donation rates have remained consistent, while expenses and the number of children who could use help have increased.

“We partner with Savers, a used clothing store here in town, so we really need clothing. We accept furniture and household items, but we don’t get paid for those.”

Patti Caldwell, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona Inc., said this is the first year the organization is listed as an Arizona charitable entity. Donations, she added, are up more than 30 percent – which is fortunate, because expenses are up nearly 20 percent. “It’s necessary to make gains just to maintain our level of operation.”

Employee Rosa Quevedo sorts through donated bags of clothes and linens at Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona on Tuesday.

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TAX TIPS
What you need to know to make a tax-deductible donation:

• Cash contributions – provide canceled check or credit card proof of contribution; limit is 50 percent of year’s total income

• Stock/bond contributions – provide documentation; stock must have gone up in value during past year; limit is 30 percent of year’s total income

• Payroll deduction contributions must include not only payroll stubs but a copy of the signed consent letter authorizing the deduction.

• Used household goods, equipment or clothing must be verified to be in working order or in “good or better” condition at time of donation (after Aug. 17, 2006). Tax experts suggest that digital images of such items be taken and saved for verification, along with signed receipts verifying conditions at time of donation.

• For information on charities to which donations are tax-deductible, call (800) 352-4090 or go to the Arizona Department of Revenue website: www.azdor.gov.

———

The Tohono O’odham Nation has signed an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for federal aid for recovery from damage caused by summer monsoon storms and flooding.

President Bush signed a disaster declaration Sept. 7 for parts of Arizona, including portions of the tribe’s lands, for monsoon damage that occurred between July 25 and Aug. 4.

The funding will be applied to debris removal and help cover the expense of emergency protective services. The FEMA money will cover 75 percent of the recovery projects’ cost, with the tribe providing the remaining 25 percent.

This house, at 369 N. Meyer Ave., is believed to date from the 1880s. It was owned by José V. Lee, who rented it out in the 1970s for $30 a month.

The adobe house at 369 N. Meyer Ave., known as the José V. Lee House, is at least 113 years old, shown on an 1893 fire map.

Usually, the history of a house is tied to the history of its owners. Sometimes, though, little information is available, as is the case with this one.

According to the single piece of evidence in the Arizona Historical Society files – a brief obituary of Lee – he was born here in 1902, graduated from the University of Arizona, where he studied merchandising, and worked several years for First National Bank of Tucson, later going into business for himself as a real estate broker.

His real estate career was interrupted by World War II, when he joined the Army. After his return, he apparently earned his living as landlord of his several rental properties.

Bits and pieces of Lee’s life were gathered from several Tucsonans who knew him and rented houses from him. According to them, he was likely born in the house at 369 N. Meyer.

Acquaintances said he was a private man, revealing little about his past. It was thought his father was Chinese-American and his mother Hispanic – a situation in that era that apparently offended both ethnic populations and left young Lee something of an outcast.

It isn’t known whether he married, but during the latter part of his life, he lived alone. At the time of his death, he was said to have no immediate relatives.

Acquaintances believe he left the banking business because he was not promoted as he thought he should have been – perhaps because of his mixed heritage.

Lee owned several rental properties on Meyer Avenue, Court Street, along 10th Street and along Broadway east of Cherry Avenue. Many of his properties were in need of new plumbing, heating and electrical equipment, but he was loath to provide them, former tenants said, preferring instead to charge low rental rates. One of his former renters, a student in the 1970s, recalled that he and a roommate pooled resources to come up with the $30-a-month rent.

After Lee’s death, many of his properties had deteriorated to the point that they were uninhabitable, with adobe walls eroded by rainwater, metal roofing damaged or missing, windows broken.

However, with a recent surge of downtown gentrification and interest in rehabilitating historic properties, some of the older buildings – including 369 N. Meyer Ave. – have been and continue to be refurbished.

Ken Figueredo bought the house in 2001 and spent the next several months repairing walls, replacing floor, ceilings, roof and plumbing, electrical and sewer systems. He retained the original floor plan, including a central zaguán, or breezeway, and enclosed a rear porch area.

“I have photos taken of the interior in 1978, and it was falling down, the plaster disintegrating,” he said. “One bedroom had a fabric ceiling, but that was gone. The ceiling in the master bedroom was made of old crates. I took it down, it was so bad.”

Figueredo, a retired architectural interior designer who spent several years living in Santa Fe, N.M., where he had extensive experience restoring old, historic houses, said, “The old adobes are well-constructed. It’s not a stick house with pseudo plaster and chicken wire. I believe in saving old houses.”

He and partner Diane Dale have lived in the house, but Figueredo said, “My life has changed a lot in the last two years. I’ve decided to sell the house and make our lives simpler.” The asking price? $745,000.

José V. Lee undoubtedly would be surprised at the change in real estate values downtown.

Paul L. Allen may be reached at pallen@tucsoncitizen.com or 573-4588. For more history coverage, go to www.tucsoncitizen.com/history.

Ramon Gonzales’ 36th annual Miracle on 31st Christmas Party has issued a plea for 2,000 additional gifts, needed for thousands of children expected to take part in the event this year.

The party, which provides free gifts, candy, food and entertainment to needy children, is scheduled for Sunday at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, at the northeast corner of South Sixth Avenue and East Irvington Road.

Santa will arrive at 10 a.m. in a Lifeline helicopter. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and continue through 3 p.m. Food will be provided by Silver Saddle Steak House for the 21st year.

Toys may be dropped off at 2019 W. Ajo Way (information at 883-5805 and 270-5746) and donations, payable to Ramon’s Miracle on 31st, may be sent to Miracle on 31st, 2019 W. Ajo Way, Tucson, AZ 85713.

The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum will open a John Dillinger exhibit Jan. 20 in conjunction with the annual “Dillinger Days” celebration, which marks the 1934 arrest of gangster Dillinger and fellow criminals in the “hick town” of Tucson.

The exhibit, to remain in place through Feb. 20, will focus on the transportation aspects of the Dillinger capture, including how a new national highway system was involved, details of the vehicles that brought the criminals to the Old Pueblo and how the Tucson railroad depot was part of the scenario.

The museum is in the renovated depot complex at 414 N. Toole Ave. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 20. Usual hours of operation are Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Admission is free; donations are welcome. Additional information is available at 623-2223.

Corrected version

Ramon Gonzales’ 36th annual Miracle on 31st Christmas Party has issued a plea for 2,000 additional gifts, needed for thousands of children expected to take part in the event this year.

The party, which provides free gifts, candy, food and entertainment to needy children, is scheduled for Sunday at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, at the northeast corner of South Sixth Avenue and East Irvington Road.

Santa will arrive at 10 a.m. in a Lifeline helicopter. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and continue through 3 p.m. Food will be provided by Silver Saddle Steak House for the 21st year.

Toys may be dropped off at 2019 W. Ajo Way (information at 883-5805 and 270-5746) and donations, payable to Ramon’s Miracle on 31st, may be sent to Miracle on 31st, 2019 W. Ajo Way, Tucson, AZ 85713.

Stable owner instills kids with love of horses

Marjorie "Midge" Hardy helps her granddaughter, Krysti Widger, with her horse, Karo.

Marjorie “Midge” Hardy is so modest about her countless hours as a volunteer with the 4-H horse program that it took cajoling to get her to agree to an interview after being nominated as one of the Citizen’s Unsung Heroes.

“Bragging is not my style,” she said before relenting.

Hardy, who is “60-plus,” was praised by longtime acquaintance Sharon Welch.

“I can’t even imagine how many hours she spends each year with kids – training, fund-raising, attending horse shows and fairs when they compete,” she said. “She started when her own daughter was 4-H age, so that’s what’s special about her. Her children have long since grown up, and she’s continued to do this work.”

Hardy, a native Tucsonan, has owned and operated Silverbell Boarding Stables, 3333 N. Silverbell Road, for about 35 years with her husband, Bill.

“We wanted to get out of town, get some acreage, and to make it work, we had to take on a business,” she said.

Both are retired – if you can call operating a business that feeds, cares for and cleans up after 40 to 45 horses on a pretty much 24-7 basis “retired.”

Hardy got more heavily involved as a 4-H volunteer when granddaughter Krysti Widger, now 24, entered the horse program at age 9.

“With her interest, I just stayed in it with her. She still helps me with my kids,” Hardy said.

Her “kids” number between 10 and 15 and range in age from 9 to 18.

Most of them work with and ride their animals several hours a day, several days a week.

Some own their horses, and for those who don’t, Hardy helps locate horse owners who will lease animals to them.

“They start with safety issues, learn to care for them, feed them, brush them and develop riding and showing skills. There’s never an end to what you can do with a horse. Most people don’t realize you’ve got a 1,200-pound animal that the kids are making into a safe project.”

The horse program is satisfying for the humans and animals, she said.

“You get little kids, some with physical or other types of problems – they can get along with a horse, relate to a horse. It’s like when they bring dogs into nursing homes. It relieves stress, and it’s good for both.”

It is gratifying, Hardy said, to see “graduates” of her program return to interact with her students and to hear that many of them have gone on to hobbies and vocations such as roping, horse training and equine sciences at the University of Arizona.

“I like to see my kids excel,” she said.

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UNSUNG HEROES

Do you know unsung heroes? People who make a difference in the way they work, volunteer or just interact with others in their daily lives?

Help the Tucson Citizen recognize these special people during the holidays.

Send the person’s name and phone number or place where we might find him or her to news@tucsoncitizen.com (news@tucsoncitizen.com).

Be sure to include your name and phone number so you can tell us what makes the person special.

To read about other Tucson unsung heroes, click here.

Holbrook

Dr. W. Paul Holbrook was the possessor of excellent medical skills, an enviable international reputation as an arthritis and rheumatism researcher – and a wonderful “war story” from World War II.

A prominent Tucson physician from his arrival here in 1928 until his death in 1963, he loved recounting the anecdote, according to recollections of his son, the late Dr. John P. Holbrook.

The elder Holbrook, who served in WWII as chief of professional services for the U.S. Army Air Corps, was one of a group of doctors assembled after German troops evacuated Paris. They had been sent to plan a major hospital to deal with expected massive battle casualties.

Fortunately, the hospital was not needed, but French guerrillas, grateful for the doctors’ intended project, showed them a massive warehouse where the Germans had hoarded a trove of vintage wine and cognac.

The doctors were invited to load as much of the booty as they could into their Jeep. Included were several bottles of 1813 Napoleon cognac, two of which Holbrook brought back to the United States with him at war’s end. He shared it with his family over a period of many years.

He was born in Springfield, Ark., in 1898, and spent his young years living in a tent – the son of an evangelical preacher who moved his family from town to town weekly.

Holbrook served in the Army during World War I, and later was graduated from University of Oregon Medical School in 1925, followed by internship in San Francisco. He was senior instructor in laboratory diagnoses at UO for two years and did postgraduate work in London; Vienna, Austria; and various other clinics in the United States and abroad.

He came to Tucson in 1928, invited to become part of the medical staff at Desert Sanatorium of Southern Arizona. Here, he specialized in treatment and research of tuberculosis, arthritis and rheumatism. Two years later, he was named associate director and replaced Harold Bell Wright, who had resigned from the board.

The Great Depression left the sanatorium in a state of flux, with frequent personnel changes, and in 1934, Holbrook and another physician, Dr. Donald F. Hill, left to open a private practice, Holbrook-Hill Medical Group, in the Valley National Bank building downtown. The practice involved clinical treatment and research.

The center later relocated to the 2400 block of East Sixth Street and finally to the southwest corner of Beverly Drive and Grant Road, opposite Tucson Medical Center.

By the 1940s, Holbrook was internationally known, and patients of the stature of multimillionaire John D. Rockefeller and French artist Raoul Dufy came to him for treatment and consultation.

Through the years, he served as a medical consultant for St. Mary’s Hospital, TMC and Southern Pacific Sanatorium; consultant to the U.S. surgeon general, the U.S. Air Force and the Veterans Bureau; and was a member of the rheumatism study section of U.S. Public Health Service and chairman of the Macy Foundation Conference on Connective Tissue.

Holbrook was founding president of the National Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation, and was author of numerous medical papers on rheumatic and cardiovascular diseases, as well as author of “Manual of Rheumatic Diseases.”

In 1946, he served as medical director for TMC, overseeing 115 doctors. For more than a quarter-century, Holbrook campaigned against cigarette smoking, having noted that several medical disorders seemed more severe and prevalent among smokers.

He was a member of the Pima County Medical Society and past president of the Arizona Medical Association.

A heart attack in 1960 put an end to his medical practice. He continued to be involved in the medical community, however, and was a strong advocate for establishment of the University of Arizona Medical School.

Holbrook died Sept. 16, 1963, while bird hunting in Springerville at age 65.

Paul L. Allen may be reached at pallen@tucsoncitizen.com or 573-4588. For more history coverage, go to www.tucsoncitizen.com/history.

George Westinghouse III bought a ranch on East Tanque Verde in 1930

The Westinghouse mansion is now an office for Amity, a residential treatment center for people with addictions.

In the America of a half-century and more ago, rare was the household that didn’t have at least one Westinghouse brand electrical appliance.

Tucson in the 1930s was thoroughly familiar with the name Westinghouse on another level: One of its regular winter residents, George Westinghouse III, son of the man who founded Westinghouse Electric Co., owned a ranch on East Tanque Verde Road.

“The ranch was purchased by my grandfather in 1930,” said the “current” George Westinghouse, grandson of George III and an Atlanta resident. “During the spring and summer of 1931, a house and several outbuildings were constructed, but the family did not occupy the house until the winter of 1932.”

Later known as the Diamond W Ranch, it had no formal name when the Westinghouses owned it, he added.

A tragic event – the 1932 kidnap-for-ransom and killing of the infant son of famed aviator Charles A. Lindbergh – traumatized the Westinghouse family and other wealthy families around the country.

“I’m told that after the killing, they spent no more than 90 days at a time in any one of their houses,” said Westinghouse, who added that they owned five homes in four countries.

The founder of the Westinghouse dynasty, George Jr., was born Oct. 6, 1846, at Central Bridge, N.Y. By age 19, he had registered the first of his 361 patents. He would go on to found a business conglomerate of more than 60 companies.

Veteran businesswoman and Tucson matriarch Cele Peterson recalls her first encounter with Westinghouse’s wife, Violet:

“My store was on the corner of Pennington and Stone. A woman came into the shop one day wearing what I would call a ‘Nellie Dawn’ house dress – a $1.95 house dress. Her shoes were run down at the heels and she had runs in her stockings.”

Peterson, who operated (and still does) an exclusive women’s wear shop, assumed the woman had intended to go to Montgomery Ward next door. “I was thinking, poor thing, she’s in the wrong store.”

She was startled when the woman eventually selected several garments with prices totaling $1,200. “It turned out to be Mrs. George Westinghouse III. I nearly fell through the floor.”

A fellow merchant, a florist, later told Peterson about a similar incident in his shop involving the woman’s husband, who was dressed in a black suit so faded and shabby that the florist thought he might be a panhandler.

Peterson developed a warm relationship with Violet. Westinghouse, who became a regular customer and was invited to the ranch to become acquainted with the rest of the family.

Among visitors to the ranch was George Thomas Westinghouse, son of the owner, who piloted his own aircraft to Tucson periodically, landing at Davis-Monthan Aviation Field, the first municipal aviation field in the country.

In 1937, the ranch was sold to Julia Bennett of Montana, who operated it as a guest ranch. A subsequent owner, who made it his residence, was Dr. W. Paul Holbrook, chief of the medical staff at Tucson Medical Center and a nationally known arthritis researcher.

In 1957, the property, also known as the Circle Tree Ranch, was acquired by a couple who established Treehaven School. The school prospered, but eventually changed hands and was allowed to deteriorate to the extent that it was condemned in 1980 as a health and fire hazard.

In 1984, the Arizona Department of Corrections established a camp there for juvenile offenders. In 1986, Amity Foundation purchased the property as a residential treatment center for those with various addictions. It continues to function in that capacity today, with the former Westinghouse residence serving as a dining facility, with offices and classroom areas on the upper floors.

Paul L. Allen may be reached at pallen@tucsoncitizen.com or 573-4588. For more history coverage, go to www.tucsoncitizen.com/history.

On Sunday, the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum will host Holiday Express at the Depot, 414 N. Toole Ave., featuring free cookies, letters to Santa and a chance to get “up close and personal” with historic Locomotive 1673.

Admission to the 1-3:30 p.m. event is free. Participants are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped gift for donation to Shayann’s Kindness Project, a local children’s charity, and those doing so will receive a commemorative train ticket.

At 4 p.m., the Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress St., will show “The Polar Express,”, starring Tom Hanks. Admission is $10 per person or $8 for students, seniors and military. A percentage of the proceeds also will benefit the museum.

Parking is available at metered street parking areas (free on Sundays) or at the new Pennington Street Parking Garage. Additional museum information is available at 623-2333 and movie information at 624-1515.

Tucson Children’s Museum has scheduled the “Ancient Egyptian Art Festival of Friendship” on Saturday with hieroglyphic art activities, a show-and-tell presentation of Egyptian artifacts, a puppet-led “archaeological adventure” and a performance of Middle Eastern dances by a local group, Veils of Mystery.

The program is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Egyptologist Mary Ann Marazzi and Tucson puppeteer Dennis Eustace will make the presentations, including Egyptian music and papyrus samples.

The museum is at 200 S. Sixth Ave. The program is included in the regular admission price: $3.50 for children 2-16; $5.50 for adults; $4.50 for seniors. Children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult. Additional information is available at 792-9985 Ext. 112.