Pinetop-Lakeside

Throughout the Roaring Twenties, Lakeside remained conservative and rural in nature. Pinetop was “wide open” to gamblers, moonshiners, and bootleggers. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Pinetop’s bars and restaurants came into their own. The best known were Charlie Clark’s, famous for steaks; Walsh Mack’s Dew Drop Inn, famous for Louisiana-style barbecued ribs; and Charlene Penrod’s Ponderosa Club, famous for Western dance bands.

Family businesses sprouted along the highway, including lumber, hardware, and grocery stores, filling stations, cafés, rental cabins, barbershops, realty offices, sporting goods stores, and more. In 1960, Tilden Wilbur built Ponderosa Plaza, the first modern shopping center in Pinetop.

Because of the seasonal nature of work in the woods, local stores let families charge goods in winter and pay their bills when logging started up. Some businesses closed from October until April. The streets “rolled up” at dark, and the only noise at night was from logging trucks going down the one highway through town.

The first bank in the area was in Cooley, which became McNary. It was robbed around 1920 by an outlaw named Oscar Schultz. He locked Bill Hockenhall in the vault and rode off with the contents. Apache County deputy John Earl and posse member Ed Cole tracked him for days until they caught up with him on the Blue River, shooting him and recovering the money. The body proved too heavy for the poor mule, so they buried Schulz along the trail. There was no bank in Pinetop until 1963.

The only telephone lines were private, mail-order contraptions until Lloyd C. Henning of Holbrook started a telephone company. Two lines ran from McNary, one that served the mill and one that went through Pinetop, Lakeside, Snowflake, and Show Low, connecting to the long-distance exchange in Holbrook. McNary operators Melba Butler and Ethel Burke were known locally as the “Hello Girls.” Samuel and Stella Yoder ran the Pinetop switchboard. “Grannie” Yoder retired when dial phones were installed.

Residents heated their homes with wood and lighted them with kerosene until 1936, when the White Mountain Electric Cooperative was funded through the federal Rural Electrification Administration. In 1946, the Navopache Electric Cooperative (NEC) was organized. The first power source was the plant in McNary that burned waste products from the mill to create electricity. The emergence of coal-fired power plants and computer technology enabled further expansion in the 1980s and 1990s. By 2000, NEC served thousands of rural members over a 10,000-square-mile territory.

The Forest Service played a major role in the economic progress of the Pinetop-Lakeside area by developing campgrounds, roads, and recreation sites. In 1954, the Forest Service approved the first nine holes of a golf course in the forest surrounding the former CCC camp. The White Mountain Country Club land exchange was completed in 1968, and now operates as a private, member-owned club.

Pinetop realtor and developer Bob Fernandez began his career with money he won shooting craps in the Army Air Corps in World War II and his wife’s savings as an Army nurse. Bob’s Realty, an unimpressive log cabin, was in business from 1960 to 2006. Always a gambler, Bob developed subdivisions, RV parks, and a financial center, sometimes operating a backhoe himself. In 1967, Bob and his wife, Jean, formed the FLEX Corporation to negotiate federal land exchanges throughout the West. Fernandez was the key player in developing Pinetop Country Club.

Since pioneer days, residents have been committed to education. Wallace and Augusta Larson were both educators who also served as state legislators and fought for better funding for rural schools. Lakeside’s first four-year high school class graduated in 1932. In the 1940s, Pinetop and Lakeside schools were consolidated into the Blue Ridge Unified School District, with an elementary school, a middle school, a junior high school, and a high school.

The first Blue Ridge football team was fielded in 1951, with principal “Pa” Larson buying uniforms. Nearly all the high school boys had to play football for the school to field a full team. They chose Yellow Jackets as their name in 1957. Since then, the mighty Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets regularly win regional and state championships in both sports and academic competitions.

By the 1970s, it had become obvious to a few people that Pinetop and Lakeside needed to merge into one town if they wanted to grow. Navajo County, one of the poorest in the state, could not provide needed services. In addition, the rival town of Show Low was planning to annex land adjacent to Lakeside, which would have limited future expansion. Neither Pinetop nor Lakeside had the required population of 2,000 to incorporate, but neither was willing to give up its name. The first and second attempts at incorporation failed. Finally, in 1984, a referendum to incorporate Pinetop-Lakeside passed. An interim council served until the general election, when residents elected a council. Attorney Jay Natoli was the first mayor, and Mary Ellen Bittorf was vice mayor.

The town of Pinetop-Lakeside already had a school district, two fire districts, two private water companies, and two post offices in place. Council members could concentrate on issues their constituents cared most about, including police protection, roads, planning and zoning, animal control, open space, and the acquisition of Woodland Lake Park, a parcel of national forest within the town borders. The three country clubs are outside town boundaries.

THEY CALLED HIM “MR. MACK.” Walsh Mack was a one-man civil rights movement. He worked at the McNary mill until 1938, when Mabel Bowles, an independent lady who owned most of Pinetop, sold him three acres so he could start his own restaurant. “Mr. Mack” was six-foot-four with shoulders like Joe Lewis and hands like bear paws. He practiced his own brand of nonviolence. Nobody messed with him. He and his wife, Dolly, cooked the finest barbecued spareribs west of New Orleans. Their Dew Drop Inn was full every Saturday night. His friends included John Wayne, who liked to stop by when he was at his Springerville Ranch. (Courtesy Navajo County Library District.)

PENRODS ON THE PORCH. Charlene Penrod, her dad, Arch, and her sister Myrl did not sit around on the porch very often. When Arch was not making or selling liquor, he was managing a cattle ranch. Charlene was the proprietor of one of Pinetop’s most popular bars, the Ponderosa Club. People came from all over to dance to country western music played by Bucky Goar and other local musicians. Myrl served in the military in World War II. (Courtesy Jack Reed.)

EVERYBODY’S BUDDY. Christened Marguerite Elizabeth, “Buddy” Wise was raised on a cattle ranch near Mesa Redonda by her parents, Charlie and Belle Clark. She graduated from Holbrook High School in 1938, the same year Charlie Clark bought the Pinetop restaurant that bears his name. As girls, Buddy and her sister Dolly helped in the restaurant. After graduating from Arizona State University and teaching for a year, Buddy joined the Army Air Corps in World War II, where she met her husband-to-be, Tom Wise. They owned Elaine’s Dress Shop and Crosby’s Men’s Shop in Pinetop, serving customers from as far away as Phoenix and Tucson. They were married 54 years and had one son, Charlie. (Courtesy Gene Luptak.)

PINETOP LUMBERMAN. Harry and Maxine Turnbull and their children, Maxine Ann, Jim, Sandy, and Cheryl, moved to McNary in 1955, where Harry and his brother-in-law Gene Henning became business partners in a sawmill and logging enterprise. The Turnbulls lived in McNary for two years before building a home in Pinetop. The Turnbull-Henning business grew to include a Richfield service station, a hardware and lumber supply store, R&M Variety Store, and H&T Market in the center of Pinetop. When they dissolved the partnership, Turnbull kept Pinetop Lumber & Hardware, and Henning got the other businesses. (Courtesy Maxine Ann Turnbull.)

BUSINESSMAN AND BENEFACTOR. Brothers Frank (left) and Tilden (right) Wilbur and their sister JoLynn grew up working in their father’s grocery store in St. Johns. Following graduation from Arizona State University with a business degree, Tilden and his wife, Carol, moved to Pinetop to open a grocery store in 1955. Tilden built Ponderosa Plaza, the first mini-mall in Pinetop. He served his church, local schools, his community, and the surrounding area all his life, and was one of the founders of Northland Pioneer College. Tilden and Carol had five living children and were married 64 years. (Courtesy Julie Wilbur West.)

REBUILT SHOPPING CENTER. In 1967, a record snowstorm dropped more than 100 inches of snow in Pinetop and caved in the roof of Wilbur’s Market. Many people came to help, but others came to loot. Tilden’s father and brother withdrew from the business, but Tilden stayed and rebuilt in the face of growing competition from larger chains. The shopping center featured a clothing store, a shoe store, Sprouse Reitz, and Wilbur’s Market. One of Tilden’s oldest and best friends was Walsh Mack. (Courtesy Julie Wilbur West.)

CARRYING ON TRADITION. Bill and Tricia Gibson, proprietors of Charlie Clark’s Steak House in Pinetop, have expanded and modernized the business while preserving the friendly, informal Western atmosphere of the original version, when the restaurant consisted of two log cabins joined together. Raised in an Arizona ranch family, Bill is a collector of Western memorabilia and pictures. (Courtesy Bill and Tricia Gibson.)

FIRST BANK IN PINETOP. Banker Benton Snoddy hired a young Texas cowboy named Bill Cox as his assistant manager in McNary. Cox had come to Holbrook from Texas with a trainload of cattle at age 13. He cowboyed, worked at the bank, saved his money, went back to Texas, bought cattle, went broke in a drought, and returned to work for Snoddy. When Snoddy sold to the First National Bank, Cox went with it, becoming manager of the First National Bank when it opened a branch in Pinetop in 1963. The bank was later sold to Wells Fargo. (Courtesy Johnnie Fay McQuillan.)

25 YEARS IN BANKING. Johnnie Fay McQuillan started working at the McNary bank when she was a 16-year-old high school student. She was transferred to the Pinetop branch of the First National Bank, where she worked as a loan officer until she retired. In this image, she is celebrating 25 years at the bank with her coworkers. She has been actively involved in numerous civic organizations and clubs, including the Women’s Club, the hospital, St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, and the Blue Ridge Scholarship Fund. She also sews and quilts. (Courtesy Johnnie Fay McQuillan.)

PUBLISHING TRADITION. Arizona’s White Mountains, an annual publication, has always been a family affair. The Meads have spent most of their lives camping, fishing, hiking, riding horseback, exploring, and promoting the White Mountains. Norman and Peggy Mead’s children are carrying on the publishing tradition. From left to right are Norman Wesley Mead, Peggy Joyce Mead, Tray, Barry, Russell, and Brenda. (Courtesy Brenda Mead Crawford.)

PROMOTING THE MOUNTAIN. Since 1954, the Mead family has promoted Arizona’s White Mountains through scenic photography and feature stories about history, travel, the outdoors, entertainment, and wildlife, and profiles of people and places. (Courtesy Mead Publishing.)

COVERING THE NEWS. The White Mountain Independent is a semiweekly broadsheet newspaper based in Show Low. It was started by Donovan and Ruth Kramer of Casa Grande in 1964 to cover the entire White Mountain region, including both Navajo and Apache Counties. An earlier newspaper was called the White Mountain Eagle. This photograph is of a special section covering the Rodeo-Chediski Fire of 2002. The entire staff was evacuated to Springerville, where they got the paper out on time. Following their heroic effort, they received an award for “Distinguished Community Service” from the Arizona Newspapers Association, which stated: “The staff worked with personal sacrifice and without regard for schedules to keep an entire community informed, involved and aware.” (Courtesy White Mountain Independent.)

The Maverick. The Maverick hit the streets as a 16-page, black-and-white tabloid in March 2002. Publisher Kevin Birnbaum hired an inexperienced young woman named Amie Rodgers to sell ads. Before long, she became a business partner, and is now the editor and publisher of the glossy, full-color monthly magazine that is, true to its name, a maverick. Amie writes: “The Maverick is dedicated to the best of everything. At the risk of being labeled a ‘feel good,’ we focus on sharing the art, food, history, people, festivals and quality of life in the White Mountains.” (Courtesy The Maverick.)

FIRST DEPUTY. Ray Butler was southern Navajo County’s first deputy sheriff. Navajo County was created in 1895 from Apache County, with the county seat, courts, and jail in Holbrook. For years, settlers in the White Mountains had to settle their own disputes or wait for a deputy to ride 60 miles from Holbrook to make an arrest. (Courtesy Gary Butler.)

FIRST JAIL. Deputy Ray Butler put in a request for a jail in Pinetop in 1935. Stonecutters building Snowflake High School under the Works Progress Administration provided the labor. They built identical 12-foot-by-15-foot rock jails for Pinetop and Show Low. The first jail was located near the intersection of Highway 260 and Clare Lane. The First Interstate Bank planned to expand its building and parking lot there in 1987. Manager Bill Lundquist was instrumental in preserving and relocating the old jail to its present site, near the corner of Burke Lane and Highway 260. (Courtesy Gary Butler.)

LIVING A LEGACY. Gary Butler, the grandson of Ray Butler, was elected Navajo County sheriff in 1989 and served for 20 years. In 1967, following his service as a Marine in Vietnam, he worked for Scottsdale Police, Apache County, Show Low Police, and was Show Low police chief. In 1988, he was elected sheriff of Navajo County. On his first day in office, he commanded a successful three-day manhunt for two men who had murdered a deputy. Butler took many steps to improve the sheriff’s office, including the formation of the first criminal investigation team, the Major Crimes Apprehension Team, and the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteer Program. (Courtesy Gary Butler.)

KEEPING THE PEACE. Navajo County sheriff’s deputy Charles Lane, a career lawman, served for many years as the only deputy working full-time in the Pinetop-Lakeside area. His easygoing nature belied his shrewdness in judging human nature that served him well in the diverse communities. His wife, Bonnie, was a local nurse. Charlie retired but remained a captain in the Reserve. He died while on duty and was buried in his uniform, as he had requested. (Courtesy Bonnie Lane.)

TAKING THE PONY EXPRESS OATH. The White Mountain Sheriff’s Posse has approximately 50 highly trained members who are ready to leave their homes and businesses on a moment’s notice to help with search-and-rescue operations when called by the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office. One way they keep their horses in good condition is with an annual Pony Express Ride of 150–200 miles each spring. Here, the Lakeside postmaster swears in riders as mail carriers. (Courtesy Mark Sterling.)

HANDING OFF THE MAIL. Pony Express riders hand off mailbags in a full lope on their way to Globe or Tucson, taking back roads and trails used by the US Cavalry in days past. Each team of riders carries the mail in two-mile relays. Other riders follow with horse trailers, setting up relay stations along the way. From Lakeside, their route passes through the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache reservations and national forests. (Courtesy Mark Sterling.)

TIME OUT FOR STORIES. Longtime cowboy Verl Gillespie trades tall tales with deputy Charlie Lane at the Pony Express camp on the way to Globe. The annual ride is one way to promote camaraderie between “old-timers” and rookies. (Courtesy Mark Sterling.)

COMMUNITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Martha McNary Wilson Chilcote, a community leader who served for a time as Pinetop justice of the peace, led the drive to build the Community Presbyterian Church in Pinetop, which was dedicated in 1962. Across the street is St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, which had its origins in McNary. St. Anthony’s was the first church building in McNary. Most of its members moved to Pinetop when the mill closed. With little but faith, an optimistic banker, and the support of summer residents, a log church was dedicated in 1974. Parishioners brought malapais rocks every Sunday to cover the church’s exterior. (Courtesy Judi Bassett.)

THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Pinetop businessman Arthur Crozier was the dedicated organist of the Community Presbyterian Church until his death. Crozier and his sister Kim grew up in McNary, where their parents owned the only movie theater within 60 miles. His mother, Hattie, was a nurse at the McNary clinic. The Crozier family moved to Pinetop, where they owned and operated a highly rated restaurant. (Courtesy Lynda Marble.)

TEACHING THE LITTLE ONES. When the Rev. Arthur Alchesay Guenther retired as pastor of the Church of the Open Bible, in Whiteriver, in 1997, he and his wife, Gloria, moved to Pinetop. He devoted his “retirement” years to serving his new community in every possible way. One of them was teaching children and adults about White Mountain Apache culture. Here, he is talking to Christian Roman, a Blue Ridge Elementary School student. Reverend Guenther’s godfather was Apache Chief Alchesay. (Courtesy Betty Jarrett.)

KEEPING THE FAITH. Historic Blooming Grove Baptist Church began in Louisiana and traveled to McNary in the hearts of the faithful who were shipped by boxcar to work in the mill in 1924. The first services were held in the “Negro Quarters” of the segregated town, with Pastor E.D. Hankins officiating. When the sawmill closed, many Blooming Grove members moved to Lakeside, including Pastor D.W. Lynn and his wife, Beatrice. The Lynns later moved to Show Low, where Reverend Lynn had a regular radio program. Beatrice taught music in McNary and Show Low. She died shortly after her 100th birthday. (Courtesy Vennie White.)

BROTHER RAYFORD. Willie Davis Rayford was born in Mississippi, where he lived until he joined the Army during World War II. After the war, he moved to McNary, where he was a takedown operator at the sawmill, taking down lumber after it was kiln-dried. When the mill closed, he and his wife, Willie Mae, moved to Lakeside. From 1985 to 1991, he worked for the Blue Ridge School District, and then for the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside for five years. He was a deacon at Blooming Grove Baptist Church. (Courtesy Patricia Blake Scott.)

MADDIE COOLEY, 2012 GRADUATE. Maddie Cooley, great-great-granddaughter of Col. Corydon Cooley, is pictured here during graduation. Pinetop-Lakeside schools have come a long way since 1906, when the first 13 students attended classes for five months out of the year in Niels Hansen’s house. More than a century later, the Blue Ridge Unified School District has nearly 3,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Blue Ridge High School has a statewide reputation for excellence in sports and academics. In 2012 and 2013, Blue Ridge led the nation with 20 and then 29 All-American student-athletes. In 2013, a total of 44 percent of graduating seniors received scholarships to continue their educations. (Mike James photograph, courtesy White Mountain Independent.)

VICTORS. The Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets congratulate head football coach Paul Moro for his 45-0 win against St. Johns in October 2012, which was his team’s 300th win. (Courtesy White Mountain Independent.)

LAST GAME. With 318 wins, only 14 games short of the state record, Paul Moro stepped down from coaching the Yellow Jackets to take another post in Florence for family health reasons. In his 30 years at Blue Ridge, he led his team to 13 state championships, more than any other Arizona coach. Firm but caring, Moro instilled a sense of pride and tradition in his teams. (Courtesy White Mountain Independent.)

FIRST CLUBHOUSE. This site was originally known as the Welch Springs Ranch. In the 1930s, a CCC camp was built there to “improve the recreation potential of the national forests.” In the 1950s, a group of local golfers convinced the Forest Service it would be a perfect golf course. The first nine holes of the historic White Mountain Golf and Country Club were built on a shoestring, with donated labor, materials, and equipment. A Forest Service land exchange was completed in 1968, making it a private holding. (Courtesy Geoff Williams.)

COUNTRY CLUB. White Mountain Country Club is a private, member-owned club operating on a seasonal basis from May through October. The 18-hole course stretches out over 6,500 yards, every fairway lined with ponderosa pine trees. The course has bent grass greens, creeping bent fairways, and bluegrass/rye roughs. Best of all, there is no out-of-bounds on the golf course. If golfers can find their ball, they can hit it. It is the first of three Pinetop golf courses. (Courtesy Geoff Williams.)

BOB GATES AND CETA. Bob and Linda Gates take their dog Ceta everywhere. Ceta enjoys visiting nursing homes and rehabilitation centers as a therapy dog. When Bob and Linda retired and moved to Pinetop-Lakeside, they immediately became involved in the life of the town. Working closely with the chamber of commerce, the business community, and volunteers, they created the Run to the Pines Car Show, which attracts classic car owners from all over the Western United States. The car show is a major part of Pinetop-Lakeside’s Fall Festival, which takes place on the last weekend of September. (Courtesy Lloyd Pentecost.)

CLASSIC CHASSIS. The Run to the Pines Car Show won the 2013 Arizona Governor’s Tourism Award for Special Events. The first car show was held in a downtown parking lot in 1983. It was an immediate success and had to be moved to a larger venue. In recent years, it has taken place on the Pinetop Lakes Country Club driving range. With space for only 550 entrants, many of the pre-1973 vehicles have to be turned down. All proceeds over expenses go to local charities. The car show has raised more than $250,000 for charity over the years. (Courtesy White Mountain Independent.)

PURPOSEFUL LIFE. Mary Ellen Bittorf is a soft-spoken lady with an unshakeable determination to make Pinetop-Lakeside a community unified in purpose. That purpose is to protect the natural environment, provide municipal services, and preserve a sense of community. She and her husband, Chuck, a pharmacist, moved to Pinetop in 1970, where they owned the first drugstore. She led a new drive to incorporate Pinetop and Lakeside after two attempts had failed. When a referendum passed in 1984, Mary Ellen was elected to the first town council. She has served as vice president of the White Mountain Lions Club, president of the Audubon Society, chamber of commerce president, advocate for the acquisition of Woodland Lake Park, and founder of the Wildlife and Nature Center. Mary Ellen and Chuck have six children, all of whom worked in the family drugstore at one time. She hopes always to see trees and open spaces, and would like to bring in non-polluting corporate businesses. (Courtesy Bittorf family.)

POLICE CHIEF RON WHEELER. One of the town’s first actions was to establish a police department in 1985. Prior to incorporation, Navajo County Sheriff’s Office deputies enforced the law. An efficient communications system helps solve the challenge of working with different jurisdictions and agencies, including other police departments, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Criminal Investigation, USDA-Forest Service Law Enforcement, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the White Mountain Apache Tribal Police, the Tribal Game and Fish Department, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in addition to regional fire and emergency services. (Courtesy Pinetop-Lakeside Police Department.)

HEADED OUT. The Pinetop Fire Department came into existence in 1958 when Martha McNary Wilson gathered a small group of volunteers to build a “fire station” on her property. The first firefighters were Martha, Archie Penrod, Dick Wilson, and Gerald Penrod. They had one truck and a party-line dispatch system. From that humble beginning, the volunteer department expanded to a fully equipped, first-class, full-time, career fire and emergency medical services department with two stations. Firefighters are cross-trained in urban and wildland firefighting. The department presently has 25 full-time firefighters, a chief and assistant chief, administrative personnel, seven reserves on standby, and a volunteer firefighter program. The department covers 212 square miles and a population of 5,000 that increases to 20,000 or more during the summer months. (Courtesy Daniel A. Greco, MD.)

THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAME. In January 1959, the business offices of the Navopache Electric Cooperative were destroyed by fire. Dewey Farr, the general manager of Navopache, began the process of forming a fire district. By May 1959, Lakeside had its own fire district. The volunteers were all people from the community. Navopache donated a 1949 Dodge Power Wagon, a small tank with a pump was installed, and firemen had their first pumper. The first station was built with donated materials and labor, and the Lakeside Fire Board was formed. A substation in Wagon Wheel was added in 1985. The board hired its first full-time fire chief, Paul Albinger, in 1988. Darny Wilhelm was assistant chief, and Joe Mettie became chief engineer. Improvements were made in training and equipment as the community grew. A new Dodge ambulance for first responders was put into use in 1994. Lakeside now provides Advanced Life Support, pre-hospital EMS, and medical transport services. Lakeside Fire Department presently has 27 full-time and 12 part-time employees. (Courtesy Lakeside Fire Department.)