In about 1938 Paul Ravenscraft, Pat White and another
person were hunting by the iron railroad bridge. We saw
this owl and decided we needed a trophy. We took it to
Emil Sando's cabin behind their house and made a deal to have it
mounted. The $4.00 cost was split 3 ways. My house
was the first stop for the mounted owl. Before my term of
displaying the owl was up I bought out the other two. This
photo of Bertha Gadola White was taken in 1946.
Here are some other stories about this owl, which later
moved to Ray Ravenscraft's house:
"I'll make this message short. It is about the OWL.. The owl
sat in Paul's bedroom for many years. Ed and I use to come
home every summer as long as my parents were living and of
course we took our two sons, Greg and Steve. My dad [Ray Ravenscraft]
use to take them upstairs as he said he heard the owl lay an egg. Then
with his slight of hand he would reach behind the owl and produce a
chicken egg. The boys fell for it for awhile.
"Then they finally grew up. When my dad died, Ed and I flew
back home to settle the estate. By now Greg and Steve were
in college and had part time jobs so did not go back home with us. I
asked them if there was anything they would like from the house. Greg
said he only wanted the OWL. So we packed it up and brought it back to
him. It sits in a prominent place in his house. So Pat, if you want the
owl, you'll have to come to California to get it. Greg may charge you a
storage fee. He has had it since 1969."
---Phyllis Ravenscraft Perkins
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"For as long as I can remember, I trucked to Ray's almost everyday.
I have many wonderful memories of that great man but.......one story in
particular I will never forget.
"Easter morning was always the time to head to Ray's. The Easter
Bunny would have come to our house......that was good. We had to get
ready to go to church.....but before we did that......my dad [Bob
"Speck" White] always took me to Ray's on Easter morning
because the great mysterious owl....always laid a candy egg on Easter
morning. It was a big event.....because of the owl AND I got to go
upstairs. (He always told me it was haunted up there!) Ray, my dad and I
would go "quietly" up the stairs so we wouldn't scare the owl,
and we'd go into the bedroom.....and there it would be, standing in the
corner. Ray would slowly lift me up and he'd tell me to pet the owl. I
would, of course.
"Then he'd say, 'Check under his wing and see if he left you
anything.' And there it was......a candy egg. I did that every
year for a long time. When I got older I'd sit and watch TV with Ray and
I'd say, 'Lets run upstairs and see if that owl laid any eggs!'"
He said........he's magical....only on Easter.
---Roxanne White Santele |