Retrospective: Golding family’s Tucson connection

Starting in 1959 and into the early 1960’s, Mel and Rita Golding traveled with Mel’s four children to Rancho Del Rio, a guest ranch in Tucson Arizona. For the Golding children, Christmas vacation meant dressing up like cowboys and “living the dream”, riding horses twice a day in the Tucson washes and in the foothills of the San Catalina Mountains. These visits forged indelible memories that drew them back to Southern Arizona for years to come.

Childhood memories have a permanence that defies explanation, but these were amplified by scenes like riding to dinner in Sabino Canyon on horseback, then sitting around a campfire listening to the head wrangler – a wizened, middle-aged man named Rex – strum his guitar and sing songs like “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” or “Cool Water”, songs he seemed to embody. To further “burn” this experience into our collective memories, Rex would then perform his fire-eating act; never to be forgotten by kids.

There’s still a note of embarrassment, when considering the privilege this exemplified, but years later, the only real regrets – selfishly – are that this period did not last longer.

1950’s AT RANCHO DEL RIO: A SLIDESHOW

The four Golding children first visited Tucson and Rancho Del Rio in December 1959. Jeffrey, the oldest, was 14. Lance was 11. Gary was 9 and Stacy was just 7.

These Christmas vacation visits continued into the 1960’s. Matthew was born in New York City in March of 1964, and he became part of this tradition until the Fall of 1966 when Mel & Rita left New York and moved to Tucson – where Matt live until he left for college.

1960’s IN TUCSON, ARIZONA: A SLIDESHOW

Mel Golding purchased the M/R Ranch (pronounced “M-slash-R)” in the early 1970s. Jani and Gary married in September 1974, and Jani’s introduction to Tucson and the ranch was the following spring.

The M/R Ranch was sold in 1981 so Gary and Jani’s boys did not get to share the same riding and ranching experiences as their parents. However, as Austin (born in 1980) and Wyatt (born in 1984) aged, the number of trips they made to Arizona increased and they had numerous opportunities discovering and exploring Arizona.

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The photos below are representative of the many trips to Tucson in the 1990’s, but do not begin to cover the multitude of places visited.

1990S IN TUCSON: A SLIDESHOW

With the ranch sold, the 2000’s was more of a decade of family visits or reunions. Sadly this came to a close when Mel passed away in 2007 and Rita died in 2013. They are both buried in Tucson. Their memories and the strong connection to the area are what remain.

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2000-2013 IN TUCSON: A SLIDESHOW