It's funny how much influence someone can have in our life who we barely knew. Such is the case with Buzzy Blair of Kingman. Somewhere I have an article on Buzzy and his legendary Kingman cowboy ways. He liked his coffee "barefoot" (without sugar) and he loved to rope. Needless to say he fit right in with my Kingman cowboy cousins:
Billy, Brenda and Craig Hamilton, Turkey Track Ranch, Dolan Springs, New Year's Day, 1971
Buzzy was actually a huge influence on me and he was the main inspiration for my cartoon creation The Doper Roper.
My grandfather, Bob Guess, liked him and according to my Aunt Jean, gave him a vote of confidence when other cowboys from Mohave County wouldn't give him a shot at roundups, etc..
This is Bob Guess with his granddaughter Donna Duncan on Hilltop, outside of Kingman in the early 1940s
I went home to Kingman in the early seventies and had a beard and long hair and my dad and Shirley wanted to go to town for dinner. I really didn't want to see anyone (especially redneck cowboys) and we ended up at the Hafley's Holiday House and as soon as we got seated, out from the bar comes three cowboys and one of them is Buzzy Blair. He recognizes my dad, comes over and sits on the edge of the booth, right next to me. Starts talking about my grandfather with tears in his eyes. "I loved Bob Guess," he said looking right at me. And, of course, what I heard was, "Cut your goddamned hair and quit dishonoring your grandpa." Ha.
I actually went home and cut my hair and beard. I probably only saw Buzzy maybe five times in my life, but he had a big influence on me, which in a play-it-forward kind of way, he was merely paying back my grandfather.
Service's for Buzzy will be held at Sutton's funeral home in Kingman next Tuesday at 10:00 A.M. for Buzzy (E.L.) Blair.
"Heffer Dust!"
—Granthum P. Hooker aka The Doper Roper
