The Guess Girls & The Norsky Sock Queen

 December 27, 2025

   Thanks to Andy Sansom, here's a high school photo of my mother I have never seen before.

Bobbie Guess, Class of '39

Mohave County Union High School

   As you many know, my mother was the middle daughter of the five Guess girls, legendary cowgirls in the Kingman area. My mother was born in Lordsburg, New Mexico and here she is after landing at Tap Duncan's Diamond Bar Ranch in northern Mohave Country from the Duncan (no relation) area.

Bobbie On The Hood

   My Kathy got me two presents this year:  One hilarious and one hits me right where I live. The first involves a fave family story from when we lived in Iowa, before our final move to Arizona in 1956. On Christmas Eve, my dad drove us from Swea City to the family farm north of Thompson for a present exchange, then Santa came in the middle of the night and we opened those presents and then we went to Dina Madison's house in Thompson for a Christmas Day luncheon and gathering. Dina was my grandmother Minnie's sister. Dina was a teacher and on a tight budget so when we opened presents there, I got a pair of socks, "one for my birthday (Dec. 19) and one for Christmas." When anyone talks about the curse of being a Christmas baby, that is the story I always tell. This Christmas, Kathy had two separate packages under the tree in Issaquah, and yes, they were a pair of socks, one for my birthday and one for Christmas. And, yes, it was very funny and it should be noted our Deena is named for the Norsky sock Queen Dina Madison.

   The other present from Kathy, which I got for my birthday, is a book. . .

"There's nothing stronger than an unwritten book's fascination with its author."

—A. J. Hackwith, author of The Library of the Unwritten"