It's a day I will never forget. And then it was a day that seemed fitting. It was the day Lou Hengehold rode, with a large posse, to Santa Paula Cemetary. I was in church for Mass, at St. Sebastian's Church that morning, but watched afterwards, with everyone assembling afterwards, from across the street, from my grandmother's porch. It was pouring rain. Lou made it hard for everybody, but that was his way. Nothing was easy, or normal. His day would be like no other. He had built his own casket. It rode on a horse drawn caisson. Nobody drove. Water cascaded down broad-rimmed hats and down long slickers. FFA jackets became heavy; soaked. Some of the family rode in a stagecoach marked "The Mill". Its steel rims grinding the pavement as it rolled westward . Of all the Hengehold children, I knew his son "Louie" best. And I remember many times out there at Wheeler Canyon at their ranch.Many that I had seen and heard about from those times were there. And then came the horses with all of their riders, in his last parade, under the camphor tree lined road known as Santa Paula Street. All I could hear were horses clip-clopping and hard drops of rain as they went out of sight. That was on February 3rd, 1986.
By: Kevin Spencer
By: Kevin Spencer
It's a day I will never forget. And then it was a day that seemed fitting. It was the day Lou Hengehold rode, with a large posse, to Santa Paula Cemetary. I was in church for Mass, at St. Sebastian's Church that morning, but watched afterwards, with everyone assembling afterwards, from across the street, from my grandmother's porch. It was pouring rain. Lou made it hard for everybody, but that was his way. Nothing was easy, or normal. His day would be like no other. He had built his own casket. It rode on a horse drawn caisson. Nobody drove. Water cascaded down broad-rimmed hats and down long slickers. FFA jackets became heavy; soaked. Some of the family rode in a stagecoach marked "The Mill". Its steel rims grinding the pavement as it rolled westward . Of all the Hengehold children, I knew his son "Louie" best. And I remember many times out there at Wheeler Canyon at their ranch.Many that I had seen and heard about from those times were there. And then came the horses with all of their riders, in his last parade, under the camphor tree lined road known as Santa Paula Street. All I could hear were horses clip-clopping and hard drops of rain as they went out of sight. That was on February 3rd, 1986.
By: Kevin Spencer
By: Kevin Spencer
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