Bob Williams was a pillar in Altadena’s equestrian community, and the personification of the town’s equestrian soul.
Lawren Markle knows it well. Markle’s children grew up in an Altadena where they thought everyone had horses trotting down their street.
Many of those horses were residents of nearby Williams Ranch.
“You hear them clip clopping by and it just added such a flavor and a calmness, a nice energy to Altadena,” Markle said. “We loved it and we wanted to find out more.”
A tradition in Altadena that goes back to the beginnings of what is now the town, Williams Ranch, near Nuccio’s Nurseries on Cheney Trail, was a central hub that fostered a community within the equestrian community.
The clip-clopping led Markle and her family to the ranch and to Williams. Markle’s kids, who were 5 and 6 at the time, visited with the horses and began a love of the equestrian community in Altadena.
Williams, owner of Williams Ranch, died at 86 last week, sparking memories of the man, and reflection on the town’s equestrian history and its future.
“Bob’s philosophy was that everybody should be able to ride. It’s not just a sport for the well-to-do,” Markle said. “He helped people of modest means follow their love of horses and keep their horses up there. So it was for everyone in the community who had an interest.”
Anyone who looked into Williams’ eyes, Markle said, could tell that he had a kind heart. Plainspoken and friendly, Williams served as a connector within the equestrian community and had a passion for helping people find the calm and the confidence that comes with riding a horse.
“He knew the assignment,” Markle said. “He followed his heart and he made an incredible difference, and it takes people with a lot of commitment like his to help the horse community stay strong.”
Williams Ranch burned in the Eaton fire. It, along with Altadena Stables and Loma Alta Park, were one of the few remaining public spaces for boarding and riding in town. In addition to the ranch, many backyard stables where an individual homeowner had a couple horses on their property were impacted by the fire’s devastation.
“You will still see horses going up and down Loma Alta, but not as many as before and that’s partly because the Williams Ranch only has a couple of stalls built back,” Markle said. “A lot of the houses that had horses had not built back.”
Meredith McKenzie boarded her horses Lobo and Dusty at Williams Ranch for several years. McKenzie remembered Williams as the most genuine, hard-working and kind man she’s ever known and recalled fondly Williams’ greeting to her of, “well hello there young lady,” despite McKenzie being in her 70s.
“He helped people of modest means follow their love of horses and keep their horses up there. So it was for everyone in the community who had an interest.” – Lawren Markle
McKenzie said the Williams Ranch stood out for the community Williams created there.
“He was kind of like the sheriff of Altadena for the horse people,” McKenzie said. “He knew everybody, he knew what was going on.”
Michael Bicay, president of Altadena Wild, met Williams during the community-driven effort to block a proposed Polytechnic School athletics complex that would have been built adjacent to Williams Ranch.
“It was clear that he was anguished enough that he thought it might threaten clearly his stables but also the equestrian culture in western Altadena,” Bicay said.
He described Williams and Williams’ son Lee as the epitome of Altadena’s equestrian culture.
Born May 6, 1940, in Lemoore, Kings Canyon, Calif., Williams was raised on his family’s farm, 70 acres across 40 miles south of Fresno.
The young Williams helped his dad with cattle, cleaning the barn and working the fields on a farm that raised corn, cotton, cows and yes, horses.
In 1954, after his bout with polio, the family sold their farm and moved to Pasadena to be close with family in the area. He would attend Washington Junior High, then John Muir High School. He’d marry Celia Hernandez and they’d have two children, Sage and Lee.
According to an obituary from his son, a few moves later he would buy they property on Chaney Trail in Altadena – “his passion project of affordable boarding for horses.”
Bicay said seeing equestrians riding again along Cheney Trail is a heartening sign of Altadena bouncing back.
“The town is going to look different, and if we can hold onto a thread like the equestrian culture, I think that’s very important for not only historical reasons but just as a statement of the values of Altadena,” Bicay said.
Author and historian Michele Zack said that equestrian thread in Altadena’s rich and eclectic tapestry dates back to it being mission land, where wild horses roamed. During the Mexican period of the 1820s,30s and 40s Native Americans became expert horse riders.
Two hundred years on and that sentiment of connection between the people of Altadena and its place within nature still exists despite all the challenges of modern life. Zack said Altadena’s geography transected with it being far away from its seat of government, which fostered its character over time.
A history of individualistic people with love for horses combined with large properties and closeness to national forests and trails helped cultivate the town’s equestrian culture, Zack said.
“The idea of Altadena as a place that you go to get away from government, you go to get away from big city life, more rural, more live and let live, more live free or die, all of those kind of tropes definitely are part of Altadena culture,” Zack said.
Markle hopes that an element of that culture sticks around a while.
“Horse communities can fade away if you don’t take care of them and nurture them … . We’re all the beneficiaries of that, because it brings such a warmth and a nice energy into the community,” Markle said.
Williams is survived by his brother Darrell Williams; his sister Marge Currie; his children Lee Williams and Sage Williams; and his grandchildren, Jorden Leigh Williams, Kyle Christopher-Lee Casanas, and Kyleigh Mariah Williams.
Williams’ funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 11, at Cabot and Sons Funeral Home, 27 Chestnut St., Altadena.