Sophia (Fletcher) Burden |
| Posted 2009-04-11 by Maurine |
| Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona Januuary 31, 1996 SOPHIE BURDEN DIES –Matriarch of family that dates back to ‘Dude Ranch Capital of the World Days. Sophie Fletcher Burden, one of Wickenburg's original "Dude Ranch Capital of the World" resort owners, died Jan. 28 in Wickenburg. She was 89. Memorial services for Mrs. Burden will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3 at St. Alban Episcopal Church. Fr. Dan Gerrard will officiate. From 3-6 p.m. everyone is welcome to a "Celebration of Sophie desert party at the north end of Jack Burden Road. Signs pointing to the location will be posted. In case of rain, the celebration will be at St Alban's church. Sophie Stevenson Fletcher came west from Providence, R.I. in 1925 with her parents Dr. William and Clementine, sister Clemis, and brothers William and Pete. That same year Jack Burden left Boston and opened the Remuda Guest Ranch in Wickenburg. The Fletchers were his first guests and never left. Following a horseback courtship, Jack Burden and Sophie and never left. Jack Burden died in 1943, and Sophie Burden operated Remuda Ranch "through hell and high water," said one of her surviving sons, Dana, until its sale in 1968. Over the years of her management and ownership of Remuda, which is now an addiction treatment facility, Sophie Burden and the ranch garnered many honors. In 1964, Gov. Paul Fannin issued a proclamation naming her Dean of Arizona Guest Ranch Women. That same year, Wickenburg's mayor proclaimed Nov. 7 as "Sophie Burden Day, Out Wickenburg Way." In 1965, the Arizona Hotel and Motel Association proclaimed her First Lady of Arizona Innkeepers. The Wickenburg Business and Professional Women designated her a Pioineer Working Woman. In 1981, the mayor of Wickenburg awarded her a Good Neighborhood Award, and in 1984, she honored with a place in the Arizona Stockman Living Hall of Fame. Mrs. Burden was a founding and lifelong member of the Wickenburg Order of the Eastern Star. In 1991, The Wickenburg Sun gave her a plaque thanking for her a decade of faithful service in writing "What's Cookin', a weekly column of whimsy, unusual and delectable recipes, and recollections of life in Wickenburg and on Remuda Ranch. Mrs. Burden was a founding member and past president of Las Damas, Wickenburg's famous women's trail ride. Mrs. Burden and a friend were two of the few white women adventurers to ride horseback into the-then unknown and isolated Havasupai Indian Reservation in Grand Canyon, in 1943. She was very taken with its beauty, returning year after year with her children and guests. She and the Indians became friends and the Supai Council asked her to be their "advisor" for development of tourism, a first for a woman, white or Indian. On behalf of the Supai she created an unusual Christmas effort, transporting tons of needed items into the canyon by pack animal, helicopter, and parachute drop - whatever was necessary to assist her friends. She was also among the first 200 whites to pack trip around Navajo Mountain to Rainbow Bridge. Mrs. Burden had many memories of her years in Wickenburg and the West, and among her favorites were Supai, her often fascinating, prestigious and almost always fun guests at Remuda, square dancing. (she was a “caller"), desert picnics, moonlight rides, camping trips, and the trips her family took in the summer when Remuda was closed. Mrs. Burden is survived by a sister, Clementine White of Flagstaff; brother Pete Fletcher of Wickenburg; sons John and Dana Burden of Wickenburg; daughter Sophie Echeverria of Jackson, Wyo. and Phoenix; nine grandchildren; 15great-grandchildren; one great grand-son. Dana Burden asks that “Those with a mind to do something, please in lieu of flowers, “make a contribution to The Sophie Burden Collection in the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, 21 N. Frontier St., Wickenburg, Ariz. 85090. All arrangements were handled by Brown’s Wickenburg Funeral Home. A "What's Cookin' "column. Written by Sophie Burden ,in February 1989, during that year’s Gold Rush Days Celebration .is on Page A-6 of this week's newspaper. It is published in her memory. ---------------------- Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona – August 14, 1996 Remembering Sophie and Remuda Ranch At Remuda Sophie did everything from supervising a staff of 25 to entertaining authors and film stars. In 1968 Remuda was sold to Glenn Berry, an 18-year guest. Berry went bankrupt after eight-and-a half years. Richard Collver from Canada bought the ranch out of bankruptcy court, tore down half the buildings, then sold the Remuda to the Ward Keller group. The Remuda Ranch is still in the phone directory and today is a well-respected treatment center for women eating disorders: bulemia and anorexia. History of Remuda The first building the bridal couple built at Remuda was an Ocotillo stave hut with a dirt floor and tin roof. First - born, Sophie arrived the next year on the Fourth July 1927. Jack's mother financed early construction of the ranch. A construction contract between Jack, his mother, and Charles Shontz, their architect, was for a six-bedroom bunkhouse with a living room, an attic, and a bathroom. Cost was $3,664. John was born January 14, 1929. Building of their new home, a three-room bungalow, 21 by 42 feet, with a bath and heater commenced August 1, 1930 and completed by September 15. The cost was $2,000. . The Burdens kept building the ranch and the family increased. Some of the perennial guests added their own guest houses. Third generation families were repeat customers, so popular had Remuda become. A billiard table was set in the main lodge. A swimming pool, tennis courts, croquet courts, a school, and a stable and corral completed ranch amenities. Dana was born September 23, 1933. He reminisced that at its peak Remuda could accommodate 70 guests. At that time the 25, and more live-in staff and ranch family included a chef and assistant, two kitchen helpers, five maids, five waitresses, three or four wranglers, two gardeners, an office manager and assistant, a school teacher, and two drivers. With usual household chores and rearing three children, here was Sophie's work schedule: rise before sun-up; check the kitchen; ensure heat was on in the buildings; check which wranglers might be guests of the local jail; then prepare guest bills to help the office. Afterward she would have breakfast with the guests, help them plan the day, organize special rides and. events --- picnics; answer the phone; answer mail; pay bills; ensure that her children were either off to school or in care of a ranch hand. Sophie planned promotions for Remuda, at times traveling cities the East. She was active in her church, the women's branch of the Masonic order, the Eastern Star; active in the chambers of commerce locally and in Phoenix, publicity for the ranch. She was a member of the Arizona Hotel and Motel Association and the Desert Sun Ranchers' Association. She was instrumental in the founding of Las Damas, a women's riding club that embarks on an annual five-day trial ride, each spring from Wickenburg. Dana mentioned a guest list for Remuda too numerous to enumerate. To drop a few names over the years, there were actors: Joel McCrea and Robert Mitchum; business world leaders like the Cabot family of Philadelphia; brewmaster families of the Anheusers and the Busches; and then there was English author J. B. Priestley, who worked on one of his books during a season he spent at Remuda. Priestly wrote fiction, plays, mystery stories, personal history, and social criticism. He was author The English Novel, 1927, and The Good Companions, 1928, a novel. Sophie said that when rides from Remuda were scheduled Priestly preferred to remain at the ranch, that he liked the ambience and comfort of the ranch to riding a horse picking its way through clumps of cactus. When the one-room schoolhouse at the ranch opened, Priestly was there to give a special dedication speech. Sophie proved an organizer. The first years at Remuda the young tenderfoot from the East planned picnics to please their guests. Overnight camping trips were the following years' entertainment progression, then three day trail rides, and finally what the Burdens labeled "Remudero Rides": five-day riding trips--- these were in the autumn when the' weather was cooler. Sophie learned fast about cloying, prickly cholla cactus, on those rides and how to carefully pick one's way through this desert annoyance. Sophie imbued a love of the West and the desert in at least one of her three offspring. Trail rides maybe considered an ingredient of a Western vacation at a dude ranch. Second sort, Dana, a chip off the familial block, has so appreciated their Remuda excursions that he now shares similar experiences with tourists. Dana plans desert tours from Wickenburg; four-wheeling out to the vibrant desert, ghost towns, gold mines, placer mines-sharing the palaver, history, legend, and lore of the West with his customers. Drive over the Hassayampa River Bridge today from Phoenix and you’ll find his office; beside the bridge across from the town's Wishing well, a tourist attraction. Sophie may be found about a mile away from this office in a nursing home. She champions not only Dana efforts but her entire family. ‘First Lady’ of innkeeping The First Lady of Arizona Inn keeping --- so titled years ago by governor Paul Fannin, lies in a bed surrounded by photos of her three children, nine grandchildren, 15great grandchildren, a great-great grandchild, and among some, Arizona scenes: Mooney Falls and the Canyon. Her eyes are not focused on the television instead she is ensconced in a world of reminiscence - a dream world that is real to her and made real for the visitor by her anecdotes and pictures around the bed. Nurse Melanie Heath commented that Sophie is sharper than one may think when Sophie smiles her Mona Lisa smile. Sophie may recall square dances, daughter Sophie "Toody's" (her father Jack's nickname for her since childhood) wedding at the ranch, her dogs, the horses she has ridden and loved. When she talks to you she transports herself back in memory to happy times and takes you with her. Because she chooses not to use a hearing aid, communication is challenging to the visitor as she’ll acknowledge questions with smiles, But watch those twinkling blue eyes and note the same puckish grin reflected on her face as identical to the grin in her wedding photo at the foot of the bed. The eyes are a bit rheumy but her gaze is as ready and unwavering one. This manuscript was completed last year with the help of the Burden family to be a tribute to Sophie while she was alive. Sophie died January 28, 1996 in the nursing home here --- she never read this story: Sophie would have celebrated her 90th birthday on August 2. A formidable contribution was made to Arizona tourism when she served as hostess for one of the country's first dude ranches. Sophie introduced the West to her guests. Rest in peace, Sophie, out Wickenburg way. Editor' s note: Carolyn Goff is a former Wickenburg resident who wrote a column for The Wickenburg Sun in the early 1970s, She: wrote this story with the full cooperation of the Burden family, which Supplied her with much of its historical information, She now lives in Sun City. See Also: Find A Grave |
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