Outskirts Press, INC.

California Entrepreneur, Family Man, Cattleman, Youth Leader, Mountain Man

Herein is a collection of stories, fun and not-so. Together they cover three-quarters of a century of happy events, and sad, which cemented a man’s life and character. Wild Bill’s story covers a unique moment in California’s history. Born in 1931, he was unaffected by the Great Depression and, also, too young to serve in World War II. As a kid, he had the freedom of space. At age 11, he and a friend bicycled from his home in the East Bay of San Francisco to Yosemite Valley on war restricted, wide-open roads. As a teen, without the population pressure of today, he was at liberty to race up the “notch” from the Yosemite Valley floor to Glacier Point, while his friends drove up the lengthy back way. They beat him there by only a minute or so. In business, Wild Bill excelled as a cattleman, almond rancher and partner in a white-water rafting company. While California laws still encouraged entrepreneurship with lower taxes and fewer restrictions, when they were unjust, Bill succeeded in his work to change them. Living in an area where Hispanic American farm workers were prevalent, he and his business partner of 50+ years founded and hosted the San Joaquin Valley Young Leaders Organization (YLO) for 25 years. This is a story of life in California without today’s limitations, restrictions, and people pressure. All proceeds from this book go to the Bill and Barbara Canning Integrity Fund to support youth leadership programs in California.

Chapter 15 - The DGAWBCC. "Originally, membership in the Don't-Go-Anywhere-With-Bill-Canning-Club (DGAWBCC) was supplied by the mothers of kids who went to Oakland with me to learn the sport of boxing. New recruits often ended badly. Johnny, the coach, believed the way to teach boxing was to show the new recruit how badly he needed the lessons. He always put the new kids in the ring with an experienced boxer. The new kid mostly learned how to get up off the mat. Other members of the DGAWBCC date back to high school misadventures. Many of these involved my 1934 Ford coupe. After the first two passengers, the rest had to ride in the trunk. The car's poor condition led to many troubling situations. My friend, Walt Lyon, spent many hours stuffed into the trunk of the car he had pushed, repaired and cussed. During my ownership, even with all of my donkey herding and similar activities, it never accumulated many odometer miles because of WWII gas rationing. At one point, I thought I might use the donkey's requirements for care to obtain a farmer's much larger allocation of gas. The application got as far as my dad. He was on the gas ration board. I was stuck with a Class-A gasoline allotment. An empty gas tank was often the result. After their tour in the trunk of my car, many passengers chose membership in the DGAWBCC. I eventually sold the car. Months later, Walt Lyon spotted the old Ford parked in front of his next-door neighbor's house. The neighbor had, several owners later, purchased the Ford. The new owner came out of the house to receive Walt's congratulations. Walt told the poor guy, 'I have pushed that thing farther than you will ever drive it.' Mountain backpacking trips were another rich source of DGAWBCC memberships...."