PACIFIC PALISADES (CALIF.) — Saturday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stood in about the same place Gov. Earl Warren stood in 1944 when he accepted the Will Rogers Ranch given by Rogers’ widow to the state of California.
Gov. Schwarzenegger, who stabled his horses at the ranch before he was elected governor, symbolically accepted the park lands and structures from the Rogers family on behalf of California State Parks and the people of California. The event marked completion of a three-year, $5 million restoration of the land, ranch house and barns, and reopening of the house for public tours.
Jim Hartz, Will Rogers Memorial Commission chairman, presented the California governor with a proclamation from Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry, proclaiming Saturday “Will Rogers Remembrance Day.”
The Rogers family took the first tour if the house. Will Rogers’ grandchildren Kem and Chuck Rogers and Betty Brandin Rogers, children of the late Jim Rogers, were joined by Kem and Bette’s children and grandchildren; their cousins, Lori Blake Leighton and Tina Blake; and Oklahoman’s Doris “Coke” Meyer of Bartlesville and Bob and Jeanne McSpadden of Vinita. Meyer and McSpadden are Rogers’ great-niece and nephew. McSpadden grew up on the Will Rogers birthplace ranch, where his father was the manager for his Uncle Will.
Randy Eubank, who was raised as a son in the home of Will Rogers Jr., joined the family.
The house and grounds, closed during the restoration, will now be open for public tours.