Buck Owens’ Ghost Is Alive After Seven Years

BUCK OWENS’ MAUSOLEUM

PHOTO BY: WANDA WINKLER

  March 25 was the seven-year anniversary of the death of Buck Owens. So where is the country western music legend? He is buried in The Buck Owens Family mausoleum in Greenlawn Southwest Cemetery, 2739 Panama Lane, Bakersfield. The mausoleum, also named  “Buck’s Place,” is the largest structure in the graveyard except for the Georgian mansion used for the office and mortuary building. He is interred in the mausoleum which also contains his mother and the ashes of his first wife, Bonnie Campbell Owens. Some people go to the graveyard looking for Buck. Others write books about his ghost. “The Ghost of Buck Owens: And Other Tales From the San Joaquin,” by Steve Sorensen was released in 2011.                                                 

  Chris Porfiri, 47, who works at Greenlawn Southwest Cemetery said, “there have been a couple of times when folks will stop into the park and ask where they can find Buck Owens’s grave– so we direct them to the mausoleum.” For more details on finding his grave go to http://www.findagrave.com.

  Bakersfield’s most popular entertainer, Owens was born Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., in Sherman, Texas, to a sharecropping family and moved to Bakersfield when he was 21 years old. He signed a recording contract with Los Angeles music giant Capital Records in 1957, and his career took off from there. He became one of America’s top country western musicians, singers, writers, and entrepreneurs. The Crystal Palace, his legacy museum located at 2800 Buck Owens Blvd., is a unique masterpiece exhibiting exquisite western charm, history, and hometown hospitality. Owens left a sensational mark on this city, including his last No.1 hit song titled, “The Streets of Bakersfield.” For more information go to http://www.buckowens.com.

  Dave Lyman, 55, from the Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau said he’s never been asked about Owens’ grave site. However, “large numbers of tour buses stop here on their way to someplace else, like Fresno, Yosemite, or Sequoia National Park. They are not making a pilgrimage to Bakersfield to see the Crystal Palace specifically or to go to Buck Owens’ grave,” Lyman said.

  “The bus drivers are only allowed to drive so many hours a day, so they stop in Bakersfield because it is the midway point between several locations. Fortunately, the Crystal Palace is conveniently located and because they serve great meals, it’s a favorite location for the bus drivers and the passengers,” Lyman said.

  Buck Owens made his mark in life as a composer, singer, entrepreneur, and publisher, and in death with his majestic burial site. His mausoleum is original and available to the public free of charge at Greenlawn Cemetery. “After all,” Lyman said, “it’s not like you have a Crystal Palace or Buck Owens in every town.”

 

Bakersfield Fun for all but limited by age

Bakersfield Sign taken from http://www.california-blog.com/photos-information-places/tag/bakersfield-ca

Some say there is nothing to do in Bakersfield. This is true for some while there are things here for kids it is very limited. We have Game Show thought the marriage and family counselling center but this is a once a month event. We also have parks but not all parks have good people hanging out in them. We also have California Animal Living Museum but not everyone can afford to go there all the time. What we do lack is an amusement park and a water park. For people without kids or people who like to go to bars there are some bands that play at bars one of which I know is Deedra Patrick who will be performing during A Night of Blues. For those of us who enjoy a good play we have Stars Theater and the Empty Space theater. Yes we have a mall even if it is rather small. In Bakersfield we only have one small Museum located in downtown that is only open Thursday thru Saturday. We have bowling and movies but why people say there is nothing to do in Bakersfield it is because Bakersfield is slow to get anything new. While we do have the Fair every year it costs about the same as a trip to Magic Mountain which is more fun anyways and Magic Mountain has more rides than the Kern County Fair. While Bakersfield is half the size of Los Angeles we lack a lot of the thing that other cities have that we do not have. It is said that Bakersfield is a big city with a small town mentality and I believe it is time for Bakersfield to get some more fun stuff like a water park.