A horse-drawn wagon rolled slowly from the Starbuck-Lind Mortuary to the Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery on Saturday, followed solemnly by a riderless horse.
About 400 people who had attended the funeral ceremony at Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Mission Hills waited at the cemetery for the delivery of the casket of fourth-generation Lompoc native William Lawrence Huyck, who died Oct. 27 at Lompoc Convalescent Care Center after an eight-month illness . He was 73.
“I would just like to say the family as a whole thanks the community for the love and support they showed Bill and Bill’s family,” said Doty Huyck, who said she was overwhelmed by the turnout for the funeral and reception that followed at the Cambell-Ostini Ranch on Highway 246.
Born in the Susan VanClieff Lompoc Sanitarium Home — on the same site as the Convalescent Care Center stands today — Huyck lived nearly his entire life as a farmer in the Lompoc Valley. He farmed with his father, Lawrence, and his brother, Johnny, in the lower Lompoc Valley. He worked for the Sudden Estate and retired from Pan American Seed in 1990. Huyck Stadium was named in honor of his father.
Huyck played football and basketball for Lompoc High School and graduated in 1953. He married Doty, his high school sweetheart, in June 1954; they recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.
Bill and Doty Huyck had eight children: Teresa Prewitt of Gaviota; Andy Huyck of Templeton; Judy Gaitan of Carlsbad.; David Huyck of Santa Barbara; Paul Huyck of Clovis; Sheila Davis of Lompoc; and Dorothy Civitillo of Anchorage, Alaska. They also had 15 grandchildren.
Driving the horse-drawn wagon, in a black hat, was Fred Chamberlin of Los Olivos. Steve Martinez, a grandson of Huyck’s, sat next to him. Trailing the wagon was John French Jr., who held the reins of the riderless horse.
French and Chamberlin are members of the Vaqueros de los Rancheros, as was Huyck.
November 7, 2008
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