Don Jaunarena
Rancher | Born 1942
BEAR RIVER
Dad came from Spain when he was 16 years old, so it would have been about 1912. Evidently, it was sheep country there where he came from and that must have been his upbringing. He came to Nevada to start with and worked herding sheep. Rex McBride is actually the one that brought him up to work for the Russ Company there at Green Pond and that was his beginning here in 1928.
In 1929, there was a big fire that went through Bear River. The fire was devastating to my dad… in that it had burned through there at Green Pond — but had gone by. He had gone somewhere in Bear River to help fight fire and when he came home that night the house was gone. There was a little shed connected to the house and he had his two dogs in it and all that was gone. He always said there was a kid was supposed to watch the place and he panicked and didn’t let his dogs out of the shed.
He never got over that. I’m sure my dad never wanted to be emotional, but he said just before he passed away he cried like a baby when he came home and found out his dogs had burned up. They meant that much to him. I don’t know how many times he said, “I shoulda just stayed home. I coulda just stayed home.” He went through his whole life thinkin’ that.