Friends and family will be gathering at 11 a.m. Saturday in the veterans section of the San Juan Bautista Cemetery to celebrate the life of former San Juan Bautista Police Chief Lonny Greywolf Hurlbut, who died Jan. 30 in Nebraska at age 77.
The ceremony will include a traditional Native American drum song used to honor military veterans by Sonne Reyna and Laynee Bluebird Reyna, who will honor Hurlbut as a Sun Dancer and for his service during the Korean War. There will also be a gun salute by members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. From noon to 4 p.m., visitors are welcome to stop by the VFW in San Juan Bautista to share memories of Hurlbut and participate in a potluck.
Hurlbut, who served in an outfit of jeans, cowboy boots and a low-slung gun holster, moved from Ohio to San Benito County in the early 1980s to take the job as chief of police in San Juan. As the story goes, the former private security officer learned to ride a horse in order to participate in a city parade.
“I know that’s where my dad’s heart was,” said Stormi Hurlbut-Kissel, shortly after her father’s death.
She lived in San Juan during her middle school and high school years when her father served as an officer.
“He honestly cared about everybody. A lot of times we would have a family meal changed or he would work a holiday to give another one of his employees or reserves the night off.”
Hurlbut served in the United States Army and Navy. He worked as a police officer in Soledad, King City and Oberlin, Ohio. He was a security supervisor at Fort Motor Co. in Loraine, Ohio, before he moved to California. He retired as the chief of police in San Juan in 1988. According to a press release from Laynee Reyna, Hurlbut was an active member of the San Juan Bautista VFW and the San Juan Intertribal Council.
He is survived by his children Lary, Debbie, Mark, Stormi and Matt; 13 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. He was previously married to Wilma Leoda Greene.
