San Juan’s grand old man dies
Everyone in San Juan Bautista knew Mervin Spotswood as ‘Spots,’ or some variation on that.
‘Spot!’ ‘Spotsy!’ they’d call out to the little old man as he carefully picked his way along Third Street on his daily walk. Spots might turn around, lift his cane, get into a low crouch, like a fencer, and with an animation completely unexpected from a man in his 90s, he would lunge, waving the cane in a spirited ‘how do you do.’ It was wonderful to see him friendly, funny and full of aged and mellowed wisdom.
Spots died Saturday, at age 97, while in residence at Hazel Hawkins Northside Convalescent Hospital.
Some considered Spots the father of San Juan, and he will be dearly missed by those who met him on his walks, or at the Mission Cafe for breakfast, at the Post Office to pick up his mail, or just saw him while passing by his house.
When you drove by his Third Street home he would often be ensconced in his favorite chair, the one right up against the huge picture window. If he weren’t dozing off, he’d lean forward and wave. If you stopped to pay him a visit, you first had to get past his constantly running lawn sprinkler, for the especially thirsty ‘European grass’ he had growing.
He delighted in visitors and would immediately bring out old pictures and newspaper clippings of his lifetime. His favorite memento was a book called ‘Horses and Men’ depicting a century of California horsemanship. Merely thumbing through the dog-eared pages was enough to get his memory working, and before long he was reeling off story after story from his years of training, riding, selling, buying, showing and philosophizing about horses. His lifelong love was horses, but others remember him as a great storyteller, having at one time been a member of the legendary liar’s bench group that convened on a wooden bench on Third Street, where he perfected the art of the tall tale.
Naturally, Spots’ best stories were about horses, all of which he claimed were verifiably true.
He told stories about growing up in Petaluma and playing hooky at the local racetrack. Even at that age he was so good with horses that to escape the truant officers he would slip into the stables of the feistiest stallions. Not daring to get near the stallions, the officers would move on to easier prey.
One of his favorite stories was the time during the depression when he drove a team of horses from Santa Rosa to Long Island, N.Y. and back, without a map. His only guide was this simple formula:
“I was going east, and then I was going west.”
Spots moved to San Benito County in 1954 to work for Arthur Nyland, and was quickly known for his good nature, like the time he harvested a field of tomatoes with a mule that was wearing a hat.
“He was always doing something,” recalls Dorothy Avilla, Arthur Nyland’s daughter. “He kept you on the upgrade wondering what he’d do next.”
He was also known for driving the stagecoach in the old Rodeo and playing Santa Claus in the San Juan Christmas Parade. Spots tells the story of one lap visit that didn’t go so well.
One little boy hopped up on Spots’ lap, but instead of eagerly whispering what he wanted Santa to bring him, the kid socked Spots’ in the puss, knocking his fake beard halfway around his face.
“What did you do that for?” said Spots.
“That’s for what you didn’t bring me last year,” said the angry boy.
After a yarn like that Spots would sit back in his chair matter-of-factly.
“That’s all I can talk about. I don’t know nothing else. I can’t write you a letter, and I can’t hear well on the telephone,” he’d say.
Then with a twinkle in his eye he’d conclude, “I can eat breakfast though.”
Spots was married twice, to Emma Spotswood in 1936, and to Leonor in 1972. Spots and Leonor enjoyed traveling and dancing, but she died in 1999. Spots is survived by his daughter, Beverly Ann Crawford of Reno; grandchildren Thomas Menghini of Forrestville, Michael Menghini of Lynnwood, Wash., and Laurie Menghini of Squim, Wash.; as well as five great grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
At 9:30 a.m. Thursday family and friends will leave the Grunnagle Ament Nelson Funeral Home Mortuary Chapel for a 10 a.m. mass at the Old Mission San Juan Bautista. Burial and graveside services will follow at San Juan District Cemetery. Donations are preferred to the Luck Library Children’s Division Fund care of the Mortuary Chapel.
