HUGH DOWNS gave a fund-raiser talk to benefit the Cave Creek (Arizona) Museum on May 5th about horseback riding with Hube Yates back in the 1970s. Almost everyone in the U.S. knows about Downs’ illustrious career in television, but who was Hube Yates? He was a strong, humble, masterful, humorous, down-to earth horseman and firefighter and, at the same time, he was a part-time minister. At one time knew almost everyone in Phoenix.

You’d know that if you had read Hube’s and my book in which he was the storyteller and I the writer, the title being From Thunder to Breakfast. It is in its third printing, now with Xlibis.com, after having been published by Northland Press. Downs graciously wrote the Foreword for us when he lived in Carefree, Arizona way back in 1977.

He really admired Yates, comparing him to Mark Twain. Old-timers who knew him well, and newcomers who had the misfortune to miss his spellbinding stories, listened to Downs talk about a rough wilderness ride by horseback over the Mazatzal Mountains in Arizona. Hube always had a group of riders with him as he took 30 or so horses from Cave Creek to Heber, Arizona every summer. He handled every problem that arose, whether it was an accident with a horse or cactus stickers in its hide. As to the latter, he showed Downs how to get them out with a comb, and many other tips for survival in rugged territory. But it wasn’t all teaching and learning. Laughter echoed off the mountainsides when the riders sat around the campfires in the evening. Hube kept them entertained, not by jokes, but by observances made by a very special mind.

The audience members at Down’s talk had smiles on their faces, absorbing every word he said. The Yates family, two sons, two daughters-in-law, and grandchildren, sitting in an entire row, were honored to hear talk about their dad and granddad. My family also filled a row. Downs was kind enough to acknowledge my work as writer, which pleased me no end. Years ago I wrote several magazine articles about him.

Then it was off to a patio for the book signing. We sat side-by-side and both signed From Thunder to Breakfast, some people bringing in 30-year-old first editions or buying
the latest one. The good thing is that this book is historic, in a subtle sort of way. The older it gets, the more historic it seems to become. Downs pointed out that the Yates family came from Oklahoma to Arizona in two covered wagons in 1914, and he lived until 1980, well into a mind-boggling world of technology.

Come to think of it, I’m not so sure Hube Yates was mind-boggled by anything.

Gene K. Garrison
Author of From Thunder to Breakfast
There’s Something About Cave Creek (It’s The People)
Widowhood Happens
Javelina! Have-uh-WHAT?

Contact: gkgarrison@commspeed.net