The Bernice McGee Collection

Introduction

I first became aware of the McGees from a post on the LDM Forum. Roger Newkirk shared a reference to an article written by Bernice that involved the Peralta Stone Maps. I was able to obtain a copy of the article and found that Bernice had written two additional stories related to the Superstitions.

My wife and I contacted Bernice in March of 2006 and so began a wonderful friendship. Bernice lost her husband Jack in 2003. A more gracious lady cannot be found. She had not been involved in the Superstition stories for more than thirty years and she was a bit rusty but she began to revisit some of her research and was quickly up to speed. She enthusiastically shared her experiences and documents.

Below is an excerpt from an e-mail.

So, I shall share Jack's and my background with you since you asked. I was born in Ft. Worth (1927). Jack in Shelbina, Mo. (1927) Both families moved to California during the depression in order to find work. My "Darlin" and I met at aged 16 on the set of a movie at MGM entitled "Meet the People" with Lucille Ball and Dick Powell. Jack and I had both worked in films a long time before that. I was in Our Gang Comedies (now Little Rascals), at the age of five. I was a tap dancing fool. Ha! Jack was about 8 when he doubled and did stunts for Bobby Breen, the boy wonder soprano; a protege of movie star Eddie Cantor. You are probably babies who never heard of these people! We were in the business about 18 years, and I am delighted to say we were in the Golden Era of musicals during the 30's, 40's, up to 1951.

After WW II, two things happened that made us retire from the movie business. Musicals were on their way out. And as SAG and SEG members, we guild members were getting screwed by the studios who found that during the war years they could hire people in Europe to work for $1.00 a day instead of paying us our pay scale. We opened five dancing schools in Missouri. It almost killed us physically. We came to Texas where my Jack worked and retired in 1984. We had a ball!!

Bernice's connection to the Superstitions was through her Grandfather and parents. She relates;

Daddy, his Dad and Mom went to Arizona for his Mother's health. (T.B.) Granddaddy Firestine bought a brand new touring car complete with added running boards to hold camping equipment. They went the Old Santa Fe Trail over Raton Pass....the old scary pass. That is how they landed in Arizona. Grandmother died. Granddaddy married again to help out with raising five children. Daddy wasn't treated right by her; left home and worked as Bell Boy and threw papers. His Stepmother had also been in the bakery business with one of her husbands in Fort Worth. Thus, Daddy moved with them...married Jewel Burns, and that is how I came into being.

In January of 2007 we were able to visit with Bernice in her home. She had several binders of correspondence that she shared. She had written about and corresponded with many of the personalities involved in the Superstitions. We were ecstatic!

Again, in her own words;

All those years of going to the Superstitions were absolutely delicious. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything in the world. The famous old timers we met and played with are forever ingrained in our minds, hearts and souls. Some were really rascals. Some were scary. Some were wonderful.

I do have a head full of memories running the desert with the old timers. God, it was a glorious time before people invaded Apache Junction. In 1956 it had a barber shop, post office and not much else. Now, homes are built right up the Wilderness Area fence.

Bernice McGee died April 28, 2009 in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 2017, an Article appeared in the Superstition Mountain Journal [2017, Volume 35], published by the Superstition Mountain Historical Society in Apache Junction, Arizona. In the Editors Message, Page 2, Lanna Mesenbrink wrote; This Journal is dedicated to Bernice and Jack McGee who are known mostly for their explorations and writings about the Superstitions Mountains in the 1960s and 1970s The article itself was written by Jack Carlson and Elizabeth Stewart, well know authors of Superstition Mountain Hiking books. The McGee article appears on pages 4 through 18. Permission to post the article here was given by the author.

Superstition Mountain Journal Dedication to the McGees

The Collection

Bernice's Superstition Mountains correspondence covered a time period of about ten years, from about 1963 to 1973. After 1973, Jack and Bernice continued their interest in Rock Art and their involvement shifted away from the Superstitions. Bernice would write articles on the Big Bend Tablets and the Heavner Runestone,

A few of the names in this collection read like a who's who; Doc Rosecrans, Jonathan Burbridge, Glenn Magill, Hugh d'Autremont, Clarence and Grace Mitchell, Milton Rose, Charles Highman, Al Reser, Stoney and Lucille Stone, Barney Barnard, etc.

Clarence Mitchell and Bernice McGee Correspondence (1965-1972)

Pat Hainer and Bernice McGee Correspondence (1966-1976)

Lucille Stone and Bernice McGee Correspondence (1963-1970)

Milton Rose and Bernice McGee Correspondence (1966-1976)

Hugh d'Autremont and Bernice McGee Correspondence (1966-1971)

Ludwig "Doc" Rosecrans and Bernice McGee Correspondence (1965-1974)

Glenn Magill and Bernice McGee Correspondence from 1966 through 1974

John Lindley Higham and Bernice MeGee Correspondence from 1963

Jonathan Burbridge and Bernice McGee Correspondence from 1966 through 1974

The Bernice McGee Articles Involving the Superstitions Mountains