Page 8 - ShowSight Express, June 8, 2020
P. 8

LINES FROM LINDA: SAN DIEGO COLLIE CLUB
    Bernice Richardson, a founding member of SDCC as well as the Bichon Frise Club of America and the Poodle Club of San Diego.
Gertrude Fournier, SDCC founding member and breeder of outstanding Collies such as Ch. Lewellen Cali-Collaire, known as the Mother of the Bichon Frise in America under the kennel name,
Cali-Col reg.
Milt Walker was a man who wore many hats in the The Sport of Dogs. He started in Collies in 1942, followed by being a primary founding member of SDCC and Del Sur KC, AKC judge, breeder of San Lori Collies reg, and President of Collie Club of America.
Left to right litter mates: Ch. San Lori Bewitched, Ch. San Lori Citation, Ch. San Lori Enchantment and their dam San Lori Rosana.
BIS and multiple specialty winner,
Ch. Impromptu Burnt Norton, shown here with owner-handler, the late Jean Cullen, was BOB at the 1972 SDCC— Judge Alice Wharton. The show was held on the beautiful green lawn in front of the San Diego Mission Bay Hilton Inn, next to the tennis courts. Unfortunately, the lawn and courts soon became an asphalt parking lot.
In 1957, Rolland Mueller handled Ch. Country Lane M’liss to BO at the SDCC under Judge Lila Bates for owners Richard and Lois Hillman, and breeder Alice Wharton. M’liss went on to win the 1960 Collie Club of America National, becoming one of few CCA BOB winning bitches.
In 1970, SDCC members invited Milt and LaVerne Walker to judge the club’s 20th anniversary show. Shown here with another terrific Collie man, Al Forthal, handling his future great Collie bitch, Ch. Shoreline Desdemona, to her first winning points from Judge Milt Walker in the paddock area of the Del Mar Racetrack.
  70 years ago, CH Glen Terrace Blue Flash, San Diego Collie Club - Best of Breed Judge Florence Cummings.
looking the Pacific Ocean and the night lights of downtown San Diego.
The Walkers later moved to a more rural area of San Diego County and named their new road, San Lori Lane.
The club held its first matches on the lawn of Balboa Park near the San Diego Zoo. In Febru- ary 1950, the first SDCC specialty show was held at the Del Mar Racetrack in the Del Mar Turf Club Paddock area that was a very nice atmo- sphere normally used for the presentation of winning racehorses with many Hollywood stars such as Desi Arnez, Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby looking on.
The SDCC was primarily founded and well- run by Milt and LaVerne Walker (San Lori Col- lies), Gertrude Fournier (Cali-Col reg.), and Bernice Devine Richardson (Laurel-On) who became like family members and longtime friends. As time passed, each became extremely successful in their own endeavors connected to purebred dogs.
The Walkers went on to create a lovely fam- ily of San Lori Collies, served Collie Club of America for decades as Executive Officers and became popular AKC judges of various breeds and Groups. Gertrude Fournier obtained her first Collie in 1946 when her son became a fan of Albert Payson Terhune’s books about Collies. Gertrude would go on to purchase a terrific bitch from Steve Field’s Parader Kennels and became the breeder of one of the top winning and pro- ducing Collie sires of the era, the tri-color dog, Ch. Lewellen Cali-Collaire. Gertrude also became the well-known breeder of the first and finest of America’s Bichon Frise under the kennel name Cali-Col. At a time when most Americans had never heard of the breed it was Gertrude who first promoted the Bichon Frise to early popularity by taking a basket of Bichon pup- pies with her to most all Collie specialty shows, to every Collie club meeting, and to most local all-breed club meetings, shows, and local puppy matches. She became known as the “Mother of the Bichon” in the United States, although
  CH Lewellen Watch My Line CD, San Diego Collie Club - Best of Breed. Owner: Svend Jensen; Judge Dorothy Long - 1960.
 SDCC founding member, LaVerne Walker, awarding Ch. Skyline Wooden Horse—one of the top-winning Smooth Collies of all time.

















































































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