Cypress Ranch

When the Trussells first purchased the Kennedy Ranch in San Pasqual there was a large, mature Cypress tree that dominated the landscape and provided the best shade in the east end of the valley. As time passed, their daughter, Mary, persuaded her parents to name their ranch "Cypress Ranch", in honor of the tree. Her Dad even developed a letterhead for the ranch with this name on it. The old cypress succumbed to a winter storm around 1916 or so. Mary then tried to pursuade Ray to rename the ranch "Lone Palm Ranch" after a palm tree that had prospered after the family planted it in the front yard. This time Ray decided on a more conservative letterhead with no special name.

Uncle Date

When A. D. Trussell first bought the San Pasqual Ranch it was Uncle Date, Ray's older brother who first occupied the place. Ray's diary describes several visits he and May made to San Pasqual to see Date. One of the principle crops of the Valley at that time was apricots. Normally these were dried before they were shipped. Ray would often visit the valley and take a wagon load of fresh apricots to New Town where he could sell them for a higher premium. Uncle Date occupied the ranch from about 1887 until 1891 at which time he moved to Roseburg, Oregon, following Calvin, their oldest brother.