Bernice Corina Walters aka Cambria's Rodeo Sweetheart

 Hey kids! Tonight's story is about a little gal we'll call Bernice Corina Walters because that was my mother's name. She was a lovely child, the youngest of fourteen, born in San Luis Obispo, California to immigrant parents from Switzerland. Parents, I might add, that needed hobbies but did not have any, hence, the fourteen children. But I digress.

There were so many stories, told to me by Bernice Corina Walters, that it presents itself a difficult task to tell but one. But one, I shall tell. Tonight's saga is titled Bernice Corina Walters aka Cambria's Rodeo Sweetheart or How My Mother Kicked Portuguese Ass. 

Back in the day, or so the story goes, Cayucos, California was made up of mostly Swiss and Portuguese immigrants. My Swiss grandparents happily settled a ranch back in the hills of Cayucos and worked in harmony with their Portuguese neighbors even giving some of their older daughters hands in marriage to the aforementioned neighbors. Life was uncomplicated in the little hamlet of Cayucos by the Sea until my 16-year-old mother ran for Sweetheart of the Cambria Rodeo. It seems some of the other contestants were not Swiss but possibly Portuguese and there was no way a Swiss was not going to win. Lines were drawn, pacts were made, marriages were strained. 

"Votes" were tallied by how many tickets each teen contestant sold. This is where things always got a bit cloudy in the storytelling. My mother absolutely loved this story. She loved telling it. She obviously loved living it. But she could never explain exactly how she pulled it off other than to say, "The Swiss weren't going to let another girl win." My mother, Cambria's Rodeo Sweetheart, won with a solid 41,700 votes, almost 15,000 more votes than Miss 2nd place. 

I still haven't completely cracked this 1937 case of How My Mother Kicked Portuguese Ass in two small towns combined of less than 9,000 people. All I know is, a Swiss girl won. Oh, then years later, her niece and middle daughter, that would be me and my cousin, both Swiss, would be crowned the Queen and Little Queen of the Cayucos Portuguese Celebration. Because, the Swiss aren't always neutral. 

One last tidbit about my Rodeo Queen mother. She was terrified of horses. Yeah, this thing was rigged.

Bernice Corina Walters, Rodeo Queen

Yep, all Swiss