WILD WEST MEMORIES - BUT FROM JAPAN.

Byline: BETTIE RENCORET

LANCASTER - Few people anywhere can claim as much enjoyment in their lives as Olive and Estel ``Pete'' Dunsmore.

``We're just a couple of hillbillies,'' said Olive. ``Hill country people have never been really appreciated. They birth their young, bury their dead and do what's right and expected of them without thinking about it.''

Both born in Kentucky, they joined forces when they were 22 by getting married in his parent's home.

At age 58, they joined the Casey Tibbs Wild West Show and went to Japan with the troupe for a five-month run in the cities of Fuchu and Nehomatsu.

Pete had learned blacksmithing from his father and could do repair and maintenance work on the wagons, shoe the horses and fill in as a performer. He also helped set up some of the acts. That made him doubly valuable.

Olive, in full costume, played the part of a pioneer woman. She was also given the job of answering questions about the show from the Japanese audiences, most of whom spoke English.

``The American Wild West fascinated them,'' she said. ``They were real fans who got into the spirit of the show by arriving all decked out in western clothes. Some even came as Indians.''

``That was really the highlight of our life,'' said Olive, now 80. ``We learned to love Japan and the people, and we've gone back a couple of times since then, the last time in 1993.''

They came from Los Angeles to Juniper Hills in 1956 and in the ensuing years they have hosted at least six Asian students as live-in house guests.

``We loved them all, so it was hard to say goodbye when they went home. Most of them have come back to visit, and we stay in touch by mail and phone, but we still miss them.'' Pete, now 81, dug out the picture albums.

``It's true that show-biz gets in your blood,'' he said, pointing to some pictures of the Juniper Hills Passion Plays, 1967 to 1971.

Olive was the chairwoman for the event, which was sponsored those years by the Juniper Hills Community Association.

``Pete played Barabbas, and I played Mary Magdalene. John Mitchum - Robert Mitchum's son - directed, and Eddie Little Sky was Jesus,'' she said.

Olive developed a yearning to travel quite young. Her earliest recollection is of World War I soldiers coming home from overseas and talking about their adventures and the places they had been.

``I was about 4, and I'd scoot back into a quiet corner and hope no one would see me, so I could listen and dream of going to all those places.''

``It took us 35 years to get a honeymoon,'' said Pete, ``but when we did, we made it to nine countries in Europe. Up until this past year, we've done a lot of other traveling, too. For 2-1/2 years, from 1974 to 1976, we traveled in our RV. We visited 44 of the 52 United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, and went to Canada and Mexico.''

They have both had interesting jobs as well as adventures.

Olive attended a training school for airplane assembly workers during World War II, in Middleton, Ohio. After graduation, she was employed by an aircraft company in that town, as a tool crib attendant.

She spent some time as housekeeper for the head of Proctor and Gamble and his wife and later worked as a practical nurse, forerunner of the licensed vocational nurse.

``I worked for several test pilot families, including Neil Armstrong,'' she said.

Pete served in the infantry during World War II in Italy.

There were lots of harrowing experiences, he said, but he made many friends, too, one of them a German soldier who was a prisoner of war.

``I still communicate with him, and we have started a project together. I have written down all I can remember about my life. I will send it to Helmut, and he will do the same. We will put them together, and this will give us a good record of those days.''

After World War II, Pete worked as a plasterer for 15 years, then went to work at Edwards Air Force Base as a crane and heavy equipment operator. He retired from that job in 1974.

The Dunsmores have no biological children but they have fostered children of many races and creeds.

``We call them our rainbow family,'' said Olive. ``They are of American Indian, East Indian, Japanese, Chinese and Mexican descent, and they are all sources of pride to us.''

LANCASTER - Reservations for the Sept. 23-24 55/Alive driving program are filling up fast. The July class is already filled, according to Janice Gardner, chairwoman.

Classes are limited to no more than 30 people, and the cost is $8. Anyone wishing information or wanting to enroll may call Gardner at [phone].

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk.

Monday: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, pineapple-cottage cheese, green beans, ice cream.

Tuesday: Chicken Dijon, rice pilaf, peas and carrots, cole slaw, Jell-O with peaches.

Wednesday: Baked ham, sweet potatoes, cabbage, tossed salad, pears.

Thursday: Spaghetti with meatballs, Italian squash, tossed salad, cheesecake.

Friday: Baked fish, potatoes au gratin, mixed vegetables, marinated beets, orange.

MEMO: This column is devoted to activities and news of interest to all senior citizens. Those with any information pertaining to that age group are invited to contact Bettie Rencoret, [phone] or leave messages at the Antelope Valley Bureau Daily News offices, [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Late in life, Olive and ``Pete'' Dunsmore joined a W ild West show that spent five months in two Japanese cities.

Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News