Donnie Ray Isbell

     Donnie Ray Isbell was born on 29 October 1935 in Wellington, Collingsworth Co., Texas.^2,1 He was the son of Theodore Isbell and Effie Jane Webb. Donnie Ray Isbell married Ruth Helen Rodgers, daughter of Elmer Dean Rodgers and Winnie May Needham, on 10 November 1951 in Wellington, Collingsworth Co., Texas.^3,2 Sometime in 1957, he moved his family to Bakersfield, Kern Co., California and went to work for Standard Oil Company. He was an adventurist at heart and always wanted to be outdoors. He loved to go camping, hunting, fishing and riding motorcycles in the hills with his son Jerry. He also enjoyed taking his family to Morro Bay, Santa Cruz, Sequoia, Yosemite and numerous other places to explore and have fun.¹ He lived and worked in Bakersfield, Kern Co., California until 1966, when he moved his family to Lamont, Kern Co., California.¹ He became owner-operator of the Standard Service Station on Main Street there in Lamont. As a businessman, he was well known and respected by his community. He provided full-service at the gas pumps and was an extremely talented auto mechanic too, a skill he inherited from his father Theodore Isbell. Don was very close to his parents and nearly every holiday was spent with them faithfully, year after year. Don purchased a very nice house on Burger Way (there in Lamont) and his future looked very bright indeed.¹ Then, in January 1971, Don's full and promising life was cut short. He was killed when his small 16 ft. boat capsized on the ocean while deep-sea fishing near Morro Bay, California. He and his best friend and fishing buddy George Edward Allen both drowned. The exact cause of the accident was never determined, but navigating such a small boat in rough ocean waters is known to be very dangerous. Huge swells could have easily capsized his boat. Another possible explaination is that a breaching whale tipped the boat over. His son Jerry went with him on a prior fishing trip to an area called 'Hazard Canyon' (just south of Morro Bay) and he saw several migrating whales not far from the boat, blowing their spouts, raising their big tails out of the water, etc. It's not uncommon for a whale to breach underneath or near a boat, and to even playfully (or curiously) give it a 'nudge'. But we may never know exactly what happened... all we know for sure is that when they were found, the boat was capsized and 'Drowning' was determined to be the cause of death.¹ Donnie Ray Isbell died on 16 January 1971 in Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co., California, at age 35.¹ He was buried on 20 January 1971 in Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery, Bakersfield, Kern Co., California.¹