Wesley Combs Franklin
Modified: Thursday, Mar 18th, 2010
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He was born in Claremont, South Dakota in October1914 to Ethel and Joseph Franklin. Wesley's father was a traveling Methodist pastor and moved to a new church every year or so. In 1926 his family moved to Long Beach Calif., and in November of that same year they moved to San Miguel and lived in the parsonage on L and 16th streets.
Wes was in the sixth grade at the San Miguel School. He and his brother would roller skate to Paso Robles and back on the old concrete Highway 101. After the death of his father in 1927 (Wesley was 12-years-old) he went to live with his aunt and uncle in Elkton near Salinas.
He attended sixth grade in a one-room schoolhouse from Feb. 27 to June 27, 1927. The next year he went back to San Miguel. His mom took over the preaching at that point. His mother took charge of a church in Big Pines in Owens Valley, and he and his siblings moved once again. Wes was in seventh grade. He was a First Class rank in Boy Scouts.
In 1929 his family moved to Santa Barbara, where he attended LaCumbre Junior High for eighth and ninth grades. In 1931 the family moved to San Luis Obispo and lived on the campus of Cal Poly. His mom was a cook for the school, and Wesley attended tenth grade there while they were building San Luis Obispo High School. For eleventh grade he attended the newly-built San Luis Obispo High School and played football for them. He was very good and fast and he played running back.
In 1933 they moved to Paso Robles so he could play football for the Paso Robles Bearcats. (Paso must have gotten wind of how good he was). There they lived in an apartment above Vassar's Texaco Service (now Coast Hills Bank) on the corner of 14th and Spring streets. He was also president of his senior class, He was on the track team doing the high jump. He could jump over his height, five-foot-seven, feet first. (which was a Bearcat record). He also played on the baseball team.
After graduating, Wesley attended post-graduate courses at Paso Robles High and drove a 20-passenger school bus. The next year he went to Biola Bible collage for a short time, then he attended Cal Poly and started pursuing an Aeronautical Engineering degree. August 18, 1937 he married Lydia Claassen, a member of the Paso Robles pioneer Claassen family, at the Willow Creek Mennonite Church. He had almost completed his degree when the military commissioned him to raise crops to help feed the troops and meet the military objective during World War II. They would love to go to the beach together. They moved to San Miguel and had a dairy and raised chickens. At that time the economy was getting so bad that people where losing their homes. Wes allowed families and individuals who were homeless and destitute to stay in his pear orchard. If they couldn't pay anything they helped with the chores on the farm. They moved to Paso Robles in 1951 and acquired 1500 acres of property over the years. They attended First Baptist Church and for about 50 years. Wes worked with a team of people including Clifford Munk, who worked in the prisons and rescue missions preaching the gospel all over California. He also was one of the original founders of Grace Baptist Church in Paso Robles. Throughout his life he helped start Farm Supply of Paso Robles and different co-ops.
In 1953 Texaco oil approached him about drilling some test holes in the land he owned. One of the test holes, which they thought was oil was actually hot springs water that was under pressure. He decided to cap it off and build lakes and a swimming area. In 1963 he opened the hot springs back up. It has been flowing for 47 years and continues to this day. From personal use he discovered this water was very healthy and beneficial. After a period of time he allowed friends, relatives and the public to enjoy the property for family outings, fishing, boating, camping and swimming at Franklin Ponds, known now as Franklin Hot Springs.
Wesley also served the youth of the community as an Awana leader and memorized seven books himself, earning him the Timothy Award. One of our Christmas traditions was for him to quote the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Always from memory. He was always sharing his faith with others. In fact one of his favorite verses was John 14: 6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”
He is preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Lydia Franklin. He is survived by their eight children Elaine Stubblefield-Franklin of Chetopa, Kanas, Esther Zacary of Paso Robles, Leonard and Linda Franklin of Paso Robles, Grace and Bill Van Patten Templeton, Nita and Gayle Cheatwood of Holtville, Daniel Franklin of Paso Robles, Edward and Terri Franklin of Paso Robles and Norman and Cindy Franklin of Paso Robles; 28 grandchildren; 39 great-grandchildren and two on the way; and two great-great-grandchildren.
He is also survivedd by his sister Lois LaTorre.of Paso Robles. Services for Wesley will to be held at the Grace Baptist Church of Paso Robles on Saturday, March 20 at 10 a.m. and Graveside service at the Willow Creek Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. On Sunday, March 21 there will be a Celebration of Life BBQ and potluck at the Franklin Hot Springs (Franklin Ponds) from 1 to 8 p.m.
For directions go to www.franklinhotsprings.com.
For the complete article see the 03-19-2010 issue.
