Roy France, LA County Diving Instructor

[Sam Miller III]

Great story Sam. I have one question, you stated " Charlie's widow's Laura's mask which now on loan and rests in a Southern California museum. And indeed they are museum pieces..."

Can you say where that Southern California museum is located ?

Bill
Yorba Linda, Ca.

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The article was from my dedicated column in Discover Diving which has not been around for over 15 years.

At the time of publication Ron Mullins had a small section of the Surf Museum in Huntington Beach set aside for a vintage diving display, which contained the mask. The Surf Museum closed several years ago and with it went Ron's display.

The owner of the mask Laura Sturgil passed away a number of years ago...I do not know if Ron returned the mask to her or her daughter Lauralee or keep it as part of his private collection- I suspect the later, hopefully some day there will be a Dive Museum in SoCal and it will once again be on public display..

SDM

 

[freedyv]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The article was from my dedicated column in Discover Diving which has not been around for over 15 years.

At the time of publication Ron Mullins had a small section of the Surf Museum in Huntington Beach set aside for a vintage diving display, which contained the mask. The Surf Museum closed several years ago and with it went Ron's display.

The owner of the mask Laura Sturgil passed away a number of years ago...I do not know if Ron returned the mask to her or her daughter Lauralee or keep it as part of his private collection- I suspect the later, hopefully some day there will be a Dive Museum in SoCal and it will once again be on public display..

SDM

I just ran across this post and wanted to clear something up. Ron Mullins and I did have a vintage dive gear exhibit at the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach, Ca, in 2001-2002 (thereabouts). Lauralee Sturgill was kind enough to lend us her mother's mask, the one with the name "Laura" painted on the side, for our exhibit opening. Ron returned it to Lauralee about a month later. Again, Laura Sturgill's mask was returned, in perfect condition, over 10 years ago. Ron does own an original Charlie Sturgill mask, one originally made for Fred Kettles. I know this because I owned it, previously.

Ron's vintage dive gear collection is pretty amazing and it continues to grow, along with his dedication to preserving dive history. I HOPE his honesty wasn't being questioned in this thread... I've known Ron for a couple decades and I'd vouch for his integrity, anytime.

Best,
Vance Carriere

 

[Sam Miller III]

Vince,
After all these years..I was unaware you were still around....
Ron's honesty wasn't being questioned in this thread... I knew met Ron's father when he was a Riverside electrician and just exploring entering the diving world. He established a dive shop which I visited his shop on occasion and recall a very young Ron "working" there. His father passed away, a few years later all of a sudden Ron was all grown up...and making a name for him self and, thank goodness, preserving what remained of the fathers vintage equipment.


Apparently there are 4 Sturgil masks...the late Freddie Kittles. Charlie informed me many many years ago when he was making mine that he only had made about 40 masks--Indicates about 36 still unaccounted.

Were you at the last Fathers of Diving held at Harry Rescigno's Sea Tec office? At this late date I can't recall who was in attendance..

At that event I organized a Tribute to Charlie Sturgil. We all stood out side and told stories about Charlie. A number of the fathers indicated he had made them a mask but it had been lost, plate cracked or rotted away....and tossed At that time there were three Sturgil masks....So now we know there are four Sturgil Masks.

Mine was the last of the round masks, Harry Vetter had one of the frist oval masks (currently owned by Alex Pierce)...I recall Laura's was also round and It would a valid assumption that Freddie's was round...Do you know? Or can you find out and posts you findings..

Another subject..how many Bottom Scratcher/Hoss Spear guns are still around..I have my two Hoss guns dating from the early 1950s--any thoughts?

SDM