July 19, 2007

San Jose history chapter ends

James Madison Arbuckle: 1935–2007

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

A historical chapter of San Jose ended on July 7.

San Jose native Jim Arbuckle, 72, died as he had lived, enthusiastically racing through life with charm and style. He rode off for his mor-ning bicycle jaunt from the family home on Franquette Avenue in Willow Glen as he did on most days. On the day in question, he was cycling at Foxworthy and Meridian.

Jim Arbuckle in 2004 at New Almaden’s Pioneer Day celebration. From left are Robbie Lamons, Arbuckle, and John Atwood. Photo courtesy of New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum archives

“In the first report, a witness at the intersection thought the tire blew out and Jim flew over the handlebar,” said his sister Susan Arbuckle, who arrived from Toronto, Canada this past week. “I went to the coroner’s office and the bike was in perfect order and Jim was wearing a helmet. We’re speculating a stroke or heart attack but we won’t know until the autopsy is complete in four to six weeks.”

Arbuckle was found unconscious after falling from his bicycle on that Saturday morning. The witness, a gas station attendant, called paramedics. The San Jose Police Department did not respond as no vehicle was involved.

Childhood
Arbuckle is a famous name in San Jose history. His grandparents arrived in California from the Midwest before the Gold Rush, the same year as the Donner party.

His father, Clyde Arbuckle, was born in 1903 in Santa Clara, and wrote the premier account—“History of San Jose” in 1986 and was also known as the legendary city historian. His mother, Helen, was born in North Dakota in 1908. Her family moved to San Jose after World War I.

The couple married in 1932. Helen started researching the histories of San Jose’s women because the matriarch felt they were missing from her husband’s tome. Clyde and Helen both died in 1998, his father in Jim’s arms.

The family genealogy also includes Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle [1887-1933], a popular actor who is best remembered for his heavily publicized prosecution for rape and manslaughter starlet Virginia Rappe. He was eventually acquitted in 1923.

Jim Arbuckle was the first child born to Helen and Clyde in 1935. When Jim was 3, his family moved from downtown San Jose into the home his father built on Franquette in Willow Glen. Both Jim and Susan attended local schools in the orchard-covered area that mirrored the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.”

“I reflected on early years of riding my bicycle to the downtown library to read Frank Buck adventure books,” wrote Arbuckle in a 2005 biography for an adult education class in Campbell. “That was cheap, and we were poor, the Depression’s pall still lingering. That influenced the development for my sister and me.”

Berkeley and beyond
Arbuckle left San Jose, starting a 35-year odyssey away from his hometown when he attended the University of California in Berkeley and earned two engineering degrees in the late 1950s. A natural born bon vivant, he imported cognac, mastered French cuisine and lived in China selling Chinese beer.

Bon vivant Jim Arbuckle never met a person he didn’t like. In 2005, he celebrated at his teacher Erna Holyer’s book signing in Almaden. He stands left with Larry Matthews and Mary Chiao. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

He moved to San Diego and worked on a “Star Wars” laser project. In the 1970s, he divorced and earned an MBA. His other vocations included engineering at Lockheed Martin, teaching math at Berkeley and MIT and a technical writing for the semiconductor industry.

“By personality I was not an engineer, though I’d earned two Berkeley engineering degrees, and on an artistic assets assessment, I was in the 99th percentile,” wrote Arbuckle. “People that high were usually doing something with such assets.

“Engineering had not been a good fit, but that’s where a high school counselor pointed me. [My] traits ran to divergent thinker, works better alone, competitive and a high ‘adventure quotient.’ I would have been better off if I’d taken the advice of Emilio Segre, the Italian Nobel Laureate who wanted me to switch to physics.”

Accomplished cyclist
Arbuckle’s childhood love of bicycling continued throughout his adulthood riding with the Garden City Wheelman like his father before him, the San Jose Bicycle Club and he often won the Northern California District Championship.

He bicycled all over the world and took second and fifth in the Veterans National Champion-ships. He had recently returned from a trip to Europe enjoying two of his loves—bicycling and wine tasting. But when he was home he would bicycle every day all over San Jose from his home in Willow Glen to New Almaden, Mount Hamilton or wherever his free spirit moved him. And many a five-minute stop turned into an hour’s conversation with a newfound friend.

“I first met Jim 30 years ago when my son joined the San Jose Bike Club and Jim was a member,” said Willow Glen resident Rick Helin. “We were members of the California Pioneers [of Santa Clara County] and the Preservation Action Council. He was incredibly interested in valley history and a local treasure.”

New vocation
San Jose’s history as well as historic preservation became subjects that Arbuckle embraced when he moved back to his hometown after a 35-year absence.

Author David McKinney served with Arbuckle on the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County. He called him “a very bright guy…he had a reputation as a great cook and baker.”

Family friend Evelyn Ucovich recalled his keen sense of humor saying his death was “such a shock…he seemed in such good health.”

Some friends thought following in his parent’s legendary footsteps may have been difficult for Arbuckle, but he handled the designation with grace and found his own place in the annals of San Jose history.

“With the dot.com layoff in 2001, I developed opportunities that drew together my unused assets,” wrote Arbuckle in his 2005 biography. “My late mother hadn’t finished her history of pioneer women in the Valley. I did virtually everything in bringing out ‘San Jose’s Women--Colonial Days to the 1970s, A Brief History,’ which has been through three printings.”

California Pioneers of Santa Clara County President Jim Arbuckle presents awards for the group’s annual essay contest in 2003. From left are Jim Arbuckle and Almaden Times staff writer Jeanne Lewis. Photo courtesy of California Pioneers of Santa Clara County

With the publishing of his mother’s book in 2002, which he completed and edited, Arbuckle embarked enthusiastically on another career. He spoke at senior centers, coffee shops and clubs throughout the county teaching the history of San Jose’s pioneer women and sharing stories of his parents with his own brand of effervescent charm and eager sense of humor.

He also wrote an original technical paper: “Time minimization for a three-step cyclic process of deposition and diffusion” that was published in a trade journal and he penned historical essays of Santa Clara County.

Historical efforts
Arbuckle was a member of University of California Berkeley Santa Clara branch alumni, Preservation Action Council of San Jose, California Pioneers of Santa Clara County [and past president], New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association [NAQCPA] and Mountain Charlie Chapter 1850. His father founded History San Jose and Jim carried on the tradition becoming deeply involved as well as recently working on the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association’s historic walking tour book.

“This was such a sad surprise,” said NAQCPA President Kitty Monahan, who also knew Clyde Arbuckle. “Jim supported all our events and I’d see him bicycling in New Almaden all the time. He had a heart of gold and will be greatly missed.”

Besides membership in a host of organizations, Arbuckle could be found attending historic building dedications, New Almaden’s Pioneer Days, Tech Museum of Innovation, art shows and book signings. Arbuckle recently completed a Web site promoting his father’s book “History of San Jose,” a two-hour 1964 KTEH documentary featuring Clyde Arbuckle and Helen Arbuckle’s “San Jose’s Women: Colonial Days to the 1970s.”

“Jim Arbuckle proved the old adage that the apple never falls far from the tree,” said former Mayor Tom McEnery. “His father, Clyde, was a legend among historians and his mother, Helen, a trail blazer in her own right—their family contributed mightily to the understanding, beauty and lore of our city and region. They touched millions; influenced the course of San Jose’s future by remembering the past. Jim picked up the banner and carried it forward; he will be missed, but like his parents, his work and good efforts will not be forgotten. He was a good man.”

Funeral services are pending the autopsy results. Arbuckle will be laid to rest with his parents in the Pioneer section of Oak Hill Memorial Park.