Obituaries : Thomas Frank Dullam; Longtime Rancher

Thomas Frank Dullam, a longtime Ventura County rancher, has died at his home in Camarillo. He was 85.

Dullam, who died April 25, was born June 25, 1910, in Hollywood. After graduating from Polytechnical High School in Los Angeles, he worked on his father’s farm at National and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles.

In the late 1940s, Dullam bought land in Ventura County, where he grew lemons and truck crops such as sugar beets, lima beans, celery and green peppers. Dullam had owned land in Camarillo and Saticoy and continued to oversee a ranch in Visalia.

“He never thought of himself as a rancher but as a farmer, because of the warm family feelings associated with the idea of a family farm,” said his daughter, Linda Sellers of Ventura. “My children are adopted, and he welcomed all of them into our family and was interested in helping children with disabilities. He loved supporting his grandkids in sporting events and we would often pick him up and take him.”

Dullam was a member of the Poinsettia Lodge No. 633 of Free and Accepted Masons of California, the Al Malaikah Shrine Temple and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, all of Ventura. He also helped build St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura, where he was an active member.

He enjoyed woodworking and playing golf.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ruth; his son, Thomas F. Dullam Jr. of Ventura; his daughter, Linda Sellers of Ventura; his brother, John Dullam of Camarillo; his sisters, G. Mary Dullam and Hilda Serr, both of Camarillo; and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.

The Rev. Paul Jacobson of Friends Church in Ventura will officiate.

Burial will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

Memorial donations may be made to the Shriner Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.