‘Cowboy Samaritan’ Named Citizen of Year

Johny Carpenter, a.k.a. the “Cowboy Samaritan,” will be honored Tuesday as Citizen of the Year by the East Valley Coordinating Council.

Carpenter, 81, has run the Heaven on Earth Ranch in Lake View Terrace since 1969. Over the years, the ranch--which features Western storefronts, chuck wagons and horses--has welcomed thousands of disabled children and adults.

“He’s been working for many years with handicapped and disabled people, especially children, to help them win self-esteem,” said Dorothy Long, a member of the coordinating council. “He’s truly a cowboy who cares. His ranch is all about the magic of horses and the power of caring.”

Carpenter, who has been ill for several months, said he still tries to make the ranch available to schoolchildren and groups from the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation and other agencies.

A retired stuntman, Carpenter came to California from Arkansas in 1940 and performed stunts and tricks on horses in movies. One of his most memorable roles was in “National Velvet,” in which he rode his horse through the steeplechase course. Later, he began allowing blind and disabled people to ride horses at his small ranch near Griffith Park.

The program became so popular that he leased a larger plot of land in Lake View Terrace. With the help of movie-industry friends, community leaders and others, Carpenter built a small, Old West town with a saloon, general store and jail.

Carpenter will be honored Tuesday along with several other community members at the coordinating council’s 46th annual Community Awards Recognition Luncheon.