Joseph G. Laubacher; Longtime Local Farmer

Joseph George Laubacher, a 50-year Ventura County resident who farmed his family’s land in Oxnard until moving to the Rogue Valley of Oregon in 1961, died Oct. 13 at his home in Medford, Ore. He was 85.

A rancher who rode the ranges on the California-Oregon border, Laubacher was born Aug. 25, 1911, in Oxnard. His family owned a ranch on Teal Club Road between Ventura Road and Victoria Avenue in Oxnard, and Laubacher always wanted to be a cowboy, said his nephew, Tom Laubacher Jr. of Oxnard.

“He loved being a cowboy,” he said.

The Laubacher clan included about a dozen children, and the ranch was a great place to be a kid, Laubacher’s nephew said. “We had lots of family picnics and barbecues out there. The kids would play around on the hay lofts and feed the chickens. He would saddle the horses for us so we could go riding around in the corral.”

Laubacher farmed the land in Oxnard until the late 1950s, when he bought a cattle ranch on the California-Oregon border. Soon after, he moved the family to Oregon.

The Laubacher land in Oxnard is quite different from what it was when Joseph farmed it--an 80-year-old barn just off Teal Club Road is the only original building left standing, said his nephew.

Laubacher’s wife of 52 years, Elizabeth Bannon Laubacher, died in 1994. In addition to his nephew, he is survived by two daughters, Kristine Murphy of Palisade, Colo., and Mary Ann Laubacher of Manlius, N.Y.; two sons, Joseph Daniel Laubacher of Firebaugh and Philip Laubacher of Montague; a brother, Thomas Laubacher of Oxnard; a sister, Marion Sweetland of Oxnard; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A rosary will be said at 8 p.m. today at James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard. Mass will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Santa Clara Catholic Church, Oxnard. Burial will be in Santa Clara Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to Villanova Preparatory School, Ojai, or Catholic Extension Society, 35 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Ill. 60601.