An interesting Californian in Budleigh Salterton

 

Some of you may have seen a post from Gary Canant, the American direct descendant of Roger Conant who is planning to spend his 80^th birthday visiting East Budleigh, the home of his ancestors.

You may even have seen local artist John Washington's painting of Roger Conant in All Saints’ Church in East Budleigh. You may know that it shows Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts, confronting Captain Myles Standish the military leader of the 1620 ‘Mayflower’ Pilgrims.

It’s pretty amazing that East Budleigh was the birthplace of TWO important figures in American history.

Gary has fixed up accommodation in Budleigh Salterton. If you happen to see him around town, please say hello. He’s an interesting chap.

He lives at Pismo Beach, California, famous for:

 

i. Monarch butterflies. 24,000 of them wintered there in 2023.

 

ii. Pelicans

 

iii. Elephant seals. 

Gary writes: ‘About 25,000 magnificent Elephant Seals make the beach in San Simeon (just north of Pismo Beach) their place to rest, mate, have babies and make lots of noise. In the 1880s they were considered extinct after being hunted for their rich blubber. I trained to be a winter docent [guide] for the seals; our job was to protect the 4,000-5,000 pound bulls from people. The seals are very fast, will bite and don’t pay attention to puny humans.’

He's a keen photographer. He took the above three photos in California, and will no doubt want to see LORP.  

 

All Saints' Church, East Budleigh

He will want to see round East Budleigh, where Roger Conant was born and baptized.

Gary is also an author. His book Dear Maxie, Letters from Vietnam is based on the time he spent engaged in one of the US’s most controversial foreign wars.

In April 2007, he made a return trip to Vietnam with Maxie and their son Kevin, prompted by this email which he had received from a Vietnamese called Quy:

 

Here are some quotes and images which will tell you more about Gary: