In London, on a soggy, pearl-gray Thursday morning, March 13, 1969, 26-year-old James Paul McCartney married 27-year-old Linda Louise Eastman of Tucson in a small civil ceremony at the Marylebone Town Hall. Ten years later, the McCartneys purchased a house in Tucson, a secluded 151-acre ranch featuring a modest, tin-roofed stucco house located on the far northeast side, near Reddington Pass. It became their safe harbor to hide from the world stage.
When Linda was a student at the University of Arizona, she was captivated by the arty cactus-laden landscape and rugged Catalina Mountains. It is at the ranch that the family grew to four children. For 29 years, the ranch house was the source of great privacy, profound interpersonal virtue and intense affection through the simplest human pleasures. The McCartney family withdrew from the madding world of Beatlemania to their peaceful homestead in southern Arizona. These were the treasured days of the McCartneys’ love affair with Tucson.
And Tucson loved them by kindly leaving them alone, giving the family a wide berth to travel around the Old Pueblo. They trekked in an unassuming SUV and a humble old pickup truck, which Paul used to haul ranch supplies. The Tanque Verde Hay, Feed and Supply was a regular stop for their horses. The clan attended swap meets and occasionally visited the old Zips Records at Kolb and Speedway. They good-naturedly graced many local restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations, always saying kind hellos to those they met. The McCartneys celebrated holidays as a family tradition, inviting friends and neighbors who had helped on the ranch. Little did the prying global media and wailing fans know of the tribe’s personal Tucson refuge.
Linda and her mother shared a great passion for the Tucson desert and cherished the land. It was a sanctuary for the McCartneys, where they could ride, hike, swim and enjoy life without the snooping eye and clamor of the celebrity world. A neighbor living near the McCartneys said the community treated them no differently than others, despite the superstar family’s fame. A simple neighborly wave now and then sufficed.
“Today is my birthday!” On June 18, 1976, before moving into the Tucson ranch, Paul McCartney celebrated his 34th birthday at the Tucson Convention Center, following his band’s “Wings Over the World” concert, with Linda on the keyboard during the performance. Tucsonans packed the local venue, holding large banners to wish Sir Paul a Happy Birthday!
David Fitzsimmons, the former Arizona Daily Star’s celebrated cartoonist, distinguished columnist, and my monthly lunch companion, told me that a South Fourth Avenue Mexican restaurant owner had told him the McCartney family came in occasionally. Paul always got an elderly Latina waitress who had no clue who Paul was. David said the waitress overheard the Beatles discussing music with their dinner guest. She said, “Oh, you play music? Are you in a band? My granddaughter’s Quinceañera is approaching, and the family is seeking a suitable band. How much do you charge?” McCartney was gracious and kind, “flattered” by her inquiry.
The warm sunny days and loving years of family life in Tucson passed every so quickly for the McCartneys. In December 1995, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Arizona Cancer Center treated her during her fight against the disease. On April 17, 1998, she lost her battle. She was 56 years old. The day after Linda’s death, neighbors of the McCartney’s Sonoran Desert ranch reported seeing Paul driving an old ranch Jeep across the isolated hills of the property. He looked lost in thought, shattered and mournful. The 55-year-old Beatle appeared oh so lonely. The previous evening, Linda died at their ranch house under a serene, velvety, star-filled Tucson sky. For nearly three decades of marriage, Paul and Linda were apart only one night.
Over the years, members of the McCartney family have been sighted in Tucson. They still own the ranch on the northeast side. Son James McCartney has performed a couple of concerts at the Hotel Congress. He says he still enjoys the Tucson desert, adding, “Mum loved it so. It feels like home.”
“Jo-Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona…Get back, get back to where you once belonged. Get back, Jojo. Go home.” – Paul McCartney
Award-winning writer Jerry Wilkerson lives in SaddleBrooke and is a former press secretary for two U.S. Congressmen, as well as a former correspondent for WBBM CBS NewsRadio 780 Chicago and the Chicago Daily News. He has served as a police commissioner and is a veteran of the Navy. Email: franchise@att.net.
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