James Sinton

James Sinton James "Jim" Sinton passed away on December 27, 2017, at the age of 101, following a stroke. Bernard Sinsheimer, Jim's grandfather, came to San Luis Obispo in 1874, purchased his first ranch near Pozo in 1875, and started the Sinsheimer Brothers Store on Monterey Street in 1876. Jim's father, Silas "D", was born at the corner of Marsh and Osos Streets in San Luis. Jim graduated from UC Berkeley, class of 1938, in agricultural economics. In 1940 he married Norma McLellan, a marriage that lasted for 74 years, until Norma's death in 2014. Together they built a home on the Canyon Ranch, south of Shandon, in 1940. Jim served in the U.S. Navy in WWII, first on a minesweeper in the Aleutians and later on a tanker in the South Pacific. Jim and Norma had twin daughters, Gail Schoettler (Don Stevens) and Patricia Noel (Hayes Noel), and one son, Stephen Sinton (Jane Sinton). Jim and Norma have seven grand- children and eight great- grandchildren (and more on the way). With his brother Si and the Howard, Dean and Stanley Brown families of Santa Maria, Jim ran the Sinton and Brown feedlot in Betteravia. Si and Jim owned cattle from Texas to Oregon and ranches in Oregon, Nevada and California, but his heart was always with the Canyon and Avenales Ranches in San Luis Obispo County. Three months before he died, Jim was instrumental in securing a conservation easement on the Avenales Ranch with the California Rangeland Trust, assuring us all that this beautiful place will forever remain as it is. In 1972, long before Paso Robles came to national and international attention as a center of wine production, Jim planted grapes on the Canyon Ranch, the second person in the Shandon area to do so. The vineyard, known as Shell Creek Vineyards, grows four varieties of grapes which have won numerous gold medals. Jim was a well known and respected cattleman who received numerous awards for his innovative work in the cattle industry and for his dedication to the conservation of natural and agricultural resources. He was active in the San Luis Obispo Cattleman's Association (past Cattleman of the Year), the California and National Cattlemen's Associations, and the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association. He received recognition from a variety of organizations for his life-long stewardship of the land, including from the California Native Plant Society (1980), the California Section of the Society for Range Management (1989), San Luis Obispo County Native Tree Stewardship Award (2002), the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club (2006), and the California Rangeland Trust Conservationist of the Year (2009). He was also recognized by Cal Poly, Stanford and UC Berkeley for his contributions to those universities and elected to the UC Berkeley Central Coast Cal Alumni Chapter Hall of Fame in 2007. Jim was a leader and a moral compass to his large extended family and to the community at large. Widely known for honesty, a handshake was binding. He read prodigiously and was a scholar of history, particularly the West, World War II, great men of the 20th century, and local ranching. His numerous public service interests included eighteen years on the Shandon school board. There will be no services. Remembrances may be made to California Rangeland Trust, Shandon Unified School District libraries, or San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation.