Page 1 - The Friday Flyer ● AUGUST 16, 2019

CANYON LAKE’S NEWSPAPER • AUGUST 16, 2019

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POA Board Moo-ved by Laura

Mae's appeal to keep life-size cow

BY PAT VAN DYKE with the financial responsibilities of the dairy and her fami-
COLUMNIST, THE FRIDAY FLYER ly. Laura Mae was devastated but continued her and Jake’s
There was a day when cattle roamed freely throughout the hills desire to establish a successful dairy that could be passed Laura Mae is
of Canyon Lake. The time was the 1950s and the owners of the onto their sons. thrilled with the
cattle and property were Don and Elinor Martin. Laura Mae tried to run the dairy, but within a year af- POA Board's deci-
In 1968, everything changed. The Martin’s sold the bulk of ter Jake’s death, Laura Mae faced her financial situation sion to allow her to
their land to the Corona Land Company, the cattle left and the head-on and realized that she and her sons could no lon- keep her life-size
bulldozers and earth-moving equipment moved in. Soon 2,017 ger continue dairying. The cows were sold and the dairy cow, Blue Eyes, in
acres were transformed from cattle grazing land to a modern com- was rented. Her beloved cows no longer filled the corrals. her front yard on
munity with pads for up to 4,000 homes. In 1996, Laura Mae sold the dairy property in order to Continental Drive.
Since that time, neither a cow nor a bull has been seen in Can- help finance the purchases of cows for her two sons, Har-
yon Lake, until now. old and Darryl. At the same time, Laura Mae helped her
Recently, Canyon Laker Laura Mae Bollema placed a life-size daughter Shelia, who was now working as a reg-
cow statue in her front yard. This cow, named Blue Eyes, CONTINUED PAGE A10
required no feed, left no inappropriate droppings around
her feet, did not have to be milked
and made no noise.
However, the placement
of the statue caused some
lively discussions in recent
Canyon Lake ACC meetings.
Letters from the ACC/POA to Laura
Mae soon followed asking her to remove
the statue because of its size and complaints.
Being a self-made woman, Laura Mae con-
tacted her lawyer and was advised to appeal
the decision at the next POA Board Meeting.
Laura Mae (nee Struikmans) Bollema was
a cow-lover from the very first day of her life.
Her first home was on her parents’ large dairy in
Artesia, California. Her father had immigrated
as a teenager from Fryslan, Netherlands, and
often spoke of his love of the beautiful fields
in Fryslan filled with stately Friesen Holsteins.
At the time of Laura Mae’s birth, cows were
a way of life for the Dutch communities sur-
rounding Artesia, Paramount and Cypress. It is
said that the “cow population” was higher than the “peo-
ple population.”
Laura Mae spent her childhood, teenage years and
young adult life living on a dairy. When she married
the love of her life in 1961, Jake Bollema, he was
employed as a milker and shared with her his love of
cows. In 1965, with the help of both sets of parents,
Jake and Laura Mae were able to purchase a herd of
cows, begin their own dairy, and start their family. In a
few short years, they were blessed with three children
and the family found themselves “living the good life.”
But sometimes good things do come to an end. When
Jake was only 30 years old, he learned that he had a
congenital liver disease. The next 12 years were filled
with several operations and treatments attempting to find
a solution to his illness, but the doctors continued to be PHOTO BY PAT VAN DYKE
less and less optimistic regarding Jake’s future.
At the age of 42, Jake died and Laura Mae was left