"Have you ever considered a Christian youth ranch?"  Dale asked.  " No, what do you know about one?" replied Bob.  This conversation in 1955 between two men, Dale Linebaugh and Bob Monell was only the beginning of what is now El Rancho de Paz.  Bob had a burden to reach the young people of Owego for Christ and Dale and had a vision of a Christian camp that could do just that.  These men and their wives committed to beginning this ministry.

Bob was a farmer and had put his farm up for sale to become an evangelist. Dale suggested the idea of a Christian youth Ranch, so Bob and his wife Helen prayed no one would buy the farm in the 90 days left on their contract.  At the end of that time, it was theirs though they still had the mortgage to pay off.

Dale was earning his doctorate at this time and wanted a good western name for the Ranch.  After talking with his Spanish teacher the two couples decided on the name El Rancho de Paz meaning The Ranch of Peace.  The Ranch would operate under the corporate name, The Haven of Peace.

One chicken coop became the outhouse.  A cement addition was put on the barn large enough to make separate washrooms for the boys and girls.   The water was often cold.  A second chicken house, two stories high, became the girls' bunkhouse.  The second story of the barn (the red chapel building of today) became the boys' bunkhouse.  The main floor of the barn was the chapel and the game room.  The basement was the problem!  It had been used as a calf pen and was full of manure.  A teenager named Phil Card volunteered to clear to 2 feet of "fertilizer" out of the basement.  He went on to have success in his business, "Phil's Chicken House."  The barn basement, renovated, later became the dining room, Hitching Post (snack room) and craft shop.

The work began, but not without sacrifice and even some pain.  Opal, Dale's wife and Helen not only gave their time and skills but also their dishes and silverware.  Imagine the wear and tear on Bob and Helen's kitchen and dining room in the farm house as all of the meals were prepared and served there that first summer.  Dale and Opal took out a loan on their car to obtain cash and paid it back out of their own pockets.  An immense amount of work and sacrifice went in to the first year of the Ranch.

Today the Ranch has the same needs it did back then: men and women to be willing partners in the ministry just as the Monells and Linebaughs were. 

From Dr. Dale Linebaugh's book Come Ride With Me