Ric and Billie Barbara Masten papers

Ric Masten was an artist, songwriter, folksinger, poet and Unitarian minister. He was born in Carmel, California on June 20, 1929. Ric graduated from Montezuma High School in Los Gatos, California in 1946, and attended several colleges, but never received a degree. Ric studied painting in Paris at the Institut des Beaux Arts, but upon returning to Carmel, began writing and producing musical comedies at the Forest Theater, where he met his future wife, Billie Barbara. He settled with his family in Palo Colorado Canyon, the area of Big Sur which was often the subject of his 23 books and other performance pieces. Ric started songwriting and eventually began performing his own poetry. Beginning in 1966, he traveled extensively, performing at hundreds of conferences, colleges, schools, and churches. Through the years, Ric received numerous awards and honors, both nationally and internationally. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from CSUMB. Ric Masten died May 9, 2008 of prostate cancer.

Billie Barbara Masten was an actress, poet and artist. She was born Billie Barbara Bolton in San Bernardino, California in 1932 and moved with her parents to Carmel five years later. Billie Barbara studied voice and theatre at Monterey Peninsula College. An aspiring actress, Billie Barbara married Ric Masten after they met at Carmel’s Forest Theatre. After raising their family, Billie Barbara joined her husband on tour in the mid-seventies and began performing with him and on her own at universities, churches, prisons, women’s shelters, and retirement homes. Billie Barbara died December 4, 2012 from a stroke.