George (Bud) Kuhrts, III was the man who made development of Borrego Springs bloom. He was the day to day organizer of virtually every major development project in the Valley. Born in Los Angeles in 1923, Kuhrts was raised in Hollywood and Catalina Island, where he developed a life long love of the ocean. He attended military school and enlisted in the Navy, surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was later promoted to Chief Petty Officer and served in that capacity for four admirals in the South Pacific. ⁵ Those same organizational skills would serve him well after the war. In 1947 Kuhrts came to Borrego to work with his stepfather, A.A. Burnand. His first project was relocating several surplus Quonset huts to Borrego, and opening "Bud's Café".⁶  He then purchased the Desert Lodge from the Dana Burks family and ran it until 1960 when it was purchased by James Copley. Kuhrts married his wife Beverly in 1949 who continues to live in the community. The listing of his accomplishments is impressive: He led the development of de Anza Country Club as President of the Borrego Valley Golf and Improvement Company with the backing of Burnand and DiGiorgio and in later years would continue with the additions of de Anza Villas and Vista Villas. He was President of the company's formed for the development for the Borrego Springs Shopping Center (1965), Roadrunner Club (1967) and Ram's Hill Country Club (1981). In addition Kuhrts was instrumental in creating Borrego Spring's Airlines and became president when the airline changed names to Sun Aire in the 1970's (the airline was a DiGiorgio subsidiary). He was also a director of the Bank of San Diego and Borrego Springs Bank in the 1980's. He served as a director of the Community Association and the A.A. Burnand Medical and Education Foundation; was the first Fire Commissioner for the Borrego Springs Fire Protection District and was Borrego's Honorary Mayor in 1986. In countless articles in the Borrego Sun for more than 3 decades it was Kuhrts who was the face of progress in the Valley; who would turn the vision and money of Burnand and DiGiorgio into reality. Bud Kuhrts died in 1995, at the age of 72.