Fillmore Historical Museum

With the correct link......

Our popular "history classes" are back from hiatus. "What's in a Name" will kick off the fall session on September 17, at 7 pm. How did streets and landmarks get their names? Why is there a Guiberson Road but no Gerberding Street? There's 7th Street, but what happened to streets 1 through 6?

On October 17, "A Brief History of Bardsdale” will be presented by Museum Executive Director, Martha Gentry, whose family has lived in Bardsdale since early in the 20th century.
This will be followed by "Churches of Piru" presented by Michele McKinley on November 21st. You will learn about the Rock Church, the church built by David Cook and other places of worship in the Piru, Camulos and Buckhorn areas.

There is no charge, but you must register in order to get the link to the presentation. Registration is now open for the September event https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/event-details/whats-in-a-name

Our popular "history classes" are back from hiatus. "What's in a Name" will kick off the fall session on September 17, at 7 pm. How did streets and landmarks get their names? Why is there a Guiberson Road but no Gerberding Street? There's 7th Street, but what happened to streets 1 through 6?

On October 17, "A Brief History of Bardsdale” will be presented by Museum Executive Director, Martha Gentry, whose family has lived in Bardsdale since early in the 20th century.

This will be followed by "Churches of Piru" presented by Michele McKinley on November 21st. You will learn about the Rock Church, the church built by David Cook and other places of worship in the Piru, Camulos and Buckhorn areas.

There is no charge, but you must register in order to get the link to the presentation. Registration is now open for the September event at https://www.fillmorehistoricalmuseum.org/.../whats-in-a-name

This picture of a house under construction is probably from the 1920s. Does anyone recognize it?

Thanks to our Fillmore Fire Department and everyone involved in solving this.

Four teens arrested for string of arson fires targeting historical museum in Ventura County Detectives say the three fires occurred near the Fillmore Historical Museum this week.

We were very lucky!

Thank you Fillmore Fire Department any everyone involved.

Four teens arrested for string of arson fires targeting historical museum in Ventura County Detectives say the three fires occurred near the Fillmore Historical Museum this week.

From the archives: Clarence Arrasmith - City Manager

We say Fillmore was founded in 1887 when the railroad came through, but it was not an actual town until 1914 when it was incorporated. Incorporation was not an assured event. There was strong opposition, mainly on the basis that creating a city would put another layer of taxes on the locals. On the other side was the argument that taxes currently being paid weren’t coming back to the local residents but were being spent elsewhere in the county. Streets were not paved, and the only paved sidewalks were those put in by the adjacent business owner. In August of 1914 the election was held with the vote split 208 for incorporation and 193 against. Fillmore became the newest city in Ventura County.

In the same election George Tighe, the first station master and a store owner, was elected mayor and Clarence Arrasmith was elected city clerk. Miss Florence Lewis who worked at the Fillmore State Bank was elected Treasurer. (Women gained the vote in California in 1911.) Besides Tighe on the “board of trustees”, forerunner to the city council, were Bowman Merritt, druggist; E. O. Goodenough, merchant; E. A. Pyle, “financier”; and S. H. Mosher, hardware merchant. At the first trustee meeting two additional officials were appointed – John Galvin as city attorney and Jack Casner, city marshal, both would receive the salary of $25 per month.

Two of the new city officials would serve Fillmore into the second half of the twentieth century – Clarence Arrasmith and John Galvin.

Clarence Arrasmith was born in Newport, Indiana, in 1873. While in Indiana he owned two newspapers. After his marriage to Mary Grosjean in 1903 he moved to Illinois. He came to Fillmore in 1911 and served as assistant post-master to Richard Stephens.

In 1918, the town moved to the “City Manager” form of government that we still have. Arrasmith was hired as the first city manager for Fillmore. He would hold the position until his death in 1954.

Clarence Arrasmith was particularly known for his ability to communicate complex issues to the general public. Beginning in 1936, he wrote a weekly column in the Fillmore Herald called, “Over the Back Fence.” Through this column he would explain to the citizens of Fillmore why their water bill was what it was, why certain streets couldn’t be paved at the present time and what new ordinances meant.

The City’s Annual Reports during Clarence Arrasmith’s time as City Manager were actually fun to read. His final report for 1954 was “written” by one “Josiah Tuttle”, late of Vermont, and illustrated by Lawrence Hinckley. It was subtitled “Being a Fair-to-Middlin’ Report about City Doings at Fillmore, California, for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1954. Printed and Published by the City of Fillmore, California (but not Guaranteed).” Under the heading “Street Improvements”, “Josiah” wrote:

“Street improvements were on the program this year – but somehow or another they mostly got sidetracked – but there is a good chance that some of them will be done up in the paper sack
this coming year – provided the proposed sewer project doesn’t get too much in the way”.

No bureaucratic jargon here.

Like the rest of the United States, the Great Depression had an impact on Fillmore. To lift people’s spirits, Arrasmith organized weekly evening “Happy Hours”. These were programs which included singing, instrumental music, readings and skits. One in early April 1932 was considered by the local paper to have been a “smashing success.” The program opened with the Community Orchestra (Arrasmith led and played the cello) playing “The Bridal Rose”. This was followed by Eddie Perkins, Jr., “one of the city’s most talented youngsters” doing some snappy novelty dances, accompanied by his mother on the piano. A community sing-along was then led by Eddie Perkins, Sr. Mary Galvin, accompanied by her sister Katherine, sang several songs. This was then followed by Fergus Fairbanks giving a short, but interesting resumé on George Washington. More singing, and the program was closed with the Star-Spangled Banner. One of the highlights of the evening was the Fillmore Fire Department presenting an “interesting and novel number called ‘Paying a Bet’.”

On the night of July 20, 1954, Clarence Arrasmith felt unwell. A doctor was summoned (this was still in the days of house calls), but Arrasmith died of a heart attack that night. At the time of his death, he was believed to have been the longest serving city manager in the State. His many musical instruments were donated to the Fillmore High School Music Department. He was survived by his wife Mary, daughter Mildred and son, Donald.

The following was first posted in 2021 and was written by Susan Hopkins, one of our docents.

The Mystery of the Motorcycle Race

Friday mornings at the Museum are usually quiet. There’s time to catch up on the computer and check out the new displays. One morning in 2019 the phone rang and a gentleman asked, “What do you know about the Reliability Race in 1927?”

Me, “Nothing, but we can look for it in our old newspapers. Give me your contact information and I’ll see what I can find.”

The quiet dusty upstairs newspaper room is full to the ceiling with boxes and bound copies of the Fillmore Herald and the Gazette going back to 1903. I pulled the 15” by 21” book of Fillmore Heralds for 1927 down from the shelf and began leafing through the May issues. There it was for May 20, “P. A. Bigsby Wins Hill Climb and Trail Race.” Our gentleman explained that he was doing research for a book on Bigsby who won the race. He has the trophy from the race and was so very happy to get a copy of the newspaper article.

The Herald article describes an exciting event. Sponsored by the LA Motorcycle Club and the Fillmore Chamber of Commerce it bought riders from all over Southern California. The race started at the Fairbanks property which we know as the big white house on Fourth Street, climbed the hill to the Arundell’s up the Sespe, and came down Pole Creek which had been dammed up, crossing it eleven times. The course was 4.7 miles long with some very steep sections zig-zagging up the hills. Riders were given 28 minutes to complete the first lap, 24 minutes for the second, and 21 for the following 11 for a total of 13 laps. Points were deducted for stalling or touching a foot down. That was a lot of excitement for our little town.

P. A. Bigsby the winner was not just a racer; he was an engineer, inventor, and builder. Wikipedia tells us that he was a foreman for Crocker Motorcycles and designed the overhead valve-cylinder head for Crocker engines. He pioneered the solid body guitar. He also built custom guitars for musicians who played on shows in the early days of television. Some appeared with the Spade Cooley Band and on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. He designed the vibrato foot for electric guitars which it is a system that was used by Fender Guitars, a feature that is still being used today.

Two years pass and the pandemic closed down the country. Slowly things are beginning to open again including the Museum. The staff and volunteers can begin working on projects. Recently John Nichols of Santa Paula donated a picture of a motorcycle race to the collection. There is no date, no caption, and no label. A close look reveals Mount San Cayetano in the background and tells us the picture was taken in Fillmore. The motorcycles in the picture look old enough to be from 1927. Rereading the May 20, 1927 Fillmore Herald, we found that P. A. Bigsby wore the number 31 and rode a Harley Davidson. There doesn’t seem to be a number 31 in the picture but let’s take a closer look. We zoomed in and there right in the foreground of the picture a rider in white has a faint 31 on his shirt and he is straddling a Harley. That’s got to be him. We passed along our new information to a very happy gentleman who sent us a picture of the beautiful silver trophy won so long ago in our own little town.

If you have are working on a mystery give us a call. Maybe we can help you out. It’s so satisfying pulling together these pieces of the puzzle.

Written by Carina Montoya, photos by Andrea Recendez

You never know who might show up at your front door. Last year, Kevin Shaffer and his wife Kimberly visited the Fillmore Historical Museum for the first time. They had driven California State Route 126 many times through the years, passing through Fillmore going east or west, but never stopped to see what Fillmore has to offer. One day in 2023 when they were passing through Fillmore, Kimberly suggested to Kevin that they stop and visit the Fillmore Museum. The day of their visit coincided with a day the museum’s Hinckley House was open to tour. The Hinckley House was built in 1905 and later owned by Fillmore’s first dentist, Dr. Ira Hinckley, and his wife Catherine, “Kate.” When Kevin and Kimberly entered the front parlor of the house, Kevin’s eyes became fixed on a more than century-old pump organ that sits prominently in the room. He told the museum staff that he knows how to play the pump organ and asked if he could try it. Museum staff said, “yes,” and without hesitation, Kevin played the piece “Let it Be,” a song by the Beatles, released in 1970. The music from the pump organ awakened the quiet and pristine exhibit of today with a sound that echoed years past when the house was filled with music and laughter. Museum staff were so pleased to hear the pump organ played by someone who knows how to play it, and Kevin was happy to be given the opportunity to play it because the last time he played a pump organ was in 1969. For both Kevin and the museum, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

On Friday, August 2, Kevin played the pump organ to members and friends of the museum. The performance was recorded, and Andrea Recendez photographed the event, which was the first of its kind held at the Hinckley House. One of the special guests was Diane Arundell, who was married to the late Jim Arundell. The Arundell family in Fillmore dates to the mid-1800s. William Arundell and his son Thomas “Tommy,” came to Ventura County in 1879. Tommy established an apiary in Pole Creek and accumulated over 1,200 acres, soon harvested six tons of honey, and had up to seven hundred stands of bees. Tommy built an adobe on the property and purchased a pump organ. The pump organ was later donated to the Fillmore Historical Museum by the Arundell family, and it is now a permanent exhibit at the Hinckley House. Diane recalls seeing the pump organ years ago at the adobe, but Friday’s event was the first time she heard it being played. She said it sounded beautiful. When Kevin was asked about the quality of sound and condition of the pump organ, also called a harmonium, or reed organ, he said “it’s still in good shape and has good resonation.” Although the pump organ is much like an organ, the difference is the pump organ makes sound by blowing air through reeds, which are tuned to different pitches to make musical notes.

Originally from Ohio, Kevin learned how to play the pump organ when he was a child. He later studied at Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and together with Kimberly opened a dance and music studio that they operated for twenty-five years, until they moved to Ventura about 6 years ago. Today, Kevin is a piano teacher, and plays piano at events.

Just a teaser with more to follow.

Aug. 31: Back to Val Verde for Val Verde’s 100! The Val Verde Historical Society will host Back to Val Verde for Val Verde's 100! on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. This all day picnic and celebration will feature food, music, games and raffles.

Are you looking for something to do this Sunday?

Another from the archives. Many thanks to Susan M. J. French for the great story.

A Glimpse into the Life of Harriet E. Weaver

Fillmore High School Teacher, Author, and California State Park Ranger

As I watched the news on the huge fire that decimated much of Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County last week, I thought of Petey Weaver and her love of this historic park where she became the first woman park ranger in California. Many of her summers, when she was teaching at Fillmore High School, were spent there.

The 118-year-old Big Basin Redwoods State Park is California’s oldest state park, and features the largest stand of ancient coast redwoods south of San Francisco. A ray of hope is that many of the extraordinarily resilient redwoods are expected to survive, as they have withstood fires for hundreds and even thousands of years. However, the historic buildings that Petey knew, when spending 14 of her 21 summers as a California State Park Ranger here, were consumed by flames during this fire of August 2020.

Capturing her memories, Petey wrote a 404-page autobiography, Me and the Mother Tree about her 20 years working at what was the beginning of the California State Park System. Tonight, my daughter, Erika, who also loves Big Basin, told me that the park’s 329-feet-tall Mother Tree of the Forest, which Petey is referring to in her memoir’s title, is miraculously still standing after this huge lightning fire.

Although Petey was prohibited from becoming a full-time ranger during her tenure with the park service from 1929 to 1950—because the job was thought to be only suitable for men—she is credited as the first woman to break the gender barrier and pave the way for women who finally entered full-time service in the 1970s.

If only Petey was still alive in 2010 when the California State Parks year-long exhibit, "A Most Glorious Heritage: The Grandeur and History of California State Parks" was held at the California State Capitol Museum in Sacramento. The exhibit showcased the uniform of Harriet Weaver, the first female California State Park Ranger.

Petey’s contributions as a school teacher, author and ranger gained her the recognition of being listed in “Who’s Who in the History of California Women.”

When I was a 7th grade student at Fillmore Junior High School in 1966-67, I knew Petey as Miss Harriet Weaver—the enthusiastic teacher who inspired in me a great love of California’s nature, geographical diversity and history. I knew she spent early morning hours before school writing her books and, like her, I knew I wanted to be a writer from a young age. We stayed in contact throughout my high school and college years, where I majored in journalism. Our friendship continued through my years at Sunset Magazine, where Petey also worked, and then through backpacking solo through Europe for six months in my 20s, and then finally settling into a career writing about wine and raising a family. During those years, she was “Petey” to me as she continued to be my literary sage, my inspiration and truly supportive friend.

I remember the last time I saw Petey, when I visited her after she moved to Fortuna to be once again among the big trees. With poignancy, I also remember the last letter I received from her, just a day before she died at 85 in 1993. Rereading it after I received the sad news, I realized that it was truly saying goodbye. Ms. Weaver was a Fillmore school teacher I’ll never forget, one who really made a difference in my life.

Sorting through a dusty box of old high school and college writing in my garage, I found this story that I wrote about Petey more than 45 years ago. I hope you enjoy it.

Susan French
June 5, 1974
P.D.Q.

“Petey” Weaver’s name came from being P.D.Q.—Pretty Darn Quick. The nickname began in high school when fellow baseball players found it necessary to shorten P.D.Q. to P.D. if they wanted to keep up with this human burst of energy and ambition. Keeping up with Petey has been a problem ever since those days back in the 1920s.

Petey Weaver was a California State Park ranger for 20 summers, carved a football field with a team of horses and a plow, and led a football team to a championship. Petey is the author of six books and numerous articles, and is associated with the publishing company of Sunset Magazine & Books.

Petey Weaver is a woman.

The Woman Who Didn’t Wait to be Liberated

Ever since Petey was six years old, she’s known that she wanted to write. And since age six she has been a writer, although she’s also pursued many other interests. She sums up her life-long philosophy saying, “Whenever opportunity knocks, I answer. It’s taken me in a lot of directions.”

Even though Petey was pursuing and tackling positions considered male-dominated before the tremor of women’s liberation, a recount of Harriet E. Weaver’s life is a study in career opportunities. Nothing tied her down for longer than she desired. Nor was any job taken that didn’t strike her fancy, although sometimes it was taken for an odd reason. A 23-year-long teaching job came about when a school principal, Don Main, listening to her fascinating campfire talks in one of the state parks, begged her to come teach at Fillmore High School. She told him that she would hear nothing of it; she had enough teaching for a while. When she received a contract in the mail a few weeks after the vehement refusal, she thought it was hilarious…and signed it.

“I’ve always been a little cocky,” I guess,” Petey laughed. “When I entered UCLA, I told them I wanted to major in journalism, physical education and art. They informed me that at this university, students majored in only one subject. I thought for a while and decided I wanted to play ball the most.

So, I graduated from college in 1930 as a women’s physical education instructor. Thirty-eight years later I taught my first girls P.E class. And my last one.”

When Petey entered the University in 1926, she was to become one of its first graduates as the University of California, Los Angeles. The campus was founded in 1919 as the Southern Branch of the California University at Berkeley and acquired its present title in 1927. It is the second oldest university—U.C. Berkeley was the first—in the system.

Teaching has always come as naturally as writing to this tireless author. Although her high school and college years were filled with playing ball and writing articles, classrooms always fascinated her because there was so much going on at once. As the skilled baseball player, she graduated with a degree in physical education and was offered one of the prize contracts with the well-funded Monrovia High School. But teaching elementary school had caught her eye. So, she asked to be released from her contract and back she went to UCLA to get her general elementary and junior high teaching credential.

Rather than teach at a school filled with more privileged students, she chose her first teaching job to be at the Pico Rivera School near Whittier—an all-grades, all-Latino school in the days before desegregation. “The students and I had a lot of fun together,” said Petey. “The older students didn’t have any place to play football so I got together a team of horses and a plow and we made one. That first year we had a championship team.”

“Then I came to Briggs School in Santa Paula, a school that is steeped in almost 100 years of tradition. I have great memories of those years too, but I became restless; it was time to leave teaching and move on.”

In those pre-war years, besides her summers with the California State Park Service, she wrote for the School Arts Magazine, which is a national magazine founded in 1902. It was by no means her first experience with magazines nor her last; she would write for six more publications. Petey first established herself in the field of journalism during elementary school when she had articles published in “Saint Nicholas”, a well-known juvenile magazine. In the immediate years to follow, her byline regularly appeared above full-length stories in the junior section of the Los Angeles Times. In high school, she was an editor for the L.A. City High School newspaper and yearbook, and then at UCLA she worked on the Daily Bruin as the women’s sports editor.

When Petey started at the little high school in Fillmore, California in 1945, she wiggled her way out of teaching math, a subject she abhorred, and set to work on a course about California, which had a roadmap for the textbook, and brought her statewide attention.

Like the small-town mayor who is also the judge, the fire chief and the justice of the peace, Petey wore many hats during her teaching years. “Every morning, I was in my classroom by 6am so I could write until 8am on my books and articles,” she explained. Then, just as the first bus arrived with a load of kids, Harriet E. Weaver, the author, became Miss Weaver, the favorite teacher. At the first sign of summer, she would get as fidgety as her students and Petey would become the first one out the door for summer vacation with the California Park Service.

The uniform Petey donned every summer made her the only uniformed woman in the California State Park Service from 1929 to 1974, when the service finally began accepting women applicants for training. The Big Basin area is her favorite stomping ground. Her twenty-one summers of diversified experiences provided a storehouse of material for her books that reflect her authority on the giant redwoods and on her four-footed friends of the forest.

Some years, Petey Weaver was off to the Park Service in early spring before the opening of the season. Then she would make the 75-mile trek on foot over the park trails to see what repairs were needed after the long winter months. When the summer season opened, she returned to leading the evening campfires where hundreds gathered to hear the story of the giant trees. While guiding hikers over the trails she knew like the back of her hand, she shared her knowledge of the area she loved.

When opportunity knocked during the war years, Miss Weaver fell into a job with the Ninth Service Command Specialty Training for Illiterate Troops at Fort McQuaide. P.D.Q was always at least ten steps ahead of her colleagues as she slyly sorted out the truly illiterate from the draft dodgers. She passed out Reader’s Digests for entertainment when she was “occupied” with other work and “pretty soon there was snickering around the room and I knew, right away, which ones could read the jokes.”

Opportunity never stopped knocking and wartime was no exception. In addition to her adventures at Fort McQuaide, Miss Weaver was the commander of the ambulance corp in Ventura County and taught first aid from 1941 through 1944. “I taught first aid until there was no place left in the county to teach it, there’s where I stopped, and that was enough.”

Through all Petey’s activities and writings, animals have always held a special place in her life. From the stories that she wrote daily in her childhood years to Frosty, a Racoon to Remember, which is read throughout the United States today, the “little fellows” as she called them, have been there.

“I was eight years in the writing of Beloved was Bahamas and I lived with Bahamas through that book until he became an integral part of me. My friends would ask when I was going to stop working on Bahamas. I’d answer, when either he’s published or I’m dead.” Bahamas, a black angus steer who is mysteriously connected with the great flood in Klamath, California, has been patiently waiting.

About the time that Bahamas makes his first debut on bookshelves this summer, Frosty will be coming back to get into mischief in a paperback edition.

Knowing Petey Weaver’s independent spirit, one might guess that she doesn’t leave all her stories’ illustrations up to someone else. Her childish drawing with her very first stories evolved into a career of sketching and cartooning. She has two published books on cartooning and brings her stories to life through scattered sketches throughout the pages.

With her accumulation of knowledge of the great redwood forests, she is one of the most valuable consultants for natural science books and she’s a sought-after author. She has written three books on the redwoods. “And it looks like I’ll be writing more until the publishers give me some peace and quiet,” she quips. Much of her work has been with Sunset Magazine & Books in Menlo Park: There Stand the Giants and California’s Giant Trees. Following those publications, she was asked to be a natural science consultant for Sunset’s pictorial The Beautiful Northwest. The California Redwood Association sought and finally enticed her to write their book on redwoods. Now she is once more launching into the age-old giants’ history with a publication contracted with Chronicle Books.

Today, Petey still lives in the small citrus town of Fillmore, in the Santa Clara River Valley, where she taught at Fillmore High School for 23 years. In 1968, she retired from teaching and that year the high school yearbook was dedicated to her. “It was one of the most rewarding times of my life, not just because the students dedicated the “Copa de Oro” to me, but because their decision was made even before I announced my retirement,” reflected Petey during our interview. Teaching is the only one of her careers in which she announced retirement and she still keeps busy trying to fulfill requests from schools around the county to talk at their career days.

Yet with all her activities, Petey is still a ranger at heart. At the 1972 meeting of the California State Park Rangers Association in Santa Barbara, she was made an Honorary Lifetime Ranger and she is now a guest at all their conferences. It might seem strange to some people why Petey doesn’t return to live in the Big Basin and Big Sur areas that mean so much to her. Petey explains, “Yes, there is a gap here, without the wild animals and the big trees, but with thousands of my former students around Fillmore, I just can’t go away, yet.”

☀️ With summer in full swing and the holiday weekend here, it’s the perfect time to enjoy our local beaches and swimming spots, just like these swimmers did back in (circa) 1936 near Wheeler Hot Springs. 🌊🏖️ Time to make some sunny memories! 💦

Title: Swimming Near Wheelers Hot Springs
Identifier: 15055
Source: Jacqueline Strobel Kelly Collection, 1988
Details: Four people sitting or holding onto a log are identified L-R: Beulah Strobel, Jackie Strobel, Johnny Strobel, and Violette Weigle.

Sounds like fun

🎉🚜 Back and better than ever! Join us on Monday, September 2, from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Agriculture Museum for the 9th Annual Labor Day Tractor Fair, right after the Santa Paula Labor Day Parade! 🌾🎶

This beloved community event celebrates Santa Paula's rich agricultural heritage with:
✨ Family-friendly activities
🎵 Live music by Whole Hog
🗣️ Captivating presentations and tours
💚 A deep appreciation for our local farming culture

Come and be part of the fun as we honor the heart and soul of our community! Thank you T**a T**a Flywheelers Antique Gas Engine & Tractor Club for your wonderful partnership for this event! 🌟

Continued from last week....

Although the Charles and Edith seemed to have much in common, in 1940 they divorced. Edith moved into the “Alley Mansion” at 424 Clay.

In 1942, Edith and her co-writer Beryl J. M. McManus saw the publication of their book, El Camino Real, Understanding our Spanish Speaking Neighbors, This was the first Spanish grammar text book printed in the US. 1943 would see the publication of El Camino Real 2 which was Edith’s solo work. These books would be used in US high Schools well into the 1970s. It spent more than 20 years on Houghton-Mifflin’s best seller list. The success of the books, gave Edith the wherewithal so she was able to stop teaching in 1947.

World War II curbed Edith’s travel, but she kept up a steady correspondence with many of her former students. In 1948 she returned to Europe and was disturbed by much that she saw – such as the Dachau concentration camp.

It was at this time she began the G. A. novel (the great American novel). Edith was better at writing textbooks than novels and found no publisher for it. Today she would just self-publish and prove all the publishers wrong – maybe.

In March of 1949, Edith started the major project of building a new home on Foothill Drive. She had to have an engineer draw up proper plans for permitting, but essentially, she was the architect on her dream home.

While the outside was mid-century modern, it was what was on the inside that “Sunset Magazine” featured. Edith truly believed in built-ins including the kitchen which was hidden behind a wall. One of the more remarkable features was a mural of a world map done by Lawrence Hinckley. It is a pity that later owners chose to paint over the mural which showed the places Edith had visited.

In her 1952 holiday letter (always sent in January), her friends learned of the new man in her life. She told of how they met in a store and they both immediately knew theirs’s would be a special relationship. He moved into the house on Foothill with Edith. He would often want to go out and have fun. If she couldn’t go with him, he would go on his own. Finally, there was a time when he left and didn’t come back. He had left for untamed, non-descented brethren. Yes, Spunky was a skunk. One wonders if Edith ever compared notes with her neighbor on Foothill, Harriet “Petey” Weaver, as to who made a better house mate – a skunk or a racoon.

1952 saw more changes – as in marriage to Bertran “Bert” Roderick, a widower. Although not born in Fillmore, Bert had lived here many years, he was manager at People’s Lumber and was an active Mason.
The 1950s and 1960s Edith planned and decorated two duplexes and four homes, including the house on Foothill. She also was busy as a writer and lecturer. She traveled sometime with Bert but often with friends such as Hazel Hiberly, Fillmore teacher and school principal.
Edith loved to fly. She first flew with some barnstormers over Santa Paula in 1918 and flew cross country in 1932 in a trip which took 2 days. As flying became more common, Edith flew whenever she had the chance.

So now it is 1972, Marie Wren told it this way “My husband, Gene Wren, was on the board for the Chamber of Commerce, and he came home from a meeting one night about 1972 and said, “We just put $500 into the pot to start a museum for Fillmore.” Soon Edith was involved and the community went through their basements, attics and barns looking for things to donate. Soon the office space the Chamber of Commerce rented in the Masonic Building was turned into a museum. Edith, Dorothy Haase and Ruth Walker oversaw the early growth.

Her beloved Bert died in 1974 and her travel schedule again picked up. It was probably a stroke of luck in 1974 that Edith was home in Fillmore and not touring the world. Southern Pacific Railroad announced that they were going to tear down the Fillmore Depot which had sat empty, deteriorating for several years. According to Marie Wren, “Edith made a deal to buy it for $1 and move it across the street so museum items could be moved from the Chamber office into a building of their own and thus, we had a real museum.” The cost to move the depot, which had to be done immediately and to restore it were paid by Edith as a present to her hometown.

Edith was devoted to the Museum, but in 1979 she resigned as curator. The museum was now in the hands of the very capable Dorothy Haase.

In 1983 she published “Old Timers’ Tales of Fillmore” a compilation of articles written for “Vista Magazine.” It has now been reprinted and copies are available at the Museum.

Time was catching up with Edith but it wasn’t diminishing her enthusiasm for life. In 1977 she met for the first time (so she said) another long time Fillmore resident – Charlie Brown, a well-known outdoorsman who had worked in the oil fields. They were married but unfortunately living together as man and wife did not work out, so Charlie moved out although they remained friends and did not divorce.

Edith died on April 11, 1988, after a long illness. She was survived by her sister, Alice Moore Milton, and brother, Fred Moore. Brother, George, had passed away in 1986.

What has also survived Edith Moore Jarrett Roderick Brown is the Fillmore Historical Museum. Even in death Edith was looking out for the Museum, giving an endowment which put the Museum on sound footing. If you haven’t been to the Museum, there is no time better than now.