W e at the Tustin Area Historical Society hope you’ll dig deep for that top hat and cane, slip into your best tap shoes, and join us as we celebrate Tustin. It’s time for

our annual Promenade, so bring a friend, come downtown, add a little soft-shoe attitude to your step, and enjoy a wonderful day!

It all begins in the center of town with the Opening Ceremonies to celebrate the many contributions Jeanne Brown and her late husband, Ernie, have made in the community. Preceding that in Mrs. B’s parking lot will be “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” featuring light fare and music. As many of you know, Tiffany is Mrs. B’s daughter, the popular local Post Mistress, and now the full-time manager of “Mrs. B’s” as well.

The next destination is the Tustin Presbyterian Church where you will pick up tickets you’ve already reserved (at pre-sale prices), or purchase more – and maybe some Opportunity Prize chances as well. It’s also a good time to wander through the Church Courtyard to see what our vendors are offering this year. While you’re in the vicinity, take time to admire all the beautiful quilts in the Church’s Community Room, and possibly avail yourselves of a guided tour of the Church, an historical building itself as you can learn from the write-up in your Tour Book.

If you are already worn out from all that toe-tappin’ and high-steppin’ around the Church environs, you won’t need to walk from house to house – our popular and charming horse trolley (with limited stops) will be slowly touring the neighborhoods south of 1st Street and also the downtown area, while a passenger bus will be going to ALL of our Tour venues. No reservations are required for the trolleys and there is no cost other than the ticket for the

Tour itself. While you wait to catch the trolley on its next pass-by, stroll down the sidewalk past other homes in the neighborhood – it would be hard to find a house in Old Town that isn’t either historic or vintage, so don’t just enjoy where your ticket takes you – enjoy the entire town. In fact, a good way to get the feel for the residential section is to promenade with Guy Stivers as he leads you on his Tree Walk – Tustin is nationally designated a City of Trees, many of which arrived here with wealthy early residents who brought seedlings back from their travels abroad.

Thanks to talented students from local schools, the day will again feature music and dance – in particular, the ever-popular May Pole dance in the front yard of the Pankey residence! Vintage cars, a venue that has proven very popular not only with the men but also with the ladies for whom they bring back memories of starry nights and drive-in restaurants, will be on display at two sites in addition to the occasional driveway.

Without the income from each year’s Promenade, the Museum would be unable to offer our history programs to the local schools, or maintain

our ever-growing library of research materials available to all of you, so we truly appreciate each and every one of you who participates in the celebration. And without our invaluable Docents during this event, it would be impossible to offer to the public. If you would like to be a part of our efforts (which incidentally gives you free admission to the Tour!), call Docent Coordinator Doreen Corwin at (714-838-1446) for details. For Promenade information, call the Museum (714-731-5701) or check our website www.tustinhistory.com, where you can also purchase tickets in advance through PayPal.

Volume 41 No 2 A Publication of the Tustin Area Historical Society March/April, 2015

TUSTIN IS “PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ”Saturday, May 2, 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (last tickets sold 2:00)

A Publication ofThe Tustin Area Historical Society

P.O. Box 185Tustin, CA 92781

Tustin Area Museum395 El Camino Real (at Main Street)

Tustin, CA 92780(714) 731-5701

E-mail: tustinmuseum@att.netWeb Site: www.tustinhistory.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORSPresident Al CorfieldVice President Ric Cannon Treasurer Bob AmmannRecording Secretary Donna Peery

DirectorsPete Beatty Lindburgh McPhersonTony Coco Joyce Miller Wendy Greene Margaret PottengerJudy Kuykendall Gary Seigel

Parliamentarian Tony CocoMuseum Office Manager Barbara HanneganMuseum Facilities Manager Bill FinkenArtifact Manager Doug Manning & Pete Beatty

Committee ChairmenEducation Programs Joe SprekelmeyerDisplays Pete Beatty & Joyce Miller.Hospitality Wendy Greene & Judy KuykendallNewsletter Editor Joyce MillerPromenade Pete Beatty & Gretchen WhislerPrograms Gary SiegelPublicity Gretchen WhislerWebmaster Guy BallNewsletter Production Anchor Printing

Museum HoursEvery Tuesday and Thursday

9 am – 2 pm First and Third Saturday

of each month 12 pm – 3 pm

Open to Visitors Admission is Free

Acc

essio

ns:

The Tustin Community Foundation holds its Annual Superheroes Volunteer Luncheon each spring honoring volunteers from the local non-profit organizations, and the TAHS Superhero for 2015 selected by your board is Wendy Greene. Wendy is not only willing to give of her time and effort to multiple community organizations throughout the Tustin area, but she always does it with a smile, a gracious attitude, and a wicked sense of humor. She has served on our Board of Directors for the past four years as well as being active in other organizations such as the Tustin Community Foundation, the Tustin Area Council of Fine Arts, and the Tustin Woman’s Club. And when she isn’t volunteering through one of the community organizations, she might be found helping out Wilcox Manor with one of their community events. When you get right down to it, Wendy’s graciousness and willingness to serve seems also to bring out the best in all of us, which is why she’s OUR Superhero not just for 2015, but all of the time.

Also chosen by the board as our nominee for the 2014 Tustin Man of the Year is Pete Beatty. Final selections will be made by the life members of the Man and Woman of the Year Committee and announced at the event dinner at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club on May 29. Pete has been an outstanding member of the TAHS Board of Directors since 2010 and he works tirelessly to support the merchants and citizens of Tustin, especially within the Old Town Area. His greatest contributions are his innovative ideas and his boundless energy. It is often hard to keep up with Pete, but it is always worth the effort. Many of his ideas have resulted in much needed revenue to support TAHS activities. We wish Pete the best of luck.

As most of you know we have taken on the cost of the digitization of our extensive collection of the Tustin News covering the years from 1922 through 2000. The purpose is twofold; one, to preserve the local history contained in the Tustin News as the newsprint will eventually deteriorate and two, to allow on-line access to the history its pages contain. Unfortunately, the cost is not cheap and runs into thousands of dollars. This means we need to find additional sources of revenue, not only for this project, but also for other archive digitization projects. One of these sources could possibly be through grants from groups who provide funds to non-profit organizations for worthy endeavors such as the historical preservation. If there are any members out there who have had experience writing grant proposals or in anyway applying for grants please give us a call. We would appreciate the help and experience.

If writing or applying for grants isn’t your thing, you can help in a myriad of other ways. We always need help on the day of our annual Promenade and Home Tour to be held this year on May 2nd. If you’re interested in getting involved, call Doreen Corwin at 714 838-1446.

And remember, we always have openings for docents during our open museum hours of 9:00am to 11:30am and 11:30am to 2:pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Al Corfield President

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Special Donations: Tustin American Legion Post 227 Enderle Center – In Memory of Elizabeth CannonTustin Area Woman’s ClubMenarch (Nathan Menard)Earl J. Prescott

Del Pickney – Tustin PD EphemeraHans & Barbara Vogel – Family archivesDavid Crawley – Book on LTA (Blimp) BaseVivien Owen – Road Atlases, Tiller Days EphemeraMark Eliot, TUSD – “School News” 2005 to 2015Mary Thoms, OC Parks – Book: “Visiting OC’s Past”.Gretchen Whisler – Ephemera from Nieuport 17 – RestaurantJ. Gordon McDonald – Crate Labels, Audion YearbooksMargaret Pottenger – Book: “The Tustin News Jubilee Edition, 1982”

New Members:Lilly McBee

Alan Ahern

George & Miko Kaihara

Paul Lennard

Obituary:

Evelyn Furstch Ojeda

Elizabeth Cannon

Join the Tustin Area Historical Society and keep your newsletter coming. Please send your dues or an additional gift today. Ask a friend to join!

ANNUAL DUES: (Please check one)o $20-$34 Contributoro $35-$59 Explorero $60-$99 Colonisto $100-$249 Settlero $250-$499 Frontiero $500-$999 Pioneero $1,000 Heritageo Renew o New

Special Contribution as Friends of the Museum $ __________________Make your check payable to: Tustin Area Historical Society

P.O. Box 185 • Tustin, CA 92781

Name ______________________________

Address ____________________________

City _____________ State ___ Zip _______

Day phone __________________________

email address ________________________

WE SAY GOODBYE TO A TUSTIN LEADERDuring the Opening Ceremonies of our 2013 Promenade, we honored Evelyn Furtsch Ojeda as the TAHS Leader and Pioneer of the Year, and she was a leader in the true sense of the word. A California native, she was 8 years-old when her family came to Orange County, where as a student at Tustin High School, her track speed came to the attention of boys’ coach Vincent Humeston. She went on to become a pioneer in women’s track and field, earning a Gold Medal for the 4x100 meter relay at the 1932 Oympics in World Record running speed. We in the Society knew her as so much more, though – we knew her as the schoolmate of some of our parents, as an eager participant in Society functions always ready to lend a hand, and as someone whose positive approach always brightened our days. All who knew her were lucky to count her among their friends.

PECKING ORDER HEROES

BY ANY OTHER NAME……………..When you take home tours, do you marvel at the furnishings and such, or do you study the roof lines from the street first then spend the remainder of the tour examining interior structure such as ceiling and window height, door frames and stairwells? If this is you, our General Meeting on Monday, May 18 will be right up your alley. If you happen to own a house that makes an architecture buff swoon, or are a homeowner within Tustin’s Historical Overlay, then this meeting is for YOU, too. Nathan Menard, a local Old Town homeowner and architect, will be speaking on the subject of architectural styles found in Tustin, and if you think all old homes are

simply Victorian or Craftsman, this will be an enlightening meeting for you. If you’re the owner of an older home and wonder if it could qualify for a plaque like the ones you’ve noticed as you’ve taken an evening stroll through your neighborhood, Nathan will be speaking on that subject as well. As the Historical Society will just have completed its 19th annual Promenade, your interest might have been sparked by a home you toured or just passed by, so we hope you will join us on May 18. It promises to be a very interesting meeting. And don’t forget - the cookies and gossip are always free!

Sometimes those skills you pick up in school, the ones you think you’ll never need again, come in really handy, as they did for TAHS on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, at the 2015 Paper Football Challenge put on by Tustin Community Foundation and sponsored by Chick-fil-A. We’re not sure just how our former president, Joe Sprekelmeyer spent free minutes in class, but he certainly used what he learned back then to propel the

TAHS team to a profitable fourth place finish against many much younger members of high school clubs. Of course, the students of today rely on their phones to message across the room, whereas in Joe’s day, you folded your note into a square, held it upright on one of its corners, and with the other hand, flicked it to propel it across the room. Congratulations to Joe and all his teammates in this triumph of Old School vs. New!

Pete Beatty, Al Corfield, Donna Peery, Joe Sprekelmeyer, Gretchen WhislerJoe Sprekelmeyer

Non-Profit U.S. Postage

PAID Santa Ana, CA

Permit No. 6080

A Publication of the Tustin Area Historical Society P.O. Box 185 Tustin, CA 92781RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

MAY

MEETING

Monday, May 18, 2015

7:00 p.m.

Tustin Library Community Room

345 E. Main Street, Tustin

Program

“Nathan Menard presents:

Architecture and

Historic Plaques”

Yorba Linda Public Library Genealogy Resources for the Public

Hi everyone! My name is Lynn Baden and I’m the Local History Librarian at the Yorba Linda Public Library. This year is an exciting one for us. We are starting some genealogy programs, free to the public.

To take advantage of these new programs, get one of our library cards. It’s free if you live in California. (Photo ID and proof of residency required. Call the Check Out Desk at 714-777-2873 ext 0 for library card information.)

We have AncestryLibrary for use in the library and you can access Fold3 Plus either in the building or from home with one of our library cards. Fold3 Plus has military, Native American and African American genealogical records in addition to other collections. To get to Fold3Plus go to our web site: ylpl.net. Click on Online Services and choose the Genealogy Tab. Scroll down and click on Fold3 Plus.

If you have any questions about our programs or accessing AncestryLibrary or Fold3 Plus, call the Information Desk at 714-777-2873 ext 6.

Lynn BadenYorba Linda Public Library18181 Imperial HwyYorba Linda, CA 92886714-777-2873Ylpl.net