My Brothers, this will be my last Retro Ramblings as Chairman of the Native Sons’ California History Board. After several years, it has come time for me to step aside and serve our beloved order in other ways. I have enjoyed writing these articles for The Native Son and traveling to visit the places about which I wrote. It has truly been a pleasure. I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
From my first article about Sonoma, through Fort Ross, Benicia, Donner Lake, Monterey and Los Angeles; with topics as wide ranging as natural and popular cultural history, I hope I have given you a bit of an insight into what I believe makes our Golden State so special. I hope I have inspired some of you to go out and discover some of our native state’s history yourself.
This began, as many ideas do, in a hotel room in Jackson, after a few cocktails. I simply asked what, specifically, as Chairman of the History Board, I should do. Past Grand President Dean Zellers suggested that, as I visit historic places around our state, that I write about them. Thus began Retro Ramblings.
As I end my tenure, I want to remind you of some of the accomplishments you have achieved, my Brothers. Together we helped keep many state parks from closing. Together, we have found many lost or misplaced dedication plaques. We helped keep Saint Serra’s statue in the Federal Statuary Hall. There is still much work to be done and I hope to be a part of it. Now more than ever, we must work to preserve California’s past, all of it, the good and the bad, to leave a legacy for our children as our fathers and mothers left a legacy for us.
So, what will happen to this little article? Well, I will continue to write Retro Ramblings as long as the Editor of the Native Son will publish it. The focus may change at bit as I begin to write more about the history of the Order. But I will continue to write Retro Ramblings.
So, my Brothers, please go out and discover the grand history of our beloved state. Share your love of our native land with others. Go and have fun!
In closing, I wish to thank Past Grand Presidents Duane Gavin, Gene Perry, Jim Shadle, Dave Allen, Dwight Dutschke, Tim Tullius, Dean Zellers and Grand President Paul Lapachet for their faith and confidence in me. I hope that I have served the Order well. I hope to continue to serve the Order in the future. Finally, my Brothers, to paraphrase Scoop Nisker, long time reporter for KFOG in San Francisco, “If you don’t like the history, go out and make some of your own.”