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?he Bancroft Library University of California/Berkeley Regional Oral History Office Eleanor Richards Lyon CIVIC VOLUNTEER, CLUBWOMAN, AND CONSERVATIONIST With an Introduction by Harvey Blanchard Lyon, Jr. , M.D. Richards Parker Lyon, M.D. An Interview Conducted by Rosemary Levenson copy No. @ 1976 by The Regents of the University of California All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between the Regents of the Univer- sity of California and Eleanor Richards Lyon dated 1 October 1975. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publica- tion should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and iden- tification of the user. The legal agreement with Eleanor Richards Lyon requires that she be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Eleanor Richards Lyon INTRODUCTION by Harvey Blanchard Lyon, Jr., M.D. and Richards Parker Lyon, M.D. i INTERVIEW HISTORY iv CURRICULUM VITAE vii FAMILY TREE OF ELEANOR RICHARDS LYON I FAMILY BACKGROUND A Virginian Father: The Richards Family Captain Richards ' Service in the Civil War: Mosby's Rangers T.W.T. Richards in Virginia and Nebraska: Law and Business A Kentucky Mother: The Henry-Flournoy Family Law and Real Estate Development in Southern California Growing up in Los Angeles and Glendale College Days Courtship and Marriage I1 EAaY MARRIED DAYS IN OAKLAND Daily Contacts with Harvey's Parents Helps with Lyon Storage and Moving during World War I Some Volunteer Activities Travelers Aid The Oakland Symphony Volunteers in Piedmont Schools and Piedmont Community Church I11 HOSPITALITY HOUSE, OAKLAND Hospitality Hut The De Fremery Center for Colored Service Men Larger Quarters Needed for Hospitality House Art ink letter 's Monday Nights Over Three Million Served IV THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Colonial Dames of America: Chapter V Eleanor Lyon and her Contributions to the DAR An Interview with Mrs. Frank Emilio La Cauza, Historian General of the DAR. Eleanor Lyon Joins DAR and Founds Acalanes Chapter State Offices The DAR Image and Public Relations Emanuel Leutze's 'Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth: 1854" The DAR and Politics The DAR and Redwoods Dedications of the Rebecca Lambert and Eleanor Lyon Groves Liberty Trees and the Bicentennial The Lyons' Contributions to the Conservation of Redwoods An Interview with Newton Bishop Drury, President of Save-the-Redwoods League V SERVICE TO CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF THE EAST BAY The Branch Auxiliaries Volunteer Organizer and Administrator Christmas Programs The' Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Laboratory Dr. Richards Lyon, President of the Medical Staff Eleanor Lyon and Children's Hospital Medical Center of Northern California An Interview with Alice Cutter (Mrs. Robert K.) Juniper Branch and the Fund Raising Auxiliaries Building an In-Hospital Volunteer Service Volunteers During the Building Service Maintenance Strike Volunteers and Patients The Bruce Lyon Memorial Laboratory The Women's Movements and Volunteerism VI A SAMPLING OF WOMEN 'S CLUBS Ebell Society Harvey Lyon's Contribution to Ebell Women's Athletic Club of Alameda County Home Club VII "THESE BACKGROUNDS ARE JUST VERY FANTASTIC" Some Personal Reminiscences of Eleanor Lyon An Interview with Madge Mann (Mrs. William G.) Lifetime Member of the Republican Party Women in Politics The Depression Hospitality and Entertaining at Hidden Valley and Woodland Lodge Bicentennial Commissions and Redwoods: the Liberty Tree Family Life "She Also Cooks.. .I1 Harvey's Later Years Eleanor Breaks her Hip Harvey's Death. "It was Nothing that was Difficult" Granddaughter Lee Lyon 's Death APPENDIX State Regent's Report, Daughter's of the American Revolution, 1964-1965 Dedication Ceremony, Bicentennial Liberty Tree in honor of Eleanor Richards Lyon by Acalanes Chapter DAR, 1974 135 INDEX INTRODUCTION There is a sparkle to her eyes and smile as Mother greets one with, "Well! How are you? It's so good to see you!" She would often say to us, "Don't be afraid to meet people. You will never know when one may become your very good friend." She has lived by this saying and has met and made many friends in her lifetime. For years she helped strangers through Traveler's Aid. She helped host thousands of servicemen at the Oakland Hospitality House during World War 11. She assisted Dad as co-host at social gatherings in his numerous professional, community, and service organizations. And she has been a prominent community leader herself over the years. She has in all of this initiated and maintained many meaningful relationships. After marriage in 1914, Mother came from southern California to Oakland to live, knowing very few people in the area. Dad had grown up in Oakland and managed a very personalized moving and storage business. Mother studied names and faces and developed a highly retentive memory for them. We boys often marveled at how well she remembered people. Our home was the place of frequent gatherings for those friends and acquaintances Mother and Dad shared. As a leader in Rotary and in the moving and storage industry, Dad had many relationships with people who contributed much interest and warmth of feeling to his life and the family as a whole. Mother was Dad's finest audience, responding to his humor with enj:oyment and appreciation. She was a loyal, supportive wife, acting as an able assistant or spearheading some family effort, often placing her own personal desires second to the needs of the family. Mother was a dynamic participant in activities relating to school, church, boy scouts, etc. She frequently held meetings and entertainments in our home as she organized and led the grammar school Mothers' Club and then became president for many terms of the high school and college Mothers' Club as we grew older. All the while, Mother kept in close touch with a group of congenial girl friends through get-togethers for many years. She was a conscientious, resourceful planner and manager of family outings such as Sunday picnics, vacation trips, and parties, especially on birthdays. Her experience as a school teacher before marriage probably added to her helpfulness to us in our school studies and understanding of life in general. In her own family she has thoughtfully remembkred her grandchildrens' birthdays with a present and an addition to a speclial savings account for each of them. She has also expressed admiration for her parents and sister and brother, noting with appreciation their affection and supportive- ness of her. other's 'persainal concern for her own mother in her later years was an inspiration. Likewise she was often considerate of women friends who~lackedtrans- portation, going out of her way to take them with her or wherever they needed to go. At other times such friends would be included in our family gatherings when they lacked family of their own. In the '30s Mother was resourcefully adaptable to the demands of the Depression years. She was able to limit expenditures of the family to meet lowered income with a careful shopping eye on quantity, quality, and cost. In any project that Mother entered into she was a quietly industrious worker. She knitted many sweaters for grandchildren and made thousands of brocade kleenex cases as gifts for friends or for fund-raising benefits. Any worthy school, neighborhood, or community project received her support. And all the while she kept a clean, neat, comfortable, inviting home that provided much flavor to our lives 'as children. Mother showed her skill as an able administrator, presiding effectively over womens' groups in the schools and hospital, sitting on the Board of Directors of Children's HcSspital for many years and administering the state Daughters of the American Revolution program as Regent to give but a few examples of her numerous activities. Our parents shared in the work of Save-the-Redwoods, memorializing our younger brother Bruce in an inspiring, energizing activity that took many hours work on the part of both. They also acted together in sponsoring the Bruce Lyon Memorial Laboratory at Children's Hospital. In these projects and in the social aspects of all of Dad's activities Mother was included as a vital partner. Mother has an indomitable optimism about life. Her encouragement and reassurances often helped us through times of doubt and distress. She often expressed trust in the order and ultimate goodness of life with remarks such as, "There must be a solution to the problem. Things will work out. Just keep trying. " Our parents were consistent churchgoers and supporters, often acting vigorously for church charities and social events. Often Mother has demonstrated intuitive capacity in difficult situations, responding sensitively to the needs of others and evidencing a comprehension of the rightness and reason for the way things work out. Her work at Children's Hospital as head of the volunteers for many years is an example of her sincere concern for others, giving thousands of hours of her time and energy to helping sick children regain their health. She has been an enthusiastic patriot of our country in both DAR and the Bicentennial programs. In these she has shown strong identifications with the courage and freedom of our land and its early pioneers, some of whom were family related. As a patron of the arts, particularly in symphony, opera, paintings, and doll collecting, she has vigorously participated in benefiting the community, friends, and family.

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