It's Annual Meeting Time!
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Upper Mojave Desert 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. • P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556 • 760-375-8456 Vol. 27 No. 5 May 2012 To see our schedule of events, visit us at www.hsumd.org or on Facebook at hsumd It’s Annual Meeting Time! Get your dinner tickets by May 12 for an evening featuring a ghost-town gossipist, delicious lasagna, good friends and boardmember elections ur annual dinner and meeting will take place Tuesday, May 15, at 6 p.m. at the Historic USO Building. Come prepared to be well-fed and well- Oentertained. Featured will be Cecile Page Vargo speaking about her new HSUMD-published book, Cerro Gordo. A Ghost Town Caught Between Centuries. She will also be available to autograph copies of the book, which will be for sale before and after the meeting. The evening will also include the election of boardmem- bers and a short business meeting before the speaker. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and dinner will start at 6:30, with the business meeting and the speaker starting after dinner. Dinner will include a choice of traditional lasagna or lasagna with chicken and a white sauce. Tickets at $10 each must be purchased at the Historic USO Gift Shop by Satur- day, May 12. Cecile Page Vargo is a historian, and ghost town gossipist. When she’s not out in the backcountry exploring or tending a ghost town, she spends time researching and writing about California’s unique past. Cecile has recently completed two book projects about the mining town of Cerro Gordo. The book HSUMD published is a collection of 25 years of stories written about Cerro Gordo. Cerro Gordo, co-authored with husband Roger Vargo, is part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series and is scheduled for publication this coming August. Cerro Gordo is the Inyo County mining town famed for helping shape the future of Los Angeles, which grew dramat- ically as Cerro Gordo ore was shipped from its port. Cecile Page Vargo and her husband Roger pose in Continued on p. 6 period costume outside the American Hotel at Cerro Gordo. Explore Historic California photo Vol. 27 No 5 May 2012 President’s Message Genealogical o time for a full-blown Presi- Committee News dent’s Message this month. Our May meeting will be on Tuesday, May 8, at I’ll simply urge you to come 7 p.m. It will be a hands-on experience on using the Nto our Annual Meeting May 15. We’ll Internet and learning some of the pitfalls and secrets. share news with you of accomplish- Our Ancestry World membership will be in place, ments and plans, plus we’ll be voting on and we will discuss scheduling and access. a great slate of board members, and of Bring your laptops to link to our wi-fi. We will have course learning about Cecile Vargo’s two computers available for those without laptops. new book, published by HSUMD. Genealogical Committee members, please remem- We’ve had an excellent year, and ber to come to the Historical Society’s annual dinner we couldn’t have done it without your meeting. See details in this month’s lead article, page 1. Doug Lueck support. Hope to see you on May 17! Come cast your vote for our 2012-2014 directors and — Doug Lueck enjoy the presentation by Cecile Vargo on her new book about Cerro Gordo. — Carol Porter Plan on an unforgettable experience Aug. 23! Roy Book Binder, “The Book,” is someone you’re going to want to see when he appears in the Historic USO Build- ing on Thursday, Aug. 23. We’re lucky to have been able to book a spot on the busy schedule of this world-renowned folk-blues performer and storyteller. Tickets will be on sale at the gift shop soon @ $20. Be sure to get yours! And here’s a bit about The Book. He traveled with the Rev. Gary Davis in the 1960s, rediscovered Pink Anderson and revived his career in the ’70s, and Roy’s never looked back ever since. He’s been included in The Blues Who’s Who and The Big Book Of Blues. Jorma Kaukonen included Roy’s songs on his last two Red House Records. Roy has appeared on TNN’s “Nashville Now” 30 times with many of Country Music’s bigest legends and has toured na- tionaly with Bonnie Raitt, JJ Cale and Hot Tuna ... you name it, he’s done it! The Book left Greenwich Village in 1976, moved into a tour bus and lived on Roy Book Binder, folk-blues legend coming to Ridgecrest Aug. 23! the road for the next 15 years. He borrowed from his heroes to become a distinct voice in the Blues and At Merlefest, Roy has hosted the acoustic blues stage Folk music worlds. for the past 16 years. He’s been to Hell and back — the “The stories are as good as the songs,” said the Sydney Morn- Blues Festival in Hell, Norway, last August. ing Herald in Australia. He’s still out on the road entertaining audiences Over the years Roy has appeared many times at the Na- around the world, and this August will be our turn to tional Storytelling Festival. the Chicago Blues Festival, The experience why he is famed as a Singing-Songwriting- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the King Biscuit Blues Storytelling-Fingerpickin’ Blues Legend! Festival and the world-famous Philadelphia Folk Festival. — Alan Alpers 2 Vol. 27 No 5 May 2012 ✯ Vote for Our Board Candidates at the Annual Meeting ✯ Our Nominating Committee (Dale Lane, John Di Pol, and Joan Wood- man) has named the following slate to run for 2012 election to the Board of Directors: Doug Lueck Matthew Zubia Chuck Cordell Mike Leming Andrew Sound Carol Porter Bill Pitman Of the above slate, Doug, Chuck, Matthew Zubia Mike, Andrew, and Carol have con- Nick Whisnant sented to continue their hard work on t’s great to see Mat- our board for another term. Matthew, resident of the thew Zubia running who was appointed to the board in Indian Wells Valley for a full term! Since January, has agreed to run for a full since 1992, Nick has he joined our board in term. Abeen employed by Carriage Inn early 2012, he has worked on sev- since 1996 and is currently the I Since the committee submitted eral successful fund-raising events. chief engineer of facilities. its report, another highly qualified Matthew was in the Navy when candidate has agreed to throw his hat Nick founded the Ridgecrest he arrived in Ridgecrest with his in the ring: Geocachers, and his team created wife and son in February 1994. the geocaching event that is a big Nick Whisnant “After departing the Navy in part of the Wildflower Festival. 1997, I remained here because I Continuing for another year of the Last year Nick was the presenter was offered a job on the base,” he two-year terms to which they were who gave instructions on geocach- said. elected last year are: ing. This year his lecture title was At China Lake, he supports the Jim Kenney “All About Geocaching.” Flight Test Engineering Branch. Bill Nevins “I am completely overwhelmed Since Matthew got out of the by the history and mystery of our Bill Casaroli Navy, the Zubias added two girls area,” he says. Sounds like the per- to their family. John Abbott fect boardmember! He’s been involved with Tex Hoppus Nick is a dad with children at- HSUMD ever since January 2010, tending elementary through high (Genealogical Commit- school. He said he’s looking for- when he began hosting our Open tee appointee) Mic events. ward to serving on the HSUMD Further nominations from the floor Board of Directors. are of course welcome. 3 Vol. 27 No 5 May 2012 Lack of Wildflowers Didn’t Stop Festival-Goers ven without flowers this year’s Wildflower Festival was a real suc- cess. The presenta- Etions in our building were well attended — in fact, three times as many people came to each lecture as they did last year. Our gift shop was a busy place, and the kitchen staff was kept hopping with their popu- lar pulled-pork sandwiches and chili. This year’s highlight was our breakfast with Capt. Dennis Lazar and his wife Shannon, followed by his very interesting presentation on the Naval Air Weapons Station’s role in pres- CONGRATULATIONS! The talented winners of the popular vote in our Desert Wild- ervation and environmental flower Photo Contest are (from left) Pat Sorenson and her second-place “Mariposa awareness. The information on Lily,” Ashely Olive and his first-place “Spot of Color” and Yvonne Baker with her DOD plans for Murray School third-place “Phacelia.” This year’s contest attracted entries that Coordinator Carol and Burroughs High School Porter described as “even better than last year’s.” HSUMD awarded each of the win- was news to many. ners a shopping spree in the Historic USO Gift Shop. All photos by Liz Babcock Our Wildflower Photo Display had 38 entry for the public to enjoy and choose a favorite. The public obviously enjoyed being able to choose from among the many beauti- ful photos — 400 votes were tallied to select our winners. I hate to thank my help- ers by name for fear I will skip someone, but the effort put out by these folks made the event happen, and they deserve the recognition. Here are some of them: Claudia Sound, Joy Young, Mi- chelle Andrioli, Janet Jackson, Barbara Roberts, Liz Babcock, Dee DiPol, Sandy Hinds, Craig Porter, and John DiPol.