La Habra Historical Museum

Sunday, July 26, 2009
New La Habra museum to focus on agricultural history
The La Habra Historical Museum will highlight the Hass Avocado Tree.
The Orange County Register

Memories fill the basement of a 64-year-old adobe building in La Habra that once housed a local library.
One of the exhibits will showcase the history of the Hass (commonly misspelled Haas) Avocado Tree.
According to the historical society, postman Rudolph Hass of La Habra Heights purchased the tree as a seedling in 1926 and planted it in his front yard. Hass named the tree after himself and received a patent in 1935. To this day, all Hass avocados can be traced back to grafts from that mother tree, which died in 2002.

The museum project received a $30,000 grant from Fourth District County Supervisor Chris Norby,

Contact the writer: lponsi@ocregister.com or 714-704-3730

(Click on "Comments" below to read the entire article
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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/habra-museum-historical-2507919-society-tree )

Charlie Hass, class of '53, said that his father was going to destroy the tree because the avocados were so ugly, but the kids persuaded him not to as they liked the taste. The Hass family never derived much income from the tree as their patent had run out before the avocados became so popular, but Charlie was invited to speak at a recent avocado growers convention where one man shook his hand and thanked him for making him a millionaire.

Chris Norby is FUHS '61.

Wilshire School, built as a WPA project in 1936, pre-dated Wilshire Junior High School and the School of Continuing Education. However, the architectural styles have been retained, earning the facility the Fullerton Heritage Preservation Award for 2009.
COURTESY OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Fullerton Heritage honors the SCE Wilshire Center
2009 Preservation Award presented to college district officials for retaining historic look.
By BARBARA GIASONE
The Orange County Register
FULLERTON – The School of Continuing Education Wilshire Center at the northeast corner of Lemon Street and Wilshire Avenue literally lives up to its name.
Students first occupied a red-brick schoolhouse on the site in 1890. After the 1933 Long Beach earthquake struck, the facility was rebuilt as Wilshire School through a WPA-funded project. The complex became Wilshire Junior High School in the mid-1950s until the North Orange County Community College District acquired the property in the early 1980s.
Through the years, the school has never lost its historic look – or its student body.
In the past few years, $4.9 million in the college district's Measure X bond funds have been used to remodel the building – and retain the traditional look.
Fullerton Heritage Preservation members kept tabs on the effort and, on June 28, awarded the district the Fullerton Heritage Preservation Award for 2009.
Longtime Heritage member Tom Dalton presented a plaque to recognize "the best example of a preservation/adaptive reuse building project within the city of Fullerton."
Provost Christine Terry, Interim Dean Vaniethia Hubbard and R2A Architecture's Design Director Lucien Runge accepted the honor.
"They preserved two buildings and did an excellent job of restoring them," Dalton said. "They needed additional schoolrooms, and used the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Preservation to build a facility similar to the historic buildings, but just different enough to distinguish between the two."
The WPA buildings were designed by Donald Beach Kirby using the Moderne architectural style popular at the time, SCE spokeswoman Jennifer Perez said. When Lemon Street was widened in the 1970s, some of the window openings facing the street were filled in because of traffic noise.
The new 5,000-square-foot administration building with the 21,000 square feet of renovated 100 and 200 buildings were built and renovated to reflect the original architecture.
Windows were re-installed, and a new roof and HVAC system were installed.
Nearly 7,000 students enroll annually in classes at the Wilshire Center, school officials said.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3762 or bgiasone@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/wilshire-school-buildings-2495150-fullerton-preservation

DENNIS FERGUSON, FUHS '58

Here is an email message from Mike Johnson, class rep for the class of '58:

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of our class mate Dennis Ferguson. He suffered a stroke on Sunday July 13, 2009 and passed away Monday July 14, in Texas. His girls were called and left right away and were there when he passed away. More information as I receive it.

Register obituary:

Dennis Curtis Ferguson
Ferguson, Dennis Curtis The family and friends of Dennis Curtis Ferguson mourn his passing, at the age of 68, on Monday, July 13 in Denison, Texas, where he had resided for the past five years. Dennis had lived in Fullerton, California all of his life prior to moving to Texas, and was preparing to return home to the city he loved, when he fell suddenly ill. Dennis leaves two daughters, Leslie Goff of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and Kristen Taggart of Fullerton, and their mother Brooke Ferguson. He and Brooke have six loving grandchildren: Melisa, age 24, Dennis, age 19, and Thomas, age 14, all of Elizabethtown; John, age 16, Rachel, age 10 and Jake, age 6, of Fullerton, and one great grandson, Dane, age 2, in Elizabethtown. He is also survived by his sisters, Karen Ferguson in Visalia, California and Susan Nelson of Bishop, California. Long-time residents will recall that his parents, Ralph and Mary Ferguson, resided in Fullerton their entire lives. Dennis attended the city's elementary schools and graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1958. He was very popular among the students and teachers, and earned letters on the varsity water polo and swimming teams. Dennis served four honorable years in the U.S. Navy, where for part of the time he was a swimming instructor, and has made lasting friendships everywhere he went. A memorial service for Dennis will be held on Saturday, July 25 at Mo's Music, 121 N. Harbor in Fullerton, at one p.m. Everyone is welcome to join the family in a celebration of his life, which was filled with much love and humor. Dennis will be greatly missed and fondly remembered. www.paradigmfunerals.com
Published in Orange County Register on 7/25/2009
Visit Guest Book (available until 7/25/2010)

CLASS OF '99 REUNION

Scheduled for Aug 29, 2009:

Here is the link to the website for the event details:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=93809408705

2009 POW WOW PICTURES

HOT LINK TO 2009 POW WOW PICTURES

http://powwow2009pictures.blogspot.com/