4th for the 40th

PART 4

First published December 2023

by Chris Pattillo

This is the fourth and final article celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the Russian River Historical Society. For this column I’ve interviewed a few key members of our society and asked why they feel it is important to have a historic society and what they most value about it.

Meredith Morris, a past secretary and member of the board and current Social Media Chair, noted that our local history would be lost without the concerted efforts of our volunteers. Retired Reverand Bob Jones reiterated that explaining that others don’t know our history – even people who live in nearby Santa Rosa. He said, “Others don’t know our history. If we don’t record it, no one will.” Jones added that we have been fortunate in that there has always been someone who has taken on the mantel of local historian. Early on John Bagley and his wife Ellen wrote our history. More recently John Schubert devoted his lifetime to collecting, recording and writing about the history of the Lower Russian River. As the current editor of Yesterday & Yesteryear I feel very fortunate that people like Rev. Jones, George Juilly, Jim Berry, Dennis O’Rorke, Frank Sternad and others send me photographs and information to help me record our history.

Opal Pullaro, a Guerneville resident since about 1942 feels it is important to have a historical society because, “you learn to connect the past with the future and learn how people before us lived and why they settled here.”

Colin Mutchler, a relatively new member who led the effort to plan our recent 40^th anniversary party, feels that, “having a local historical society allows us to zoom out our perspective beyond the busyness and craziness of our times. By looking back many generations and seeing how our communities and land have changed over time, it gives us a deeper relationship to this place so we can make better decisions that will affect future generations.”

Roberto Esteves, who led the effort to organize our archives said this when asked why it is important to have a local historical society, “History is a creation to which every person, family, business, and event contributes on a daily basis. It takes a historical society to be able to objectively collect as many of these significant contributions in order for future researcher and interested people to see and hear the important and unique stories of the past that inform the present.”

George Juilly, a local historian and member of the society for ten years says, “one of the highlights for me is the quarterly publication – Yesterday & Yesteryear. It has 12 color filled pages with interesting stories about local history. Just this publication is worth the yearly dues. Pullaro shared this sentiment noting, “even though I’ve lived here most of my life I still learn new things from your articles. It’s a good awakening for those who have lived her all our lives – to remember things we take for granted.”

Mutchler’s response to the question about what he most values in the society solicited this response, “the RRHS is the community of volunteers who show up to the archive to help remember and share stories. The thing I value most is the photography archive, which I hope we can continue to grow and make available for more of the community to participate in curating and making things out of the images.”

Responding to this same question Esteves credited Evelyn Pedroia and a small bank of women for starting the society and John Schubert for collecting and preserving information and he added, “But it is Jane Barry, and the renamed Russian River Historical Society who were able to keep the collection together through floods and lack of storage facilities, and launch a rich program of collection and preservation of these materials.”

Rev. Jones noted that, “Reading stories of the people who were here who are now gone is what he most appreciates. Jones moved to Guerneville in the 1960s so he knew or knew of many of these old timers and feels they are part of his personal history. Jones referenced the strong sense of a community bond that he feels living here. He attributes that to the fact that there have always been people living here who care deeply about the place. So many of our traditions have involved many in the community, “We’ve always had people here who care about the place. The Pageant of Fire Mountain was a huge undertaking every summer and a lot of the community contributed, the school principals, the local dentist, the real estate offices, bar keepers, other shop keepers, children, we were all part of that and built and reinforced a bond.” Pushing a little further I asked, “What is the essence that makes this community so special?” Jones responded, “Traditions have come and gone. I like to think that part of it has to do with the setting – we’re in a little valley with second growth redwood trees, the river connects us – we have so much scenery in common. That has a lot to do with it.”