Newsletter of the Rancho Los Alamitos Volunteer Service Council

Co-editors Doug Cox and Roxanne Patmor

In this issue

VSC Perspectives
Keeping the Fun in Fundraising
Rancho Voices are Coming to Town
October19 VSC Meeting
Archiving History at RLA & CSULB
Remembering Jerry Miller
Upcoming Community Events

August 2024

In the Spotlight

Volunteer Stan Castle
RLAF Leadership Jeff Green

VSC Perspectives

Doug Cox, VSC President

I can’t remember a more vivid time than a few Saturdays ago when the hilltop on which the Rancho perches came wildly alive in its ancient capacity as one small part of Puvuu’nga, "the gathering place."

Sixty Rancho volunteers and staff had gathered in the morning in the Rancho Room to hear our Tongva Education Consultant, Lazaro Arvizu, take us on a deeper dive into the cultural nuances, both light and dark, of humanity’s profound sense of place and belonging.

At that same moment, dozens of other people were gathered under the green tent in the Native Garden for a private Celebration of Life, bidding farewell to a loved one.

A little later, Rancho volunteers were filing into the classroom to begin a new educational journey into renewing and expanding their relationship with the Rancho’s historic and physical gardens.

As I walked out to my car, the first wave of Saturday visitors was pulling into the still-overstuffed parking lot. As I usually do, I greeted one of the families, but my English went nowhere. In pathetically broken Spanish, I tried again by asking the young woman if this was their first time at the Rancho.

It worked. "Sí," she said, smiling patiently. "El primero."

She was carrying a newborn.

A gathering place, indeed.

Keeping the Fun in Fundraising

Fun-Raisers from Director Erin Wilson and RLA's Development Committee

Wanted:

RLA Social Media Boosters

Long Beach Gives September 19

We need volunteers to help us boost RLA's social media presence during the LB Gives campaign.

Long Beach Gives is a single-day, citywide campaign helping more than 300 non-profits reach their fundraising goals. We are pleased to join the 2024 "friend-and-fun-raising' effort.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 to buy new lunch benches used by over 100 school children a week.

There are many ways to help us reach our goal

If you'd like to create a page using the Long Beach Gives template, click here to start your own Facebook or Instagram campaign for Rancho Los Alamitos.

Link your existing Facebook and Instagram pages to RLA's LB Gives pages and encourage your social media followers to support RLA.

Or perhaps ask a friend, colleague, or family member to make a donation to the Rancho on Sept. 19.

Best Part of 3rd & 4th Grade? Visiting the Rancho!

Keeping up with Bus Costs

Our Development team is determined to raise $20,000 by the end of September for school buses for the 2024-25 school year.

Providing free-to-the-school field trips for 3rd and 4th grade students is one of our most important programs. For most of our student visitors, their trip to RLA is their first experience at a museum of any kind, and the demand for bus scholarships has increased while the cost of renting the buses has risen.

The campaign ends on September 30. We need your help! When the opportunity arises with friends and family, please tell them how important it is to help students! If you need a way to start the conversation, let them know how much the students learn from the Tongva educators during the storytelling and interactive discussions, and the craft project that is educational and gives them a meaningful keepsake to take home.

The importance of school tours can't be overstated. Schools and their students are depending on us!

Q: Where can you find a festively decorated house, actors telling stories, carolers singing, and cookies?

A: The 2024 Rancho Voices Holiday Program!

Thursday & Friday

December 5th & 6th from 4 to 8 pm

We plan to build on the success of last year's program while making a few changes to improve visitors' experiences and give docents a larger role in the story-telling part of the program.

Rather than gathering groups of guests and walking them to three presentations, this year's tour will be self-guided. Guests will get a map with performance times and will be free to see the house and presentations in their preferred order. There will be signage with directions and performance times.

At each performance stop, docents will introduce actors and give some history related to the presentation. Outdoor locations are the Stallion Barn, Blacksmith's Shop, Secret Garden, and one performance inside the ranch house, possibly the front porch.

We'll provide updates in this newsletter, in Steve Squire's email updates, and Volgistics notifications.

We look forward to a sparkling and successful event!

Photos top to bottom: Jewel Box Children's Theater caroling with Mitchell Nunn and Jill Prout as the Des Granges, Rick Reischman and Madison Mooney as the Wattes, Docent Vicki Newcomer, Bob Fetes as Manuel Machuca and Roxanne Martinez as Petra Sisneros. Photos courtesy of Lee Samuel Tanng

Guest Speaker Virginia Sisneros at October 19 VSC Meeting!

Last month, the Sisneros family held a large reunion at RLA with nearly 180 family and friends, many of whom lived on the ranch. In October, we welcome Virginia to share her and her family's memories and experiences at Rancho Los Alamitos.

Angie & Martha Sisneros sitting at the umbrella table in the Olive Garden, c. 1950

Martha and Virginia Sisneros with Margaret and Catherine Vasquez posing in RLA's worker housing March 11, 1944

Photos from RLA Online photo archive

Joe Sisneros in barns area in August 1959

Photo by Aslaug Oftedal

CSULB and RLA Archivists Meet

CSULB archivist Heather Steele Gajewski and her assistant Briana Vasquez visited the ranch in August. In the CSULB library, they care for the Joan Hotchkis Collection of Bixby Family papers. Despite working next door, neither had been through the guard gate and up the hill to the ranch.

Collections Manager Robin Herrera led their tour of the house, barns and gardens. They saw, in person, some of the things they’d read about in Joan’s papers. Robin also showed them some of the ranch’s research materials. Over lemonade in the Secret Garden, Heather and Robin shared stories of the challenges they each face in caring for collections of fragile historic materials,

Robin and Volunteer Assistant Archivist Lauren Herrera are planning a visit to the CSULB Library Special Collections in the near future.

Volunteer Spotlight

Stan Castle

Stan Castle is a docent and a builder who has turned what he knows about engineering and Rancho history into an object illustrating ranch life in the late 1800s, a RAM water pump.

What made you decide to become Rancho volunteer?

Growing up in Long Beach, I was always fascinated with that mysterious ranch atop Bixby Hill and wanted to know more about its history. I have always been a fan of history, particularly California history and so after I retired and moved back to Long Beach, the opportunity to work as a volunteer at the Rancho was definitely appealing. It has been an opportunity to work with a lot of other great dedicated people with similar interests

As an interesting side note, as a young boy I had thoughts of the Rancho being haunted. This is now a frequently asked question by the kids on my school tours.

How long have you been volunteering here?

I graduated from a training class conducted by Teresa Barbee about 12 years ago. It was before the visitor center was added. At that time we would start our tours from the Fred’s office

What do you like best about the time you spend at the Rancho?

Some of the best times, most rewarding times, are those during tours with guests that enjoy interacting with me, asking questions and sharing information. I have learned a lot about the Rancho and its relationship to the community through discussions with learned and interested guests. Whenever I have such groups, it’s very difficult to end the tour in an hour.

I also conduct school tours for fourth grade students. School tours and adult tours are very different, but I must say having an opportunity to work with a group of kids that are interested and enthusiastic (but well behaved) and ask a lot of questions also qualifies as best times at the Rancho.

What’s your favorite thing to hear from visitors?

I think I might be able to speak for a lot of docents when I say that one of the biggest rewards for being a part of the Rancho are the compliments we receive from our guests.

What do you like to do when you’re not at the Rancho?

Basically, all the things I didn’t have time for when I was employed. In addition to working at the Rancho I have been involved with a lot of around the house improvement projects, most of which I believe have been completed.

My wife and I did a little bit of traveling to Europe. I belong to conversational Spanish group that meets once a week. My daughter and I enrolled in an art class together, which was a lot of fun. I am currently working on an Owl house for a raptor rescue site

Which is the one word your friends and family would use to describe you?

OK, I had to cheat on this one. I asked my daughter and wife this question and they responded as follows: Daughter Julie: Methodical. Makes sense. Probably due to my engineering background Wife Linda: Hard working. Can’t argue with this either as both my wife and I were hardworking raising our family.

I would just add both were quick to supplement their answers with words like caring, trustworthy and dependable. I’m glad I asked

What else do you want us to know?

I have really enjoyed working at the Rancho over the last 12 years. I have met a lot of great people and look forward to many more years of service

Grounds and Livestock Manager Karen Thompson asked Stan to build an owl house sized for an American barn owl for a raptor rescue. The box will be mounted on a tree, and the bottom door gives access for cleaning.

Stan theorizes that John and Susan Bixby had a hydraulic ram pump installed at a natural spring on the south side of the hill. He believes it operated in two stages, one using the kinetic energy of the spring to pump water to an intermediate pond. From there energy from the static pond head moved the water up to a storage tank in what is now the Secret Garden.

Leadership Spotlight

Jeff Green

John Jeffrey (Jeff) Green’s roots run deep at Rancho Los Alamitos. His mother was Deborah Bixby Green, the third daughter of Fred and Florence Bixby. When Deborah married Robert Clark Green, the couple moved to Berkeley where they raised their four children.

Each summer, the family came to Long Beach to visit Deborah’s parents at Rancho Los Alamitos. As the youngest of their grandchildren, Jeff enjoyed a special connection with Fred and Florence, who he said spoiled him because he was the last grandchild.

Jeff was very close to Fred, whom he called Grandfather. He recalls that as soon as he was old enough to ride a horse, his grandfather would delay the roundup until Jeff’s school year had ended and he could be part of it, just as his mother had been when she was growing up. In fact, Jeff’s mother and aunt continued participating in the roundups along with him and his grandfather.

At nine years old, Jeff knew he wanted to be in the cattle business like his grandfather. After high school, he chose to attend Michigan State University because it had a good agriculture program and was a place where his family wasn’t well known. He believed people in the cattle business weren’t always good at promotion and decided to get an MBA in marketing.

Like ranching, music was always part of his life. Like his siblings, Jeff learned to play musical instruments. He took violin lessons, but stopped when he accidentally sat on the instrument and broke its bridge. He took trumpet lessons, but ultimately it was too loud to continue. He also took piano lessons. Although he says he wasn’t a good pianist, his grandmother loved to listen to him play. One piece he remembers playing for her is “To a Wild Rose.” At Michigan State, he directed his fraternity’s choir. During his Army service, he sang with the award-winning Quartermaster Command Choir.

After graduating with his MBA, he managed a feedlot where cattle were readied for market. He also sold agricultural real estate and was an investment analyst. While working, he continued to pursue his love of music. He began producing musicals for community theaters in northern California. This led him to pursing a degree in Choral Music Conducting at CSU San Jose. It reminded him that as a boy he had dreamed of joining “Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians”. With his music degree, he produced musicals at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco and at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. Jeff recently moved to a retirement community where he’s organizing a choir for his fellow residents whose average age is in the 80’s. It’s a new challenge.

Jeff’s connection to the ranch he loves remains strong. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation and remains on its board of directors. He cares deeply about the Rancho’s history, its preservation, and its educational mission. When he downsized his possessions for his recent move, he donated Florence Green Bixby's Steinway grand piano to the Rancho. (He inherited it from his grandmother's estate in 1961.) He’s a member of RLA's Development Committee. A frequent visitor for special events, Jeff attended the RLA-hosted Navy Trust reception when the Rancho received $50,000 for the second phase restoration of the business office. Jeff also made a major contribution to the restoration project.

He enjoys visiting the ranch, which holds many happy memories of time spent here with his grandparents. He shares the stories of his boyhood, many of which have become part of the docent-led house tours. He remembers lessons he learned from his grandfather. And he fondly recalls his granddad’s response when someone asked him what it took to run a successful cattle ranch: “Watching your prize bull scratch himself – on the leg of an oil derrick.”

During his visits to the Rancho, Jeff enjoys talking with volunteers, staff, and visitors. If you want to make his day, and yours, next time you see him walking the grounds, ask him for a story about the rancho. You’ll be glad you did.

-Dr. Kaye Briegel

Top: Jeff riding in a parade in August 1955

Historic photos from RLA's archive, available at the PastPerfect online photo library.

Jeff and his mother, Deborah Bixby Green, in 1958, at Mount Diablo, their ranch near San Francisco. Jeff's horse was named Zorro and Deborah's was named Benedito.

Jeff (right) and Mike Hernandez at the June 1968 dedication celebrating Bixby heirs donating RLA to the city. Mike lived at the Ranch taking care of gardens and grounds.

Remembering Board Member Jerry Miller

By Harry Saltzgaver

Originally appeared in the Grunion Gazette August 2, 2024

Long Beach has lost a hero.

Jerry Miller spent Saturday with his family, celebrating his daughter’s birthday. That was typical Jerry – a family man first, last and always.

Sadly, the family found him later, not breathing, in his bed. I can’t imagine the shock.

I’ve known Jerry for more than a quarter century. He was the Economic Development Bureau manager under City Manager Jim Hankla and Mayor Beverly O’Neill when the Navy decided to pull the plug on Long Beach.

One of my jobs was to chronicle how that trio (along with a ton of other folk) remade the Long Beach waterfront and the Long Beach economy. Jerry had an ability to explain complex development plans in simple enough terms that I could explain it to our readers.

And they succeeded. Not right away, and not completely, But the city can thank them for the Aquarium, the waterfront, the Towne Center and more.

In what has become a natural progression, Jerry became assistant city manager when Henry Taboada followed Hankla, then took the top spot when Taboada departed. He got to start with Beverly still mayor, and he somehow managed to eliminate a $90 million city deficit without making any deadly enemies, at least that I knew about.

He retired in 2007 after 35 years with the city, but he stuck around. He used his experience to help nonprofit organizations with their work. Most people didn’t see it, but the folks at WomenShelter sure knew, as did the Salvation Army and others.

His real passion, though, was Rancho Los Alamitos, the city’s historic site on the hill above Cal State Long Beach. He and executive director Pamela Seager developed a strong bond and a passion to complete the strategic plan that made the Rancho the gem it is today. He thought up the Cottonwood Awards Luncheon, a now-iconic must-attend event for city movers and shakers. Fittingly, he received the award himself in 2023.

Jerry and I bonded over our mutual admiration of Beverly O’Neill, and sealed the deal with golf. I had the privilege of being one of a group of five or six who played together most weekends. We created something called the city manager gimme when Jerry was within 3 feet of the cup.

We were all very involved in the city, but that was usually covered in the first three or four holes. The occasional exception was when one of us had a passion project. Jerry was always the first to start working on a solution.

A lot of people in Long Beach are in shock and pain at Jerry’s sudden passing. I am among them.

But, my friend, you have left a legacy of making your city better – just what you worked so hard at. Well done, good and faithful servant.

Rest in peace, Jerry. You will be missed.