George Bracey Gillow

Thanks Jim for your information on the Seagrave firetruck engine and control levers.  I will send this to local historians.

Bruce Wilson

The Jungle was a nasty (but cheap) place. You could dance with the ladies for a dime. We actuallly went in a few times barefoot on the way home from K38.5.

It may be where I contracted Giant Cell Arteritis, the malady with no known cause, nor cure. I am currrently taking Prednisone (blocks symptoms but bad side effects) and a newer drug Tocilizumab {quite a name, reminds me of ZittyBrown}... 

Be thankful you stayed away from The Jungle.

1964

Jerry Olivas, EdD

First, be on the lookout for these two troublemakers and if you see them don’t try to apprehend them because that’s what they want. Second, great to have a close Hilltop friend for about 60 years. Third, Gary is still slightly better looking than me, obviously. Ciao, Jerry

Bruce Wilson

Hilltop Drive Elementayr - First Grade.

Gary William Baldwin

I spy two desperados, second row, right hand end, who were familiar with the principals office.

Bruce Wilson

Sure looks like Mickey and Gary in the upper right hand corner above.

Separated the "bad boys" in this next one.

Hilltop Drive Elementary - Second Grade? Can anyone name the teacher? I cannot find my repor cards.

.
 

Bruce Wilson

Hilltop Drive Elementary. Third grade. Teacher? It isn't Mrs. Fuller so I know it is not Fourth Grade.

Bruce Wilson

The Cat then leaves just before their mother arrives, and the fish and the children are back where they started at the beginning of the story. As she steps in, the mother asks the children what they did while she was out, but the children are hesitant and do not answer.

The story ends with the question, "What would you do if your mother asked you?

I asked Frank that once. I cannot for the life of me (and him) remember what he said.

James Newton Perdue

Thanks Bruce for posting the 3 class photos from Hilltop Elementary. I can honestly say I recognize more of those kids than I would recognize the same people today.  The mind is an awesome thing! I think I started Hilltop in 3rd grade, having transferred from Harborside.  I remember the name Ms. Fuller.. I must have had her in 4th grade. I think I had a lady in 3rd grade that I couldn't stand. She was young, mean and as I remember she had a gimp. 

Newt

Bruce Wilson

Newt:

Glad you liked the fotos. I do much better recognizing the boys than the girls. Did you notice our favoriite Oncologist?  Mrs.Fuller was not uniformly liked and appreciated, but she was very helpful to me in the Fourth Grade.

Jerry Olivas, EdD

Happy Birthday Jackie! Great that so many of us ’64 Lancers are hangin' in there and ‘trying’ to stay strong.

Brother Jim still ask me about you. I liked you too, but I think you were out of my league. If I remember correctly those Olivas’ seem to like a lot of young ladies at Hilltop. That was a good thing, I think .

Take care Jackie.

Ciao, Jerry

Bruce Wilson

I unsuccessfully searched for Gloria Ledesma and found where she had been, but not where she was.

So now anyway through various artifices I have been in contact with her.

Maybe I should try the same technique on Carolyn Coombs.

59 years since Jay Hollister died

58 years since Jim Probert and Cathy Emerson died 

56 years since JoAnn Ledford died 

I am still here, stuck inside of Otay with the Giant Cell Arteritis blues

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Old age is likely not the only culprit in the development of GCA

There is mounting evidence that COVID and/or COVID VAX can be triggers

Be on the lookout for symptoms

I am coming to the conclusion that the Pfizer vax had a role in my case

Jerry Olivas, EdD

Hey Bruce,

Sorry you are still in the hurt-locker. I was in hopes things might evolve for the better with your Giant Cell Arteritis. I know you have research Giant Cell Arteritis thoroughly, but I was wondering if Stem Cell Therapy could help in some way. I have a niece in Copenhagen right now doing some stem cell therapy for I believe some type of nerve issues in her back. The Europeans, especially the Germans, seem to be more on top of many health issues. But don’t know much about any of this—and don’t want too, if you know what I mean.

Regarding Gloria Ledesma, I certainly do remember her, and for some reason I am thinking I knew someone else named Ledesma, maybe Jim Ledesma. Can’t exactly remember. Regards from me when you communicate with her.

Take care and when you’re up to it we can meet up at Coronado beach and beat down some of those young whipper snapper volleyball players (probably from Hilltop High)—heck yea.

Jerry

P.S. The snap is from the San Diego Jazz Festival recently. Just gettin’ down with some of my bros on SD Bay.

Bruce Wilson

Jerry: 

GCA ccan drag on for years since there is no cure. Some folks go into remission more quickly than others. Some folks apparently may never reach remission.

Stem cell research to date has been on recovery of the photorecptors which were damaged by GCA and caused the vision impairment. It looks interesting and mildly successful, but has only been done in Rat experiments. I am keepping an eye on it.

Thanks for the concern and be aware of symptoms.

Later

I

Jim Hawes

Bruce (and all) 

So, I remember the Silver Dollar bar on 3rd ave. Can't remember IF i've actually been there, although I may have visited when I got back to Chulie after the Army in '68! Anyway I recently saw a program about it on TV  (Bar Rescue). Interesting history, I had to check out their site on the inter-web. The post-show blog entries didn't rate it very highly! Still the bar history was interesting. 

Hope all are well. I had my bi-annual checkup with my cardiologist on Monday (I passed!). He said he is really seeing an increase in "seniors" getting the Fauci-Wuhan although the ones that have received pre-treatment (as he called the "vaccine") don't usually suffer as much or need hospitalization. Marsha and I have been double vaxed and double boosted. I guess we'll see how we fare. 

Last Saturday we took our youngest grands ("Captain Chaos" 4 1/2 and "General Disarray" 6 1/2) to our nephew's 8th B-day party. Yesterday morning B-Day Boy tested + for the "Fauc"! Rest of the family took tests this morning. So far all is good all negative.

Be safe my friends!

Jim Hawes

Bruce Wilson

.

Jerry Olivas, EdD

Yo All,

Here is some entertainment for your Summer ’22 enjoyment (below). Yep, still picking on Mrs. Tar. The story is fairly true from what I can remember. It occurred during a time I pretty much lived with my grandparents in the Whilton Hotel in Hanford, California just before moving to CV at the start of 7^th Grade at CV Junior High. Living in that Hotel was like living in a ‘fun-house’. Whilton is my middle name which was my great grandfathers last name, on my mom’s side. It's a solid British surname to go with my Spanish surname--sweet!

Oh, I changed out my profile snap with an ‘vintage’ picture of me in 1971, I think, which was the beginning of my ‘crazy period’ in life that lasted about five years. I was in possession of two of the monkey’s (Squirrel Monkeys from South America, I believe) for about a week in London. It didn’t go well for me, but the monkeys had a ball. They completely destroyed a one room studio that I was living in—I mean totally—they even strip most of the beautiful William Morris wallpaper off the walls (I guess they didn’t like Morris’ art work). The monkeys were given back to the guy I bought them from on Portobello Road and I was quickly off to France, one-way.

Jerry

Judy, Mrs. Tar, and the Elevator Incident – New English Review OR https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/42358-2/

Rosalee May (Rosie) O'Day (Mason)

Hi Jerry,

I love that picture of you although I have to admit that I STRONGLY DISLIKE monkeys.  I really enjoyed your story about Mrs. Tar and your vicious dog.  Keep the stories coming. I never realized what an interesting background you had before you ever reached Hilltop.

Rosie

George Bracey Gillow

This YouTube video is a presentation on the Chula Vista and Bonita Dairy Farms.  I made this presentation to Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs.  (This video is unlisted on YouTube.)

Look for one of our classmates in about the middle of the presentation.

I suggest you view it on a full screen on YouTube. 

Jerry Olivas, EdD

Thanks for the DAIRY post George. Sweet video. For some reason, I was thinking that the history of Chula Vista was all about lemon orchards. I do remember some of those dairies, however. Of course, Rohr seem to dominate Chula Vista when we were young—and I did my time there—good money with plenty of OT.

And look at Bev! See, that’s the way we were raised—go to work as soon as we could. Bev, I hope you are still getting some royalties from that photo. Well done, about 70 years ago.

Jerry

Terry Lee Maple

Lest we forget my mother was one of the celery queens of the South Bay. My family was a dairy family. Dad and uncle Graydeon milked cows after the war and tried to buy a dailry. We lived on Benton's farm in San Ysidro in the forties. In 1951 when we moved to Carla Avenue in Chula Vista, my father began to work as a wholesale driver for Arden Farms. We were never short of dairy products growing up. It was a good paying job. 

Jerry Olivas, EdD

Hey Terry,

That is one incredible and gorgeous photo—thanks for sharing that. It is all those dairy products as a kid that made you such a great athlete. As far as celery goes, crunchy peanut-butter with a little honey is the only way to go.

Jerry

George Bracey Gillow

Jerry,

There was lots of farming in Chula Vista and the Southbay.  Bruce and Terry mentioned celery but there was also tomatoes, strawberries, lima beans, barley and other products.

I remember a small strawberry patch that I sometimes walked through when going to Hilltop JHS. It was a stawberry shortcut.

There are posts on tomatoes and celery on this Hilltop 64 site.  I think these were before you signed up. Here are a some:

Page 70, Post 1708 on Sam Vener Tomato farm

Page 69, Post 1682, 1683 on Celery

Page 82, Post 2023 on Cockatoo Grove which was once a Barley and Hay farm.

Below is some more in farming.

The picture below is of Alf Lansley's lima bean farm at the current site of Southwestern College.  The following picture is a bag of lima beans.

This one of Cookatoo Grove Barley and Hay Farm. Also lima beans.  At one time owned by Alf Lansley.

Terry Lee Maple

George: In your research, did you ever find a retail business which operated in National City/Lincoln Acres called Maple Leaf Dairy? My grandfather tried to enter this business in the 40's before his two sons (my father Merrill and Uncle Graydeon) left to enlist in the Army Air Force. When Merrill and Graydeon returned they tried to buy a dairy but they didn't have the collatoral or the cash to get a bank loan. However, my father continued to work as a hired hand on South Bay dairys (Benton's Dairy/San Ysidro I think), and relief milked after he began to drive the truck for Arden Farms in San Diego. We lived at Benton's until 1951 when dad bought our first home on Carla Avenue. They must have had some advertising for the retail business. I would love to find something on it. Loved your history so much I sent it to share with my brothers. Tell me more about your career. Did you become a history teacher or did you adopt history as a hobby? 

Terry Lee Maple

George: I found this photo of my uncle Graydeon about 1938 when he was milking for A FEW ACRES Dairy! I never knew about this but I thought you would want to see it.My father probably milked for them also as that was how the two sons of Grover Maple made a living when they were just out of hight school before they enlisted in the Army Air Force.