Heritage Shared Board Members

William Preston, Board President
Instructor of Geography at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

I grew up in Tulare in the San Joaquin Valley and as a child enjoyed visiting the tangible legacies of the region's history that I learned from my elders and in school. Most of these landscapes have since been destroyed and only remain in my imagination. I believe the loss of these historic landscapes has served to diminish both the appreciation of history and the quality of life for the residents in the Valley.

The Central Coast is now my home and I am committed to expanding our citizen's appreciation of the past and to salvaging the historic features that have been largely destroyed in the landscapes of my youth.

Heritage Shared has provided a wonderful opportunity to pursue these goals in the company of like-minded folk.

Now that I am a father of two young daughters I look forward to sharing with them our fascinating history and its remaining landscape expressions. Its my hope that they will have the opportunity to do the same with their children. Heritage Shared is devoted to making this future a reality and I'm proud to be a part of it.

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Laura Carr

I am the newest HSer in title, but my memories about the group go back easily to before my sixth birthday! My mother, Paula Carr, was one of the group of founders - affectionately known as the "Gang of Five" - of Heritage Shared, so meetings were frequently held at our house. I remember the frantic cleaning beforehand, the preparation of foodstuffs and the rearrangement of furniture. I also remember the laughter and the zany dialogues that ensued raucously in the living room long past my bedtime.

Now, ten years later, I am pleased and honored to sit on the board that I watched in action timidly from behind my mother's chair. The banter now makes more sense to me and I appreciate the great minds that orchestrate this organization and make it what it is.

History is one of my passions, along with playing piano (classical music, especially Chopin, Beethoven, and Kalkbrenner), period costumes - 1840s, please - and soccer. I attend San Luis Obispo High School, where I apply myself to calculus, biology, English, Spanish, Latin, and world history. I am currently in my sophomore year, so I remain open-minded about a possible career choice. But I am sure that my love of history will play a role somewhere down the line.

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Paula Carr

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Nancy Farrell
Archaeologist/Historian                         

Most summers when I was a child, my mother would pack up my baby sister and I and drive across the U.S., visiting various relatives.  My mother's job was to stop at every historical marker, museum, national or state park and roadside attraction from Los Angeles to Indiana.  Usually we went via Route 66, but sometimes the northern routes were chosen.   It was an amazing education, and probably a bad omen about my future tendency to be interested in way too many fascinating topics.

I've been practicing archaeology and historical research for... a long time, working in California, the southwestern U.S., Hawaii, and Micronesia. I live in Paso Robles, where my small consulting company is also located.   One day I was kidnapped by these Heritage Shared folks and the next thing I knew, I was on the Board of Directors. And very pleased I am, to be in such company and to have the chance to work for sharing my enthusiasm for history.
 

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Astrid Gallagher

The Great Migrations of the American West

Along the old southwest highway, The Natchez Trace Parkway, from Tennessee to the Mississippi River, we’ve come across spooky trenches from Civil War battlegrounds, and lonely stretches of gravel roads, where highwaymen could still grab you.

We’ve followed the Mormon trail westward, stood on the “Parting of the Ways,” where you can see the wagon ruts split toward Oregon and California. My kids climbed Independence Rock to read the signatures, the oldest said 1815. We’ve hiked waist high wheel ruts up the bluffs above the South Platte river.

There are literally hundreds of unique trails and roads crossing this country. One of the least known is the 1776 Juan Bautista de Anza trail from Hermosillo, Mexico to Alameda, California. This well documented route runs right through our county. Even with National Park Service and County Board of Supervisor’s support, there is little unity among the various segments. Creating a connected route through the county is of vital importance.

As long as I can remember, we’ve always traveled. I was 13 before we lived in one country for more than a year. My teen age years were spent in Colombia. I immigrated into the US to attend Scripps College, Claremont, CA, and later attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, Montclair, NJ for an MAT Spanish. I taught Spanish and French in California and New Jersey before moving to San Luis Obispo permanently in 1994. 

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Mary Leizear

Unlike some of the other Heritage Shared Board members, I have no background of any kind in history. I moved to Cardiff, California in 1980 from Washington, DC, to be close to the Pacific Ocean. In order to understand my new state, I read Cadillac Desert, which explains almost everything about politics and water in this amazing place.

I moved to Morro Bay in 1989 and learned about kayaking and birds. Somehow those activities put me into contact with Dick Miller, and now I find myself immersed in an endless number of fascinating historical venues.

Among my favorite places in San Luis Obispo County are the Painted Rock in Carrizo Plains, Hearst Castle in San Simeon, the Dallidet Adobe in San Luis Obispo, and the Dana Adobe in Nipomo.

I have been to Painted Rock when the Chumash and Salinan Native Americans performed some of their ancient ceremonies. The mystery and aura of the place and its people made my hair stand on end.

William Randolph Hearst and architect Julia Morgan managed to employ a whole city of hard-working people throughout the Great Depression and beyond while they built and rebuilt the castle, which is still completely out of place in its setting in the Santa Lucia Mountains.

The adobes tell moving stories of the sailors, traders, and adventurers who dared the Wild West to make their fortunes (or not) in this often harsh and unforgiving environment.

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Dick Miller

 
Bloomington, Illinois Pantograph, Nov. 20, 1945 (Caption reads: "These apothecaries' bottles are handblown and were in use in the McDowell store about three quarters of a century ago. Dick Miller, shown with them, is the grandson of George Miller, one of the clerks in the village emporium.")

I grew up a science nerdy only child in a historically-minded small town mid-western merchant family with a strong artisan tradition. I spent most of my early years exploring the river that ran through my neighborhood and hanging out with quirky senior citizens who shared old skills and wonderful stories. I guess that’s why I grew up to be an outdoorsy metalworking cabinetmaking historian.

I studied history in college and graduate school because everything has one. Before retirement in 1991, I taught at USC, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and The Colorado College. Currently I offer courses in the Cal Poly SLO Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. I’ve curated several major museum exhibits in the Midwest, and locally at Montana de Oro State Park and the Morro Bay Natural History Museum. I’m a founding member of Heritage Shared, and President of the California Council for the Promotion of History.

Interests? I find that the most intriguing historical discoveries often happen in the cracks between conventional topics and fields. So far I’ve explored the histories of science and technology, legal, urban, photographic, and women’s history. I remain fascinated by material culture, and especially curious about the ways our local pasts relates to the wider world.

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Ruth Vasconcellos

A culturally rich childhood home life shaped my fascination with people, their customs/values, and the land they cherish. I am a "war baby," the firstborn of a Nebraska G.I. father and a British mother, so we celebrated all holidays with dual traditions. To add to this mix, my mother went to college when I was a teen. Our dining room was filled with the voices, laughter, and food of many foreign exchange students in their late-night study sessions. The stories they would share and the passion they felt for the land and homes they had left behind are with me today.

My love of California started in the eyes of my British mother who was intrigued with the Mother Lode and its many colorful Gold Rush characters. Summers would find my family leaving our home in Stockton to camp on the shores of Silver Lake. I was blessed to have an uncle who took our family to Kennedy Lake and taught us to live off the land. Yes, fresh rainbow trout for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Thus began my love for the Sierras and man's connection to the land.

So my current move to the Central Coast brings with it a curiosity for this beautiful country and its many opportunities. Thursday evenings find my husband and me coaching the Hot Shots, a Special Olympics team. I have met other county residents through the Estero Bay Newcomers Club as a volunteer in the Caring Callers, a program for the elderly. We enjoy the fellowship of a church family and have taken leadership roles in our local parish.

I watch carefully as our urban sprawl is planned and again know that the way we use our land and our resources speaks loudly of our values. I dearly love the many state parks we are so fortunate to have here and spend weekends hiking Montano de Oro or the Cayucos Bluffs with my family. The county is now like those Gold Rush pioneers as we create our vision for the future of San Luis Obispo County.

This brings me to this interesting and quirky group, Heritage Shared. We are not all historians, but we are all passionate about our county and residents and enjoy good fun and fellowship as we take on joint ventures that tweak our curiosity. This is an exciting time to be living on the Central Coast with its many treasures of open land, abundant wildlife, and many newcomers like myself.