The Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History at California State University of Fullerton is a treasure trove of local history. Since the 1960s, students and faculty have been conducting interviews with local residents about their memories. Here are some profiles I have written based on oral history interviews I have read. Click on the person’s name to read more.
Hubert C. Ferry (Union Oil employee)
Albert “Pete” Hetebrink (rancher)
Jessie Corona de Montoya (Yorba Descendant)
H. Lynn Sheller (Fullerton College president)
Otto Evans (candy store owner)
Juanita Ferraris (on the Bastanchury Family)
C. Stanley Chapman (businessman/son of first mayor)
Mary Laura Campbell (librarian)
Howard Crooke (engineer, Orange County Water District Director)
Gordon Melgren (college professor)
Herman Hiltscher (city engineer/administrator)
Orla Jencks (Standard Oil employee)
Anthony Ondaro (Bastanchury Ranch Foreman)
Betty Oba Masukawa (experienced Japanese internment camp)
Wilson Phelps (rancher/property owner)
Blanche Elder Hale (Union Oil employee)
Florence Arnold (artist)
Mabel Myers (geology professor)
Charlotte “Polly” Gobar Snyder (city employee)
George Mickle (Fullerton College groundskeeper)
Jewel Plummer Cobb (scientist/university president)
Lulu Launer (teacher)
Stanley Porter (rancher/artist)
Jennie Reyes (restaurant owner)
W. Ray Easton (Packinghouse Manager)
Dorothy Newton (High School Teacher)
Robert Clark (Industrial Coordinator)
Fullerton History 