This year, our annual membership meeting featured presentations by local historians Glenda Jackson and Richard Senate. Glenda Jackson told tales of Theodosia Burr Shepherd who was instrumental in developing the flower seed industry in California. In the late 19th century, Theodosia Burr Shepherd developed ground-breaking plants and sold seeds to customers as far away as Europe. Her garden, located where the parking lot of the E.P. Foster Library is now located, became a tourist attraction.
Richard Senate told tales of a much better known denizen of downtown Ventura, Erle Stanley Gardner, whose Perry Mason novels are still a staple of mystery readers.
The program began at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 18 at the Museum of Ventura County and was followed at 4:00 p.m. by a business meeting, open to members only, where the board for the coming year was elected:
President: Kathy Thomson, Vice-President: Berta Steele, Recording Secretary: Joanne Fields, Treasurer: Gary Stephens, Corresponding Secretary: Jane Anderson