No one was more surprised than Jim Bray at the 100-plus turnout for his talk on the heritage of the oil industry in Santa Maria Valley.
“Truthfully,” he told me, “I thought about 15 would be there.”
These expectations did not deter him from spending a lot of time preparing a slideshow and a seamless, super-smooth, linear, hour-long presentation for the Historical Society’s popular The Valley Speaks series held on Saturday, Jan. 10, in the Shepard Room at the library.
As public and government affairs manager for Pacific Coast Energy Company, Bray delivered a talk that was long on information and nostalgia. He gets five stars for being able to be heard at the back of the room.
He talked about the history of the booming local oil production since around the turn of the last century, and added some info about what happens in drilling for oil and the ramifications of having oil wells in the county.
“Until Measure P appeared,” he told me, “I don’t think county residents realized the impact of the oil industry in Santa Barbara County. Three of the biggest property-tax payers are oil companies.”
Bray had the audience in the palm of his hand. Santa Marians are so interested in the beginnings and background of our local oil industry that Allan Hancock College would do well to consider a lecture series on the subject.
Yo, Kevin Walthers (Hancock’s prez), give me a shout and we’ll discuss the possibilities.
Many in the room had ties to the early Orcutt Hill days. The granddaughters of an oil pioneer, the Openshaw sisters—Karen Cordary, Sandy Saunders, and Deby Flynn—were among the crowd, along with Etta Forbes Atkins, whose grandmother and mother were Orcutt’s first and last postmistresses, respectively.
Former weather guru Jim Byrne was in the audience. It’s always a pleasure to see New York resident Penelope Hartnell, a descendant of William Hartnell, a big name in the early days of Santa Maria oil. Paso Robles’ Ed Hazard, descendant of another early oil pioneer, was on board for the talk, as was history buff Barron Smith of Arroyo Grande.
Thanks, Evie Geiger, for putting oil on the Valley Speaks agenda. Loved it.
After a holiday season teeming with activity, the beginning-of-the-year event calendar is sparsely notated while everyone is surely gasping for breath and regrouping, reinventing, and rejuvenating.
The first group to plunge into 2015’s annual dinner circuit is—guess who?—the Historical Society. Its annual dinner meeting is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 25, at the Historic Santa Maria Inn.
Professor of history at Allan Hancock College, Roger Hall, will, as guest speaker, present a local perspective of World War I.
President of the society Jim Zemaitis is currently enamored of that period. He’s tracked down the names of all of the local men in the military who died during that time. He knows which northern Santa Barbara County military died in the trenches on foreign soil and which died in the United States within driving distance of home of influenza and other diseases. Zemaitis is relentless with detail!
Call 922-3130 if you have a hankering for local history and congenial company and want to make a dinner reservation. You have a choice of top sirloin, chicken, or salmon. Tickets cost $30.
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at helenthom232@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Jan 22-29, 2015.