Brig. Gen. Keith Jones gazed through the worn windows on row after row of battered and broken World War II-era barracks left standing at Camp Roberts and recalled their better days. “You were glad to have a roof over your head and shade from the sun,” he said. For years, motorists on Highway 101 have seen the jarringly empty ghost town on the camp’s west side and wondered what the buildings were and why they’re still around….
A mother and child reunion, 71 years in the making
Brooke Mayo, 89, sat at a small kitchen table in her Paso Robles home on a recent afternoon as she carefully adjusted her eyeglasses and began telling a story of the daughter she gave up for adoption in the summer of 1942….
Paso Robles historical society recovering 19th century negatives
Since August, Paso de Robles Area Historical Society volunteers have been revealing faces from the Central Coast’s affluent and minority families in a collection of 2,000 glass-plate negatives. They are the work of late photographer Richard “R.J.” Arnold.
Experts say the negatives — the largest collection of historical items the Paso Robles society has ever received — help weave an intricate tale of the county’s wealthy and cultured past through the faces of those who inhabited the area so long ago….
How did this heart get in the downtown Paso Robles park?
Published Aug. 4, 2014 A mythical grave that inspired endless hours of childhood make-believe, a filled-in goldfish pond from the 1940s, and a quaint spot for lovebirds of years past to sit hand-in-hand. The 100 or so stones placed in the shape of a heart around a tree in Paso Robles’ Downtown City Park brought…
PART I: Soldier’s wallet, lost in the 1950s, is found at Camp Roberts
Gems of the past tucked neatly into the folds and pockets of a caramel leather bifold that has survived the passage of time by being hidden away until now contained enough clues to find the Camp Roberts soldier who lost it nearly 60 years ago during the Korean War….
PART II – Family finds happiness in wallet lost at Camp Roberts
Published: Feb. 29, 2012 When Jill Lewis learned on Sunday that her late husband’s worn leather wallet packed with mementos — and lost since 1953 — had been found earlier this month at Camp Roberts, she said she knew it was a gift from above. Her family has been struggling with the loss of Wendell Lewis…
Paso Robles’ old Fox Theatre in search of a second act
Published Jan. 31, 2015 Kerry Drennan remembers being a young boy in the 1950s, peering over a wooden railing from the balcony seats at Paso Robles’ Fox Theatre and seeing many of his favorite films projected onto the big screen below….
News boys return to Camp Roberts
Published Oct. 4, 2014 With gentle hands, retired Master Sgt. Joe Martinez put on his decades-old apron — a wisp of thin, cream-colored cotton, the last physical reminder of a boyhood spent earning a few extra pennies for his rural San Miguel family during World War II….
Creekside discovery leads to a trove of possibilities
Published: May. 28, 2012 LaVonne Rae and Don Welsh of Templeton are unearthing a mystery. They believe a vintage car, maybe from the 1940s, is buried in a creek near their house. So far, their only guiding clue is the cool reflective gleam of a chrome bumper attached to something buried deep into the ground,…