Escondido man's private museum has more than 5,000 artifacts

By: JOHN RAIFSNIDER - For the North County Times | Saturday, March 15, 2008 12:07 AM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Viewed from the street, the garage attached to the Escondido home of Keith and Judy Roynon looks like it was built to house a vintage car or two.

But the 2,000-square-foot structure is, according to its owner, actually home to one of the most extensive private collections of dinosaur skeletons in the world.

Inside the building, life-size reproductions of a triceratops skull and other smaller dinosaur skeletons account for more than 5,000 fossil pieces that make up the Roynon Paleontology Museum.

The collection is considered the "jewel of Escondido" by Dr. Royce Moore, a trustee with the Escondido Union School District and a retired principal and administrator.

"This museum is one of the best in the world for all periods of paleontology," Moore said Thursday during an impromptu tour of the facility. "They've got everything here ---- more than even the Natural History Museum in San Diego."

Moore said he wishes that more people knew about the museum. "It's a treasure of our city," he said.

Keith Roynon sold his antique businesses in 1997 and began refurbishing the garage ---- used as a warehouse for his four stores ---- to accommodate his growing collection of bones, ammonites (fossil shells) and stones. By 2000, his garage and its contents had created a small sensation among Escondido educators, and he began offering tours.

Roynon said he has no idea how many students have passed through the facility since tours began eight years ago. Once inside, nearly every visitor has had the same reaction to viewing his collection, he said.

"Not one child or adult that has come through those doors has ever had anything to say other than 'wow' or 'unbelievable,' " said Roynon. "It's always the same. They're blown away by the size of the collection and the number of pieces we have here. This isn't just some dumpy garage with a few artifacts on some wooden shelves."

Roynon began collecting artifacts at age 6 while growing up in Santa Cruz. He said he never stopped gathering shark's teeth or fossils during his 25 years as a businessman, and got more aggressive once he retired.

"This museum is all about trying to stir an interest in our schoolkids about science," he said. "They just don't seem to want to learn much about fossils and dinosaurs these days ---- that is, until they see our collection."

Roynon's wife, Judy, began her teaching career in Escondido in 1965 and works in the district's home education division. She said she has happily supported her husband's unusual hobby throughout their 45-year marriage.

"Actually, I came to enjoy it myself many years ago," she said. "I grew up learning to dress to the nines, but after we were married, I began to enjoy getting dusty and dirty while we were out taking hikes to find fossils and other interesting items that most people miss."

Roynon limits his museum tours to school groups, and says as many as 30 students at a time visit the facility for intense, three-hour sessions.

He said he prefers smaller groups of a dozen or less, which allow for more individualized attention.

Roynon also conducts tours for educators and is available for field trips, but says he isn't up to the task of flinging open the museum doors and setting up a turnstile for profit.

"There is just no way that I can handle opening this place to the general public ---- that was never our intention," Roynon said.

However, Roynon said he is open to the idea of a "big corporation" building a 10,000-square-foot permanent facility for his collection.

For details, call (760) 746-5054.