ESCONDIDO: City's history comes alive in cemetery

By Elina Cristiano - For The North County Times | Sunday, October 5, 2008 9:35 PM PDT ∞

A group listens as MyRaya Schrokosch, second from right, portrays pioneer Rose McGookin Culp, who lived from 1859 to 1942, during the Escondido History Center's annual "Echoes from the Past" at Oak Hill Memorial Park in Escondido on Sunday. This year's tour featured the lives of pioneer Rose McGookin Culp; newspaper publisher Alvin Dunn; civic leader Lloyd "Lefty" Mitchell; ranchers William and Leticia Prior; and teacher Hettie Malory Wade. (Photo by Don Boomer - Staff Photographer)

A group listens as MyRaya Schrokosch, left ---- portraying pioneer Rose McGookin Culp, who lived from 1859 to 1942 ---- tells her tale during the Escondido History Center's annual "Echoes from the Past" at Oak Hill Memorial Park in Escondido on Sunday. (Photo by Don Boomer - Staff Photographer)

People listen as George Cordry portrays newspaper publisher Alvin Dunn, who lived from 1852 to 1912, during the Escondido History Center's annual "Echoes from the Past" at Oak Hill Memorial Park in Escondido on Sunday. (Photo by Don Boomer - Staff Photographer)

Every October, Escondido's Oak Hill Cemetery is filled with the sights and sounds of decades and even centuries gone by.

Actors portray the deceased in an "anything but spooky" glimpse into Escondido's past, said Wendy Barker, the executive director of the Escondido History Center, which is host of the event.

During the fifth annual Echoes from the Past on Sunday afternoon, groups of visitors gathered around gravestones to hear stories of intrigue, conflict and accomplishment.

One story was that of Lloyd "Lefty" Mitchell, who came to Escondido in 1946 and took a low-level job as a booking officer with the Escondido Police Department. The mayor asked him if anything odd might be going on at the department, and Mitchell noticed some strange bookkeeping with the bail money. When the fund came up $3,900 short, the police chief was convicted and resigned, and Mitchell was hired to replace him.

He helped start the Boys' Club in 1956, the same year he became city manager. In that role he led efforts to construct a vital flood control channel through the city that became known as "Mitchell's Folly" because he proposed it during a drought. He also championed the sewage treatment plant and established the public works, accounting and parks and recreation departments.

Dewey Ausmus, who played Mitchell on Sunday, said he was surprised at how many visitors said they remembered the man.

Nineteenth-century publisher Alvin Dunn was also featured. In 1889 Dunn founded the Escondido Advocate, which merged with the Escondido Times in 1909 and eventually became the North County Times. Long-time newshound George Cordry, who served as managing editor at the paper, portrayed Dunn.

"I operated the hand press and the paper looked horrible, I admit," Dunn said, playing Cordry. "We delivered by horse and buggy and some people didn't get their Friday paper until Tuesday or Wednesday, but they didn't mind ---- it was the only form of communication we had."

Lachlan McIntire, a fifth-grader at Alvin Dunn Elementary, was excited to discover that his school's namesake was the son of the Alvin Dunn that stood before him.

"I want to find out about his life," Lachlan said. "I'm going to tell the kids about meeting his father."

Also commemorated were the late Hettee Mallory Wade, a beloved local teacher portrayed by Robin Fox, and Rose McGookin Culp, a pioneer and suffragette, who helped found the original Woman's Club of Escondido. MyRaya Schrokosch played Culp.

Laetitia Wistar Prior and William Prior were represented by the couple's great-granddaughter Caro Louise Aristei and her husband, Clark. The Priors were responsible for cultivating the Prior Lisbon lemon and planting the first avocado tree in San Diego County. Laetitia Wistar Prior helped found the Escondido Women's Club and William Prior acquired the land upon which the original Palomar Telescope was built.

Each year the Escondido History Center picks a different section of the cemetery to highlight. Barker said it's difficult sometimes to find enough information about women and was pleased that half the representations this year were of women.

Echoes from the Past is sponsored by California Funeral Alternatives, McLeod Mortuary, Pyramid Memorials and Rosemary-Duff Florist. Other collaborators include the Patio Playhouse, which opens the doors to its annex each year to help with the costumes, and the North County Cemetery District.

For more information visit the Escondido History Center's website at www.escondidohistory.org or call (760) 743-8207.

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