Ted Faye was someone you saw occasionally at the corporate headquarters and over time many people had the pleasure of getting to know him. Ted has many gifts, but one of them is to make movies and when I was taking bus loads of kids out to the Boron Mine I was reminded of Ted each time as we sat in the Visitor Center theatre and watched a movie that he had created for Borax. More recently, after watching the Ken Burns movies on our National Parks there were so many scene’s that reminded me of the way Ted made movies that I asked him if he had ever met Ken Burns. His response was “Yes, briefly. I told him I was working on a project on Death Valley and his response was. "OOOhh, Hot!" I told Ted I thought maybe they had gone to school together ….which prompted this note from Ted:
Wow, Betty. Thanks for such a nice compliment. Well, actually I didn't go to film school. I went to Asbury College in Kentucky and got my BA in Bible/Speech with a minor in drama. And then came out here and went to UCLA and got my MFA in Theatre/Acting.
Everything I learned about production I learned on my own. I got a job at Capitol Records when I left UCLA and...
It is with deep regret that I announce that John Streuber passed away today, October 17, 2009 at his home in North Edwards, California.
John worked at the Borax mine in Boron for several years and after retirement he worked up at the Borax Visitor Center as a docent. That is when I got to know John. I would haul bus loads of kids out to the mine every week and John did a great job of talking with the kids about Boron operations and the value of the borate mineral.
John was an active member of the “Borax Alumni” until he had a massive stroke in 2005. After that he was in a rehabilitation center and brought to his home in North Edwards in 2008. His wife Penny has been his main caregiver ever since.
John was loved and valued by many people and we will certainly miss him.
Funeral Services will be held Saturday, October 24th at 11:00 AM
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Ladder Day Saints
16509 Hillcrest North Edwards, California
Private interment will take place on a different day
Friends who wish to send cards may contact Betty Peters for the address:
Death Valley - Continuing the Adventures for Future Generations
Henry
30 Second Spot On Death Valley Goes Live On PBS
Some of you may have enjoyed seeing the 30 second spot on PBS during the broadcast of “THE NATIONAL PARKS – AMERICA’S BEST IDEA,” Ken Burns’ latest.
The aerial footage of Death Valley was developed by Ted Faye and then Henry Golas did the finishing touches to introduce the Death Valley Fund which is a non-profit set up to provide support and private funding for projects that preserve, protect or enhance Death Valley National Park by improving the Death Valley area's natural, cultural and historic resources as well as the visitor experience. The Death Valley Fund web site is: http://dvconservancy.org/
Shatto Place
Betty Peters
Betty: From the time I moved in the early 1960’s from Borax acquired Columbia Wax Company in Glendale to the gorgeous Corporate Headquarters at 3075 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, I always knew that the building at 630 Shatto Place had been Borax’s previous headquarters. But…..I knew very little about who worked there and where departments were located.
Enjoy some of the comments from the Borax alumni.
Howard and Carrie Cain: While I worked out of this building, I was very seldom in it. However, Carrie was and she said the front of the top floor was an outside patio for Mr. Gerstley and Pat O'Brien. Gerstley was on the left (facing the building) and O'Brien on the right. We parked under the building and the Agricultural people planted plants on the top outside. We had great Christmas parties with food, drink, presents and Santa Claus. Dave Parker and Fred Corkill use to see who could come up the most ridiculous presents such as huge urns. One time they put elephants in the parking garage. Dave Parker gave Mr. Gerstley a rubber life boat one time when he was going to England after the Christmas party. We seem to remember Sales and Purchasing took up the 2nd floor. Also Annie and Noreen O'Sullivan ran the switch board also on that floor.
Patricia Bates: As I recall, all of Carrie's memories were right on. In addition the first floor entry had a limited parking garage just for top executives and important visitors. This was on north side of building (others parked across street). The main entry on the south had a rather small office with a long counter and some beautiful Death Valley pictures. The walls were made with marble and stone brought in from Death Valley. All of this was originally for the Furnace Creek Inn, and the area had brochures and information and was only staffed for a very short period of time when it was first built. At the east end of the building on the ground floor was the location of the Research Department. I am not certain but I believe there were six employees in that area and as we grew, some researchers were sent up to the fourth floor.
On the second floor was the Accounting/Payroll/Insurance Departments. Insurance I believe was separated not by walls but by configuration. I cannot remember if any others were on this floor.
The third floor was for the executives as Carrie stated. I believe a reception desk and the telephone operations were nearby. Also included was the Executive Records area where everything except the very top confidential information was kept. Nearby was the Export Department with about 10 people. This included the Manager and four men who did all the booking of steamer space to all foreign ports. There was also one that booked shipments to Mexico which were mostly shipped via rail. Of course there were secretaries and clerks on the floor also. Engineering was also on third floor (I believe) but seemed to be scattered with some up on the fourth including Drafting. Perhaps 10 men total.
Originally the fourth floor was kept empty for expansion. I understand Pat O'Brien had quite a bit to do with the building and wanted a much stronger foundation poured to allow for growth upward if needed but the cost was prohibitive. And, as the company grew and all the space was used, a decision was made to move the engineers and draftsmen to a temporary location down Wilshire and across the street.
This space they soon outgrew when we merged with U.S. Potash. Perhaps all of the growth was due to the projected change from ‘room and pillar’ mining to the current open pit. Again they moved Engineering to offices on 6th Street, on the north side, one building from Vermont. They also moved the Agricultural Sales and Purchasing Department to Sixth Street. I don't recall what floor Purchasing was on prior to this move. I do not recall where the Sales Dept. was located. Originally TMT Sales was divided between Agriculture and the Package Department. Research moved to Anaheim in 1957. Wendell Childs worked there as well as Jim McFaul, Gene Ferguson and George Bartunek. Corporate left Shatto Place in 1963.
Wendell Childs: I started to work for Borax on Shatto in the early1950’s in the Accounting Department, working for Hightower on the 2nd floor. Data processing at that time was...
The PBS premier of the new Ken Burns 12-hour documentary series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” begins this Sunday, September 27th at 8pm. The National Park system is an amazing American legacy and is especially important in this era of climate change and the increasing “nature deficits” in children of this generation.
The nonprofit I started last year for Death Valley National Park is pleased to be one of the sponsors supporting its broadcast locally here on KCET, Los Angeles and on Vegas PBS in Las Vegas, Nevada, so I hope you and your kids will catch it if you can. If you live in the Los Angeles or Las Vegas areas, you will be able to see the 30-second promotional spot I produced for Death Valley which will air as one of the intros to episode #3 airing at 7:58pm on Sept 29th on KCET and also episodes #3 & #5 (Oct. 1st/8pm) on Las Vegas PBS.
Along with others, we are also working to help support the “Death Valley ROCKS” program at the park which is attempting to connect inner-city children with often their first experience with nature. The Ken Burns team did a short ancillary piece on that program which can be viewed at: http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/watch-video/ It is located under the “Untold Stories” section at the bottom of the page, select the “City Kids in National Parks” clip.
More general information on the Ken Burns series can also be found on the web at PBS at: http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/
The advance material that the Burns team has shared with me indicates this is yet another Ken Burns masterpiece!
Charles Bausback - Huell Howser Researcher
Charles Bausback
Charles Bausback (husband of our beloved Sigrid) has always been an interesting person to talk to especially when you want to know something about California’s history. I knew he had worked for “California’s Gold” - Huell Howser for several years and so I asked him how he got the job of being a support person for Huell Howser. Here is Chuck’s reply:
I was teaching a class at the Huntington Library is San Marino about the California Gold Rush of 1849 to
Fourth grade grammar school students from all over Southern California. I was in charge of the program and had many docents teaching with me. I was amazed to find that so many of them had never been to the Gold Rush Country. So I chartered a bus and took fifty seven of them on a one week tour of the Southern Mines.
Then the California Sesquicentennial came along - 150 years of California Statehood, and 150 years since the Gold Rush! The Huntington Library mounted a beautiful exhibit of Gold Rush history - even duplicating Market Street in downtown San Francisco, complete with the street lights at that time. I helped to train 147 new docents just for the Gold Rush exhibit and then the Huntington asked me if I would run another trip to the Gold Rush Country! I told them that I wanted to take two weeks and show them all the Gold Rush country as well as Sacramento.
They let me do this, and I did everything myself. I obtained the hotels and arranged for the meals and then I hired actors and actress all along the way to portray famous people of the Gold Rush. I had to write all of the lines for them as well. As an example, we were in the Holbrook Hotel in Grass Valley when Mark Twain strolled in and talked to us! Then the Cornish Miners Choir came in and sang three songs from the Gold Rush, etc. We met John Sutter, James Marshall (Who discovered the initial gold), Kit Carson, and even Lola Montez, who performed her famous "Spider Dance" for us.
They had even put up a large billboard for us when we went to the town of Volcano. It read: "Welcome Huntington Library Docents." Here is also where I triumphed with my greatest achievement. During the Gold Rush there was a famous stagecoach robber called "Black Bart." He held up twenty nine stage coaches before he was caught. He was famous for reciting very poor poetry which he made up each time he would hold up a coach.
Ted Faye was someone you saw occasionally at the corporate headquarters and over time many people had the pleasure of getting to know him. Ted has many gifts, but one of them is to make movies and when I was taking bus loads of kids out to the Boron Mine I was reminded of Ted each time as we sat in the Visitor Center theatre and watched a movie that he had created for Borax. More recently, after watching the Ken Burns movies on our National Parks there were so many scene’s that reminded me of the way Ted made movies that I asked him if he had ever met Ken Burns. His response was “Yes, briefly. I told him I was working on a project on Death Valley and his response was. "OOOhh, Hot!" I told Ted I thought maybe they had gone to school together ….which prompted this note from Ted:
