by Anne Petersen
On December 8, 2013 the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation welcomed nearly one hundred descendants of Santa Barbara Presidio Soldiers and their families to El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park. We treated guests to a full tri-tip barbecue, ably prepared by staff archaeologist Michael Imwalle with help from Terri Tico Imwalle, Michael Hardwick and Rocky Bellman. Musician Luis Moreno entertained guests and SBTHP board president John Poucher spoke words of welcome. The chilly afternoon was rounded out with a serving of cake in honor of SBTHP’s 50th anniversary in 2013.
Commemorative tile created by Jeannie Davis.
Each guest took home a special commemorative tile to remember the event made by ceramic artist Jeannie Davis, herself a de la Guerra descendant. Special thanks go to members of SBTHP’s Genealogy and Descendants Committee for helping to plan the barbecue: Mary Louise Days, chair; Debby Aceves; Suzi Calderon Bellman; Jeannie Davis; Michael Hardwick; and Jeremy Hass. Thanks also to SBTHP staff Brittany Avila and Christa Clark Jones.
We look forward to seeing all the descendants again soon. For more photos of this year’s event, please visit our Flickr page here.
Anne Petersen is the associate director for historical resources at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
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