San Jacinto Valley's "Yesteryears"

Mary Whitney has authored books about Hemet's founding fathers and other famous people and events that profoundly shaped San Jacinto Valley history.

Her ninth offering, "Yesteryears," is dedicated to the everyday men and women who were important to the region's fabric yet received little notice other than when they were born, married or died.

The book, researched largely from the old Yesteryears columns in the Hemet News, serves up nuggets of did-you-knows from 1893 to 1989 alphabetized by subject or name and is complemented by an index.

For instance, the entry for "Covell, C.B." tells of Clarence B. Covell, a manager and cashier at Farmers and Merchants Bank for 51 years. "During his employment, he insisted on being the lowest salaried regular employee. Twelve days after his retirement, he died of a stroke -- January 1959," the book said. A subsequent entry noted the contribution from a fund he set up of $250,000 to build a library in 1971.

"That's an example of what I wanted to do," Whitney said. "Little-known people who did so much."

Whitney set out to write a book to commemorate Hemet's 100th anniversary. She decided to include "what I thought was relevant to us today and perhaps relevant to people 100 years from now."

She will speak to the Hemet Heritage Foundation on Monday at 6 p.m. at Diamond Valley Middle School, 291 W. Chambers St. in Hemet. The public is invited. Books will be available for $15.

Among the vignettes she might mention:

Hayes "Happy" Walker, who at the same time was Hemet chief of police and a bounty hunter. He was fired for allowing liquor to be sold during the Prohibition era of 1920-33.

In 1957, the California Water and Telephone Co. announced that at 11:01 p.m. on Nov. 2, all Hemet phones would be switched to a dial system from the operator system.

As many as 20 Indian settlements existed around the San Jacinto Valley or within Rancho de San Jacinto. "War and bloodshed were not uncommon," the book adds, citing the 1888 San Jacinto Register.

In 1942, $370,000 worth of dried apricots was shipped out of the valley.

Whitney's parents, Alma and Earl Hudson, who moved to Hemet in 1957, went out shopping for two hours one day and as usual, left their doors unlocked. They came to find Walton Sears, who lived a quarter-mile down the road, sitting comfortably in their home reading a newspaper.

Whitney's books

"Bring Me a Windmill"

"Valley, River and Mountain"

"Whittier, Fuller & Co."

"Vignettes of the Valley"

"Pieces of the Pas"t

"Hemet and the Brudins"

"Hemet"

"Fortunes Favor the Brave"

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