In 1945, Gwynn Ellis Norgaard, who now lives in Lemon Grove, led a march down Third Avenue in Chula Vista. Sixty-three years later, a photo of the then-17-year-old Norgaard is on the cover of a new book by Peter Watry, Jr. and Frank Roseman on the history of the city.
The bulk of the book, “Images of America: Chula Vista,” is made up of pre-World War II photographs.
“Some of the photographs hadn't been identified, so it was a little bit of research in trying to determine what the date might have been on the photographs,” Donna Golden of the Chula Vista Library said.
Golden is in charge of the photograph and local history collections at the library, where she has worked for 35 years. Both Watry and Roseman credit her as a contributor to the 127-page book.
“Sometimes you have to look at the cars that are on the streets to come up with a good date, because some of the photographs we had no information on at all,” Golden said.
One photograph in particular confused the three working on the book – the one of Norgaard. The caption on the picture said that it was of the Chula Vista High School band, circa 1938.
“There was no Chula Vista High School until 1948, so we knew it was wrong,” Watry said. “So who were those people?”
He said he carried the cover with him for months, trying to find someone who recognized the girl on the cover. He got his answer during a meeting with elderly residents in which he talked about the book.
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Images of America: Chula Vista
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Pages: 127
Price: $19.99
Available: Bookstores and the Chula Vista Heritage Museum, 360 Third Ave.
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“I showed the cover and a lady in the front row said, 'I know that girl, that's Gwynn Ellis.' ” Watry said. “It turned out that she and Gwynn were in the class of 1945 at Sweetwater High. So we were just lucky.”
Norgaard is thrilled to be on the cover of the book. But her English teacher in 1945 was less than thrilled with the outfit she wore.
“I had a little trouble with my risqué outfit,” Norgaard said. “We had to write an essay for the end of school. She threw mine in the trash and did not allow me to go to senior ditch day. I never forgave her. She was going to flunk me for that outfit, but she gave me a D, the only D I got in 12 years in school. I hope she turns over in her grave.”
Norgaard, a widow who turns 80 in July, still works a few days a week as a bookkeeper.
“Sixty-three years, very, very, very strange,“ Norgaard said. “This is something I never thought would happen. The only thing I said to Peter was that I have to see the picture first, because I'm not too photogenic. So I said, send me a copy and I'll tell you if I'll be on the cover or not, and I thought, 'Well, that's not too bad.' ”
Golden said the photographs tell much more than mere words.
“I think it's a lot more interesting than just reading a dry history,” she said. “It's one thing to tell you about Third Avenue at the turn of the century, but to actually be able to see (it) and see the people and the way they dressed, it makes it more alive for the public.”
The trio had to hunt down a number of other photos that they didn't have.
“For example, the Japanese are very important to the history of Chula Vista in the 1930s,” Watry said. “They were farmers and they really moved to Chula Vista during the Depression. Well, we had no pictures of that, so I had to go out and buy those from the Japanese-American Society.”
Watry said the authors got financial help from the Otay Ranch Company to buy photographs for the book, and any royalties will be turned over to the Chula Vista Heritage Museum.
“Somebody the other day asked me how much did I learn writing the book,” Watry said. “Well, I didn't learn anything. I mean, I wrote the book, I wrote it from what I knew, I've always known the history. Sharing it with other people is my thrill.”
Ben Noble is a freelance writer based in San Diego.
