I’m glad I grew up when I did and I’m glad I lived in San Clemente. My family moved there in 1935 when I was 15. That was during the Depression and times were tough. In the summers, I went to CCC camp. We lived in five-man tents and worked hard. It was run just like an army. Those were some of the best years I put in because it taught me how to get along with people and how to take orders. That’s really what saved the kids in those days.
I helped build San Clement State Park and Doheny. Another summer I was at Palomar. We fought a lot of forest fires and blazed the trail before they put in the telescope.